Gosh I don’t even know where to start and this is going to be all over the place so… If you know me, you know that I was in the Navy but was separated back in December 2020 after I had a career pausing injury. See, from a young age I always told people I wanted to be a teacher or a social worker but in reality, I’ve always known that being in the military was what I wanted to do with my life. When that opportunity finally came ,I took it, but then it all got taken away. For the longest time, I was asking myself but more importantly God what was next for me. Honestly I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no motivation but I was able to hide it behind my injury. Once I had my surgery for my hip in March 2021, it was time for me to find my next move. Keep in mind, at that time, reenlisting was totally off the table. I knew it was going to take at least 6 months to recover (or at least that’s what my doctors thought) so at the time, it was finding what I would do in the meantime. Of course I got a job and distracted myself by diving into working as much as I could, but in my heart and in the back of my head, I could hear and feel God urging me to go serve! I didn’t know what to think of God randomly telling me to drop everything and go out into His world and serve, to make disciples, to spread his love and word. But, I put my faith in the Lord and followed His voice and found the World Race. See, my heart was immediately drawn to the Gap Year program. I went through the application with Gap G and my world began to revolve around going to Costa Rica, Romania and Cambodia for 9 months. It made sense at the time, surrendering my life to the Lord, it gave me another year to find my path upon return and I fell in love with my squad. At boot camp at AIM for Gap G, everything felt so right, my heart was attached (and part of it always will be) to my amazing squad, my leadership and mentors were a God given blessing n my life and I appreciate them so much! About 3 weeks ago though, I found out that my medical situation with my surgery would be able to pass and get a waiver allowing me to reenlist and finish what I started. As soon as I found this out, I knew that in order to answer my call to serve while still prioritize my career plan for the next 20 years, I had to make a few changed. After a lot of prayer, chatting with God, listening to my friends and family, my leaders, and pastor, I have officially decided to no longer continue on with World Race Gap Year and instead, I will be going on World Race Semesters. 3 months, 3 countries; Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. Also with this change, I am officially fully funded. What’s crazy is God was telling me a few months back that I would be fully funded by August and to surrender my financial worries to Him and He is so good because HE MADE IT HAPPEN!!!! This will also give me time to complete another semester of college before I leave for the race and once again for the Navy so I will be able to enlist at a higher rank than during my previous enlistment.
So, here’s the plan, I’m waiting on my final clearance medically from the Navy in order to head up to the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) so I can swear in and receive my ship out date. Beginning later this month, I will be a full time college student once again at my local college where I will complete one semester worth of classes while also balancing two full time jobs (insane schedules are fueled by God…. and coffee). At the end of the semester in December, I will finish up my classes as well as part ways from my current jobs. On January 21st, 2022, I will head down to Gainesville, GA once more to head to AIM where I will then begin my 3 month journey of serving in Central America. Upon return in late April, I will be home for a few short weeks before parting once more for the Navy!
Wow.. that was really all over the place… trust me, it’s pretty interesting to explain to people! God is really showing me how amazing He is and leading me to exactly where He wants me to be. I’ve met such amazing people in the last year throughout this entire journey and I’m so grateful for the impact they’ve all had on me, how I view the world, and my next phases in life. God, I love you and I couldn’t be more excited for this journey you are leading me on. It might be very (VERY!!!!) confusing at times, but reminding myself that I have surrendered myself to you is a good way of ensuring I take this all day by day.
