Last summer, I thought I had everything planned out. I knew where I was going to college. I knew what I was going to study. I had my life plans ready to go. But thank God, my plans for my life were not His plans for my life. My mom casually mentioned the gap-year program “Global Year” to me in a passing conversation back in July of 2018. My first response was to laugh and say, “Yeah right, like I would ever do that.” And that was the end of it… or so I thought. After about a week, I randomly started thinking about this opportunity again. I was losing sleep over it and just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I started praying, “God… I really don’t want to do this. I really hope you’re not making me think about it because you want me to do it.” I tried to forget about it, but I just couldn’t. Finally, I got onto Global Year’s website and started doing some research. The Dominican Republic trip caught my eye immediately. I thought, “Well I guess I wouldn’t mind going there and working with those kids.”
My Jesus-time the next day led me to read in Joshua 3. It was talking about the Isrealites crossing the Jordan River with the Ark of the Covenant. God promised to make a way for them, but they had to put their feet in the water first. I had been telling God that I couldn’t go to another country long-term for so long… but maybe I just had to take the first step and step into the unknown waters. I needed to have faith that God would make a way for what He had called me to do. This was the moment I had no doubt in my heart that this was something I had to do. I applied for the DR trip in August and was accepted after a few phone interviews. But I wasn’t excited, and I certainly didn’t want to go. I knew I was doing what God’s will for my life at the time was, but I struggled to have joy in it. I avoided conversation about the trip and groaned inwardly anytime someone asked me what I was doing after graduation.
Then in November, I got an email notifying me that the Dominican Republic had been unexpectedly dropped as a Global Year location. I had to either pick a new country or drop out of the program. I am ashamed of my first thought, which was: “Oh good, I guess I’m off the hook. Maybe God just needed me to surrender to Him and now I can drop out.” But I knew instantly that this was not the case. I began to look into the other GY locations. None of them seemed to be for me until I finally looked further into Honduras.
Honduras intrigued me immediately. Before, it was not even on my radar as an option. But the more I read, the more I began to feel something I had not yet felt: excitement. And I suppose you could say the rest is history, because not only did Honduras fit me far better than the Dominican ever would, my entire outlook on this amazing opportunity did a 180.
I am so amazed by how God has led me to this point. As I am writing this, it’s my last night at home before I embark on this journey in the morning. My heart is filled with fears, anxieties, and sorrow over the goodbyes. But even moreso, it is filled with the peace of God that He is about to take me into the next chapter of my life exactly where He has planned all along. I haven’t left for Honduras just yet, but already the biggest thing I have learned is how crucial and oh how rewarding it is to place my heart and my future in the hands of the One who created me.
I am so pumped to share my months in Honduras with all those who have supported me and are praying for me. The link to my blog is going to be in my instagram bio @allee.johnson as well as in the public Facebook group “Allee’s Honduras Blog.”
With love,
Allee <3
