Graduate valedictorian, go to an Ivy League school, enter a respectable profession, get rich - that’s what I decided my life’s purpose was when I was in high school. The only reason I wanted to do missionary work before college was so that I could have a stronger résumé. Good thing God can take our impure motives and bring something good out of them.
I graduated high school in June of 2019 and entered missions in London, England in July. I didn’t even really know what I was doing at the time and I certainly wasn’t Christian. My expectation was to paint some fences in Africa and then have some impressive volunteer work to talk about on college applications.
This got blown out of the water during the first week of my missionary training school. I was surrounded by people who actually cared about me and wanted to see me become a better person. I was able to replace my stale, distant idea of God with a picture of who He really is: a kind, loving father.
In the mission field, I discovered that some of the best ministry you can do is relational. I thought that most of the work we would do would be practical, like cleaning or building houses. Some of the best ministry we did was just spending time with people, being interested in them, and loving them.
Now, I’m approaching the end of my gap year. I still have all those desires because God has placed them in my heart from the beginning. All that’s changed is that God fixed my mindset and my motives.
I still want to go to college and have a career, but I’m doing it so that I can be a missionary in whatever field I enter into and so that I can do some good. I still want to be rich, but it’s so that I can support missionaries and bless people whenever I want to.
If you’re considering entering college straight after high school, I beg you to evaluate your motives and your relationship with the Lord. You don’t need to have a life plan prepared for the next 60-70 years when you’re only 18. Take some time to consider why you want the things you want and who God is to you. We try to plan our own way, but God establishes our steps.
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We like to call it⎼Taking A GAP YEAR. If you're wondering how to plan a Gap Year like Sophia, CLICK to download our Gap Year Planning Guide.
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