My Story- How It All Led to World Race.

Hey friend. Thanks for taking the time to read this. It means you care enough about my journey to take time out of your day to read my story, and how it all led to me going on World Race- which means the absolute world to me. So grab a cup of coffee, sit down, and enjoy!

I have always grown up in a Christian home, in church, and around Christian influences. Heck, I’ve been in a Christian school my entire life. I truly believe if I didn’t have all these influences in my life, I would not be where I am today or the person I’ve grown into.  I got saved when I was 6 years old, right after I started going to Prince Avenue Christian School. Ever since I was little, I would always pray for the Lord to use me in some way, to use me as a light for others, to live out part of my name, Ellyn- which means bright shining one. I wanted to live that out, long before I knew what my name truly meant. I always had a desire to just ‘go’. Now, when I think back to my childhood, I don’t really remember all the faith-testing things the Lord would do, mainly because I was too little to understand what He was doing, but as I got older the urge to just ‘go and to be a light’ grew. When I look at my childhood I remember going to church every Sunday with my family, I remember going to Awanas every Wednesday night, and getting excited to see my best friend. I remember Mr. Matt calling all the ‘MIPs” (most important people) on stage to sing about 3-4 songs every Sunday night, but what I don’t remember is what I would learn in those services, how I felt when my preacher said something so valuable, but I do remember the Lord calling me to something amazing one day.

 At some point in your childhood or life, you will have a traumatizing moment, that flips your entire world upside down. Mine so happened to be on April 8, 2016- the day our parents told us they were separating. I didn’t know what to think. My entire would was shook, and I was so so mad at God for it- for a while. I no longer wanted to be a light for Him. I pushed Him away immensely. I shut out anyone who try to give me Godly advice on what to do about my feelings, anyone who told me to pray about it, I shut them out. I didn’t open my Bible; I didn’t want to go to church. I didn’t want anything to do with Him. I went through a series of depression, which was the darkest period of my life. Come July 2016, I had just gotten back from the beach with my dad. I was so upset and I remember just saying “man I would give anything to go back to PCB”. Later that night, my best friend, whom I pushed away for a little while, texted me saying they had a free spot, (completely paid for) on her church- camp trip, which was at PCB. They were leaving the next week. So, of course I went, but only because I wanted another beach trip. I didn’t care anything about the sermons before I got there. After the first sermon that night, the Lord completely flipped a switch on inside of me and broke me. I cried the entire sermon. At that point, the beach didn’t matter, nothing mattered but those sermons, and me rekindling my relationship with the Lord. This was the same year I found out about World Race. I remember seeing one of my sister’s classmates doing it right after she graduated, and thinking it was so cool. I told my mom how this would be so cool to maybe do one day. I brushed it off and didn’t really talk about it again. I was in an amazing place with God at this point. I was starting to feel happy again, have a sense of hope and began feeling the love and joy from Christ again. Then came June of 2017. My parents decided to begin the process of their divorce. I again, was devastated, hurt, mad and confused. Right after this, the camp that I went to a year before was 2 weeks later. I didn’t really want to go all that much, but I did and God yet again revealed himself to me- revealed His love, His mercy, His graciousness and how He never leaves me. I was in such a good place. During this time, the thought of World Race kept coming up. I would seriously think about it, get scared and brush it off. It wasn’t until February of 2018 I began praying for the Lord to open and close doors to this opportunity. I stopped praying about it when I had someone I cared deeply about tell me “You don’t know what you want to do. That’s almost 3 years away, and that sounds kind of ridiculous”. That hurt and I ended up listening to that person. So, I pushed the thought of World Race out of my mind once again. Ignoring every sign that this was what I am supposed to do and ignoring God. After going through a painful breakup, I began finding my worth, value, place and rest in Christ. I began re-kindling my relationship with Him for good. In September of 2019, I rededicated myself to Christ and got re-baptized. A symbol of my reconciled relationship with my Heavenly Father. September through December of 2019 was a little tough, due to the stress of school, family, college, friendships and Satan really used that against me. On New Year’s Eve, I had gotten an email from World Race. I had forgotten that I signed up for a subscription to receive emails from them about 2 years before. They would send me an email every once in a while and I would ignore it, but I hadn’t gotten anything from them in a long time; until New Years Eve. I had just gotten back my ACT scores and they weren’t great. I was so discouraged from school, college, etc-  so I began praying “Lord, I have no idea what I am supposed to do with my life. I don’t know what plans you have for me, but all these plans I have for myself do not feel right. Please just show me what I am supposed to do”. Later that night I was checking my email which I hardly do, but I felt like I needed to. I had gotten an email from World Race, and the title was “It isn’t an accident you came across us”. The entire email was about fundraising and people’s testimonies of how God prevailed in time of fundraising. Fundraising was something that kind of deterred me. It was scary. The amount was big and scary. So after that, I just prayed “okay Lord, if this is something I am supposed to do, then open the door”. I filled out the application, turned it in and had my first interview call. I was scared out of my mind. I sat in my car and prayed so hard for the Lord to give my comfort, peace and wisdom of what to say, and boy did He. The interview lasted almost an hour when it typically lasts 20-30 minutes. I talked to her like she was my best friend. Right after the interview, I was offered a spot immediately, when it takes almost a week to decide. I of course said yes and bawled my eyes out. Praising Jesus the entire way home through worship, crying tears of joy, and in such awe of our God. After months of restlessness, confusion, frustration, I was finally at peace and had a sense of rest.

 I didn’t know, but He has been molding me for this journey since I was little. The urge to always go, whether it was to go shopping, the grocery store, outside, I never wanted to be home. I wanted to be somewhere else. I wanted to shine bright for the Lord. I had a sense of ‘wanderlust’. Now, I get to live out just a glimpse of what the Lord has created me to do. I get to ‘go be a light’- I get to be His bright shining one.

much love,

gracie <3