I honestly never thought i would be going on a missions trip after graduation. My plans had always been to go straight to college and get my degree to become a social worker or child trauma counselor. I’m the type of determined person who has a plan and likes to follow through with that plan. However, in the beginning of this year my school counselors kept hasseling me about college and scholarships and my friends could not stop talking about all these awesome colleges they were going to and plans for next year. This overwhelming sense of dread overtook me and I became super stressed out. It got so out of control that I was not sleeping well at night, lacked an appetite and was just tense all the time. After several long talks with my parents and prayer I knew that taking a year off was the best decision for me. The weight that I had been carrying around dissapeared and the old Julie came back, happy and secure in her decision.
Throughout high school I have been very active in my church. I started a girl’s bible study last year that meets once a week, I sing on the worship team for our weekly teen service Oasis, I attend youth group regularly and I help with VBS every summer. Though these activities are awesome, I felt God pulling me toward missions ever since I got back from a youth missions trip to Montana last summer. I decided to apply for a spot with Mercy Ships and felt like this is where God would use me. It was a major heartbreak and dissapointment when I found out 3 months after applying that I was not accepted. My whole world suddenly fell apart. What would I do after high school? Why was God being cruel when I felt like this was his will? My planning skills totally went out the window and I felt like a lost sould. My youth pastor Matt helped me through this hard time and told me about and organization called AIM. He learned about it from a girl from our church who did a missions trip with AIM. After checking out their website, I was excited about how hands on their missions trips were and about working with children. Africa was actually where I was supposed to go with Mercy Ships, so it seemed like the right trip to apply for. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but God saw fit for me to get accepted. What I learned from this experience is that God’s timing is perfect and usually doesn’t fit into our timing. He knew that Swazi was a much better choice for me and so he closed the door with Mercy Ships. There are many things about God I’ll never grasp, but I do know this: He loves us and will do the best for us even if the process is messy and hurts.
