HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY! Welcome to my very first blog (yay!). Thank you for taking the time to skim through my loosely threaded thoughts. This first blog post is supposed to contain my “why” for going on this unique excursion, but I feel like my “why” cannot be contained in just one condensed post, so let’s consider this part one, shall we? I appreciate your support from here on out because these blog posts, in an attempt to remain honest, will be entertaining but will DEFINITELY contain grammatical errors out the wazoo, including but not limited to: misspellings, run on sentences, dangling modifiers, and comma splices aplenty (sincerest apologies to Mrs. Brantley, I was paying attention in your classes, I promise!). ANYWAY, for your reading pleasure...

Picture it: a bright, young woman just this side of 30 has a tight, succinct 5 year plan that will seal her future to include a successful career in Physical Therapy, a solid long term romantic relationship, and everything her heart could ever possibly imagine. This was how I laid out everything. This was my well-thought out/structured plan. This was going to be MY year! Enter: 2020. In case you missed it, our world shook in the presence of a lingering pandemic highlighted by quarantine, social distancing, and a lack of toilet paper.  Along with global unrest, my family is currently suffering through a marathon of health issues with my dad (more on that later). As if these things weren’t enough, peppered in with this recipe for personal undoing was:

“Ms. Collins, thank you for the submission of your application, unfortunately…”

“I’m really just kind of numb to relationships right now…”

“We regret to inform you that we cannot process…”

Like a failed organ transplant, I felt rejected by 2020. Don’t get me wrong, I had some AMAZING moments that I fought to incorporate within the storm of this year. However, whenever there was a pause, I continually worked on trying to process what I was going through. In an attempt to work through the stream of everything listed above, I started doing what I do best. I read books/blogs/IG posts and listened to podcasts and watched sermons and journaled and prayed and pulled out every possible coping mechanism from my tool belt. Nothing seemed to stick. I wish I could sit here and write that I tried one last thing and I magically stumbled upon this path...unfortunately that was not the case. I have spent months grasping at straws trying to process everything that this year hurled at me. While sifting through the wealth of knowledge I had acquired, one theme stuck out to me. Time.  

I have been given the unique gift of time. No other time in my life will I have the option to leave behind every known comfort and go out and help heal a hurting world in the name of Jesus and that rocks!   Where I once felt pushed aside or looked over because of my place in life, I now feel special, chosen, and ordained. In the middle of a sea of “no”s I found God’s sweetest “yes”. I am excited not only to travel the world with complete strangers but because after this year I know that God’s greatest lies just beyond the limits of our understanding. World Race: LET’S GO!!