“Are You Willing?” — Why I’m Going on World Race

Hello friend! I am so excited to announce that I will be joining the World Race Expedition trip from January to November of 2025. This means that I will be traveling to six different countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda) to share the love of Jesus and spread the gospel. This opportunity fills my spirit with so much joy, and I am honored to be able to walk the Great Commission globally and further the Kingdom. Before I continue to share about this wonderful and exciting opportunity and the calling that God has placed on my life with you, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself!

My name is Areonah (pronounced: Ar-ee-on-ah) Rogers. I am 22 years old and was born and raised in Michigan. I went to school for Paralegal Studies straight out of high school and have been working full time as a Paralegal for the past two years at a law firm that specializes in family law. I have also had the honor of being a youth leader at my church (shout out CAG!!) for the past two years for both middle and high school girls, whom I absolutely adore. I am the oldest of four and have a younger sister, Betsy (21), and two younger brothers, Easton and Drew (19 and 14). I love all things outdoors (God is seriously the most incredible artist and I will forever be in awe of His creations!!) and when I am not at work or church, I can often be found going for a hike/walk, watching sunsets, or sitting outside to get into the Word or other book, write, or to simply observe the beauties of nature.

Now that I’ve introduced myself, some of you may be wondering why I would want to give up 11 months of my life, leave behind everyone and everything I’ve ever known, abandon the comforts and security of the American lifestyle, quit my job, and live out of a backpack. I admit, it sounds a little bit crazy.

But the simple and powerful truth that I am deeply loved by the Lord has absolutely and utterly wrecked every part of my being to the point that there is nothing I desire more than a life rooted firmly in the Lord and spending my every waking moment furthering His Kingdom. If that means chasing Him to the ends of the earth, then I am willing. If that means laying down life as I’ve known it—my comforts, my security, and my plans—I am willing. Over the last two years, the Lord has been completely transforming my heart and calling me to walk in boldness—which, in the spirit of vulnerability, has not been easy at all.

The first time that I looked into World Race was in 2021. My mom knew that I was looking into traveling and texted me a link to their website. While I thought that World Race seemed cool, at the time, I was looking into organizations that were not faith-based and I quickly brushed it off. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2024 that World Race came up again. Before I continue to share more about what led me to go on World Race, it is important that I first share about the call that God placed on my life.

My passion for missions began some time ago. When I was in 6th grade, I read the book Kisses from Katie for the first time. My heart was deeply moved and inspired by Katie’s testimony and the calling that God had placed on her life. It broke my heart to think about those who had yet to even know the name of Jesus, and even though at that point, I knew very little about the Great Commission, I recognized that there was a need, and the ache in my heart prompted a response. I vividly remember finishing the book and just having this sense that He was asking me to step forward and fulfill this need. From that day forward, the desire to share the gospel, to love the unreached and the lost, and to serve His children was cultivated within me year after year.

Don’t get me wrong, even though His call never stopped tugging on my heart, it took me up until 2023 to embrace that call and stop running from it. For many years, I allowed the enemy to sow fear and doubt into my life and before I knew it, those emotions ruled me. Fear and doubt became an avenue for insecurity, inadequacy, disqualification, and rebelliousness. I quickly found myself in a place of distance from the Lord, which brought a lot of darkness and pain. However, the God that we serve always works what the enemy meant for evil, for His good. God truly does not allow any season to go to waste (Romans 8:28). Those years of brokenness brought me to my knees, and it was there that His heart was revealed and my life began to be transformed.

Over the past year, the deep-seated ache in my heart for missions has only grown. The closer I have become to Jesus, the more it became clear that it was time for change. To put it simply, I was sick of worshiping my preference of God and only being willing within the parameters of my comfort zone.

In December of 2023, the phrase “are you willing” was weighed heavily on my heart, and I knew without a doubt that this phrase would heavily impact my 2024. As I meditated on that phrase, God whispered that the socially acceptable thing was not always the Godly thing. The question, “how far are you willing to go for Jesus” entered my mind and was brought up continually for weeks in varying but undeniable ways. It was then that I knew God was calling me to a place where the old could not follow.

In January, I saw a post from a childhood friend sharing how she committed to the World Race Expedition trip for August of 2024. As I was reading her caption, the tug on my heart intensified, and I knew that World Race was something that I needed to revisit. After praying into it, I decided to message my friend and find out more about her experience. The more that I discussed World Race with her, researched on my own, and prayed into it, the more certain I became that God was leading me in this direction. Confirmation after confirmation came, and the tug on my heart continued to grow.

As I considered applying, the question “are you willing?” came again, and I was left contemplating my “yes”. Despite the confirmations I received, the magnitude of this decision weighed heavily on me, and it was hard to shake the fear and anxiety that accompanied the thought of stepping into the unknown. I wanted to give God my everything but was having a hard time moving forward in complete surrender. Even though my feelings were conflicting, I decided to step out in faith and trust that the Father had already gone before me to prepare the way or would redirect me back to His will.

After applying, I had to partake in an interest call with some of the leadership from World Race. While I was excited to take this step, I was extremely nervous, to the point that I almost backed out about a half hour before the call. BUT when that moment struck where I became overwhelmed by the voices of fear and doubt, a whisper entered my heart, “My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) I am not exaggerating when I say I was immediately filled with an abundant peace that covered my heart and mind and silenced every other voice besides His (*praise report* to this day, the promise of the Lord has stood firm and that sense of peace has not left!!!). That reassurance from the Lord allowed me to move forward in the interview process with confidence, peace, joy, and surety.

As I counted the cost before committing, it became clear that my only reasons to not say yes to God and pursue World Race were either rooted in fear, doubt, or selfishness. I was reminded of the verse “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life, loses it, and whoever hates his life in the world will keep it for all of eternity.” (John 12:24-25) In that moment, I felt as though God was extending His hand, asking if I was willing to lay it all at His feet and step into the life He had been calling me to. As I prayed and considered committing to World Race, it all came back to the phrase God weighed on my heart in December about my willingness:

How far was I willing to go for Jesus? Was I willing to chase His call over everything that I had ever known? How much was I willing to surrender? Was I willing to step outside of the parameters I erected to “save” my life and lose my life for His sake, no matter the cost or what it looked like?

Was I willing to pick up my cross and follow Him?

As I contemplated those questions and my willingness, the answer bubbled up within me, and my spirit cried out a resounding and overjoyed yes! 

I am completely in awe of how the Lord has revealed Himself throughout this process so far, and I am so excited to see all of the ways He will continue to move. It feels so surreal to be able to walk out the call that God placed on my heart 10 years later, and I am so grateful that He has given me this opportunity to serve. It is truly such a joy to lay down my life for the Lord, and such an honor to say yes to Him and to serve His Kingdom globally. 

We serve a God of the supernatural who is exceedingly faithful, relentlessly loving, abundantly merciful, and amazingly good, and I firmly believe that His glory will be revealed in miraculous ways to those my squad will minister to overseas, to you, and to me.

If you would like to pray over me and my squad as we prepare for the journey ahead, here are some prayer points:

– That the hearts of all who God calls to support us would be moved and that they would be willing;

– That all who are called to go respond;

– That our squad is able to cultivate biblical relationships with foundations firmly rooted in the Lord; and

– That each racer would be sensitive to the will and voice of the Father as we prepare.

My hope and prayer is that through this journey, God will use this blog to speak to YOU, His beloved child—to inspire, to encourage, to mold in His image, and to stir up and magnify faith.

Friend, I may not know your story or how the Lord has spoken to you, but I do know this: we all have a call on our lives to love God, love people, and live to serve. We may have been fortunate enough to have known the relentless love of the Father and the freedom and truth of the gospel for most, if not all of our lives, but there are many who have not had that same opportunity. That call to love and to serve can look different for you than it does for me, as we were each created uniquely with specific purpose in mind, but it still stands and each of us must respond.

Are you willing to say yes? 

Joyfully His,

Areonah