I can’t tell you what would compel me to leave it all behind to serve people around the world other than the unfathomable love of a perfect God.
It’s the type of love that makes something like pausing school, leaving home, living out of a backpack, and saying goodbye to everything I’ve ever known for nine months seem small compared to the greatness of His love. It’s a love that I truly believe is worth it all. It’s all that I will ever need, and it’s worth everything that comes with me.
In just 89 short days, I will be leaving the country for nine months. During this time, I will travel to four different countries to love on people and share the good news of the gospel. It is an unreal opportunity that I am confident is exactly what the Lord has for me.
You may know that I spent the last year in Anderson, South Carolina at Anderson University. You may have seen my BeReals and instagram posts of cookout runs, movie nights, school dances, road trips, and retreats. What you may not have seen is what happened behind the scenes. I had a wonderful, and simultaneously personally challenging, year at Anderson University and saw God move in powerful ways within the sweet University community, the city around it, and within the depths of my own heart. But something inside me felt unsettled, restless. This stirring was something I haven’t been able to shake, since my junior year of high school. I’d always brushed it off as “senioritis”, the restlessness upperclassmen experience as they finish their high school years and move toward post grad life. But I was in college now, and it still stuck around. I had everything I’d ever wanted: a fantastic church, a close-knit group of God loving friends, professors and mentors who truly cared for me, independence and adventure, but still, there was something that just wouldn’t settle. I felt this calling to something more. I knew that there was somewhere else I was supposed to be.
I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, but I knew that God created me to love and serve his people.
Somewhere in second semester, I was studying at a local coffee shop with a friend of mine, feeling particularly stuck that week. He mentioned that a few of his friends had opted to put school on hold to pursue international missions for a year, and that it had changed their life. I had always had an interest in mission work, so I explored some websites and filled out interest forms. I had no idea at the time how that action would change the course of my life.
Fast forward to May: finals week. I was all set to return to the university the next year, complete with both an on and off campus job, and plans to work through the summer. I was sitting in my dorm room one morning when I got a call from an organization called Adventures in Missions. Truthfully, I had been putting off answering their calls and emails.
I answered the call, planning to politely turn down the trip, since everything was in motion for returning to campus in the fall. Instead, I had the most powerful and unexpected conversation about the opportunity to serve people around the world for nine months.
The leader shared with me about this potential journey through four countries with a group of college-aged students who had one goal: to share the love of the Lord and serve people across the world i. Tangible ways. In the stories he shared from those currently on a similar trip, and in hearing the values of the organization, I was unexpectedly, powerfully moved. It was the type of thing that I had always valued and wanted more of: the opportunity to just love people- however the Lord would ask- with no care for recognition or pay, just a chance to love people. After we hung up, something in me knew that this is exactly where God was leading me.
A few weeks later, I got the opportunity to hike with members of a team that had just returned to the United States. Hearing their stories of their journey and their heart for the Lord confirmed what I had been praying about: this is exactly where I was supposed to be.
So, I shifted the course of my fall plans, laid them all down, and decided to follow God forward in serving these people in this way for this time.
I hopefully anticipate this trip, with a love for these places already abundant in my heart. My heart for this trip is that God would be magnified through it all. I know that he is going to work in miraculous and amazing ways, and I feel so lucky to get to behold this work firsthand. I have no idea what my future will look like when I return, but I do know that God is in control and will guide me exactly where I need to be.
Preparing for this trip has already grown me in so many ways. I struggle with severe indecision and am known to second guess every move I make. But since I made this choice, I can only describe the peace I feel as supernatural and of the Lord. He is showing his goodness and power every step of the way, and I know he will be faithful to show up on this trip through all that we do.
More than anything else you’ve read on this page, I hope you know that the Lord loves you deeply and wants a personal relationship with you.
This trip is not about me or my team, it’s not about the places we’ll visit, the experiences we’ll have or the pictures we’ll take. It’s about the heart of the Lord and the work that he will do to reach people he loves. It’s about inviting people to accept the incredible gift of His love and to have their own relationship with the Lord. If you feel led to join me in this opportunity through prayers and support for the people of South Africa, Guatemala, Eswatini, and Cambodia, I would be forever thankful.
More to come,
Kailey Finley
To find out more about my trip:
tinyurl.com/kaileywrgy
