The Calling?
When I first got the calling to go on the race, I didn’t think it was from the holy spirit. I thought that it was from my flesh and just me tired of being in school and not liking where I was at but in reality it was something much bigger. The race was always something that I thought about doing after graduating from college but never truly knew if it was something I was going to do or not. So when I got the calling to go on the race I was scared and didn’t want to commit because I knew it would mean sacrifice and hard decisions. I took multiple leaps of faith and had no clue what they truly meant.
Applying for the Race
The first leap of faith was applying for the race even when I didn’t know if its what the Lord had for me or if it was a decision I was making for myself. There was so many things and thoughts that went throught my head while trying to come to the decision to apply which made it super hard to commit to the thought of the race. When I went through the process of applying it was definitely difficult and took a lot of time to actually submit my application. If it wasn’t for some very good friends helping me walk through the decision and getting all the thoughts out and talked over then it would have been a much harder decision and might not have happened. After I finally submitted my application, the next leap of faith that I had to take was talking to people I didn’t really know that much which is hard for me. I had my interview for the race which was scary to say the least but I prayed about it and really just reviled in the fact that it was happening. When the interview actually accured it went smoothly and it really wasn’t a struggle at all. It just felt like another everyday conversation which was a relief and it helped me to know that this was something that was supposed to happen.
Acceptance- Success?
The next thing, that happened was waiting for the email saying that I had admittence to the race and that I could commit to my route. This was extremely hard because it involved waiting and being patient. In reality, looking back it was only a week from my interview to getting the email saying that I could commit but it felt so much longer. The thoughts that went through my head during that week was alot. I questioned myself, I questioned God, and I questioned my decisions. Not knowing if the race was for me and not knowing if it was from the Lord was hard and therefore when I was made to wait to hear about my decision to the race the enemy used that to his advantage. It was the perfect opportunity for him to make me doubt myself and doubt the Lord. I remember one of the main things was that I felt like I wasn’t gonna be successful because going on the race meant leaving school for a year or more but in reality this wasn’t the case. The race as really made me think and discuss the true meaning of success and what I think success looks like (might write a blog post about this later). In the end, I realized that a a majority of this world sees success as going to college, graduating, and getting a job or making money to provide for yourself and move up in thge world. So therefore me going on the race was going against all of that, I will be dropping out of school for more than a year, I will not be making money, I will not be able to rely on myself to provide for myself (reliance on the Lord), and so much more. This meant that I was going against the commonly known meaning of success but I had to rewire my thinking and realize that I will be and that I am successful just not in the sense that the world thinks. When I finally got the email, saying that I was admitted and could commit to the race I was so happy and was glad that it happened.
Commitment
Little did I know that the email would require another leap of faith, It would require me to commit to the race and pay $200 to claim my spot on the squad for the race. That is a big commitment because if for some reason I decided the race wasn’t something I was going to do I would lose out
on that money. It’s not that big of a deal but when your still debating on whether this is something you should be doing and if this is something from the Lord it can be scary to commit. It took me a little while to decide to commit, I want to say it took me a day or two but it might have been a bit longer than that I’m not sure. It also doesn’t help that I got the email about commitment while on winter break, which was eventful for me, because I went to Cru winter conference and Passion one right after another. They were great conferences and I loved them but trying tomake that commitment while i was busy and concentrated on other things was hard. So to be completely honest I might not have done it until i got home. It scared me but at the same time it was the easiest decision to make because I knew this was something that I wanted to do and that it was something from the Lord. The decisions/life changes didn’t stop there and they aren’t gonna stop. It’s crazy what following God can do in your life.
School
The first big thing and decision that I had to figure out after commiting to the race was school. I had to figure out not only how it was going to work for me to be out of school for a year but also how this decision affected my next semester. There were so many changes within less than 2 weeks that looking back it’s so crazy and I can’t believe I did it. I had to talk to my advisor to figure out next semester and how we were gonna revamp my plan of study to make it work for me to
leave for a year without it being to hard for me to come back. Then I had to talk to finacial aid to figure out how that would work if I were to leave school for a year or so and then come back. Then I also had to register for my classes for the next semester. The way it ended up playing out was crazy and my life took a whole turn and changed on a dime. I went from being a full-time on-campus student, living in the dorms, and a part-time job to going to school full-time online, living with my sister in a different town, and working full-time. To say it was a lot of life changes in a small amount of time is an understatement.
Looking back I don’t really know how I did it especially being that I struggle to make decisions for myself with small things let alone big things. I think the biggest take away I have from this is that I am in control of what happens with my life but untimately following the Lord leads me to where I need to be. If you were to ask me a couple months ago, if I were to drop out of school I would have thought you were crazy because the plan I had was gradute with my education degree, start teaching in my own classroom. work on paying off school debt, and just go about living my life but that has change and in big ways. The Lord is faithful and continues to be.
Work
The second big thing was trying to figure out what I was going to do for work. I know that working with kids is my passion and I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else so I started to think of ideas. My first thought was that I would just be a substitute teacher being that I already has my substitute teaching license for school but then I realized that for the classes I needed to take for school that wouldn’t work because it would require me to have to work with the same students reaccuring. So I started to look into other options, the other one that I looked into was working at daycare centers but again didn’t know if it would work with the classes I needed to take so I started to get discouraged and was about to just start applying for other jobs like retail, fast food, etc. but then I remembered that I could possibly be a paraprofessional within the local school district. So I
started to look into it and see if the school had any openings for paraprofessional positions which of course they did. So I applied and got the job pretty much instantly which was a great relief because that was the main thing that I was worried about while moving to my sisters is that I would move there and go to school but not have a job. Which looking back now was irrational and not really possible with the way our world is right now, everywhere is hiring. The reality is that I might not have gotten a job wheere I wanted it but if it woulddn’t have worked out I could have found something else. But that being said, I believe the Lord heard mt worries and provided the job for me because I quit literally applied, had a meeting with the principal just going over my application and the schools policies, and then I was hired to start after winter break. Looking back, it was a blessing from God and it helped so much to have the peace of mind that after my winter break trip I could come back and would have a job.
So What Now?
So my classes this semester were split into 8 week courses… the first 3 classes really pushed me because the course load was a lot to handle while working full-time. I made it throught and passed all my classes which is a blessing in itself because I was really close to not passing and I got really scared. Because like I talked about above, one of the things that scared me about the race was not being successful/not being able to get what I want out of life so being on the verge of passing really pulled at my heart strings in that aspect. I have finished those 3 classes and now have 2 more classes until the end of the semester but those classes are field experience classes so they are easier and don’t have much of a course load. So that being said I have more time on my hands and can focus on preparing for the race, connecting with the Lord more, and just other everyday things. I just had spring break, so I had a lot of time to just relax, chill at home, and be myself which was really nice and I was able to take some time to prepare some things for the race which was good. I also took time to truly foster and grow in my relationship with the Lord being that with all the business the connection with Him was lacking. Taking the time to reconnect and truly take time to set a section of my day out for that was helpful, and has helped me to continue to do that now that I am back at work. The growth that I have seen in these last couple of months not only in my relationship with the Lord but also with myself has been huge and I can’t wait to grow more.
Support
So as brothers and sisters in Christ, I could use all of your support to make this possible through Christ and in His name! Here are ways you can support God’s calling on my life right now for the Race.
- Prayerfully If you feel led to support through prayer, I would love for you to pray for
theseb three areas during this season:
- For reaching out to people to be recieved well and for an anxious thoughts to be done away
- For stress for fundraising and gear to be done away with
- For my squad and myself to have a heart posture for the Lord even while in the states before we leave
- Financially If you feel led to give financially, You can do so online or by venmo. I have to be 25% fundraised, $4,925, by June 9th, 2023. My end goal to be fully funded is $19,700 by December 30th, 2023. It would mean a lot to me to have your support. There are multiple options for giving:
Online: If you give through my donation page there is an option for one-time donation or multiple times (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/august-2023-world-race-11-months/participants/mvonrueden
***This is the best way to donate because it goes directly to my fundraising page.*****
Venmo: My venmo is @Mandy_VonRueden. You can venmo me your donation if that works better for you and I will put it into my donation page but please let me know so that I know you venmoed me.
- Sponsorship or Donations If you feel led to support a different way. I am looking for items for my mission
- Airfare (Airfare is provided from training camp to our first country but not from home to Georgia or back)
Gear- I am in need of some stuff to help out with basic living things while in country. Most of the stuff is provided for us but AIM does ask us to bring a few things. I have created a list of things that I am in need of with hyperlinks.
- Other donations- Can be discussed if none of the above work
I would love to sit down and discuss more if that is something you are interested in please reach out by using the Contact tab on the bottom of the page.
