Hey there everyone!
My name is Isabella Quatraro! I am 22 years old from Flowery Branch, Georgia. I am a member of Flat Creek Baptist Church in Gainesville Georgia, and a recent graduate from Presbyterian College where I studied and doubled majored in Psychology and English. I graduated in May of 2023 with my BA in Psychology, Praise the Lord!
I just got back from serving as a missionary for almost five months in Alaska. It was the most amazing time of my life and confirmed my love for the mission field. Being back for home for about a month I tried to find a job that was stable and the long-term here in Georgia, however the Lord had very different plans! Door after door slammed shut in my face after I got back home. I was starting to really get discourage even though this was my prayer. There were even interviews that I would cry on the way to, calling out to the Lord begging Him to just send me, begging him to just let me be a missionary. You see, for the past three months while job searching I would constantly be praying for the Lord to open the doors that He wanted me to walk though and slam shut the doors that He did not want me to walk though. After about four or five doors being slammed shut I was beginning to feel forgotten and like the Lord did not want me in some kind of ministry even though I thought for sure this is the calling that the Lord placed on my life. After months of job searching and feeling like I was not doing enough and that I was so behind in life I picked up my Bible one day while sitting at the alter at church and the Lord laid Psalm 46:10 on my heart, which most of us know as “Be still and know that I am God” however I noticed something for the first time in my version of the Bible (NASB), the verse actually says “cease striving and know that I am God” Wow! I realized in that moment that I was striving so hard to find a job that would make my family proud or that would make me feel some what successful in the eyes of the world. I was not striving at all for the Lord’s will.
The Lord reviled to me that all I had to do was stop striving for my will and know that HE is God. From there I stopped striving, I just sat and listened for the Lord to speak His next step for my life, and believe it or not, He told me that night. This work prepared by the Lord begin October 2022 when my pastor told me about the World Race, but after looking into it I thought “there is no way that someone like me could do something like this!” However the Lord began a work in me and I would find myself for the next year looking at the website for the World Race at least once a month wishing that I could do something like this. Fast forward a year, I have no idea what I am going to do, the pressure is on to find a job, satan is working overtime to make me feel like I am not doing enough and that I am not good enough for any of the jobs that I am applying for, but God is working even harder closing the doors that I am trying so hard to force myself through and whispering in my ear “take a chance and go look at the World Race website again.” When I finally submitted to God I found myself at the foot of the cross. The Lord lead me right back to the World Race and prompted me to fill out my application and the rest is history!
Now, I am doing my very best t0 prepare for the road ahead of me. There is a lot to get done between now and January 15th when I launch for training camp. Though there are a million thoughts running through my head about all that there is to do and all of the “what if” doubts, I sit on the firm rock of God and know that HE has brought me to this moment and will not stop a work once He begins it! He is such a good God like that!
So, you may ask “why the World Race? Can you not just do missions here at home?”
To that I say you are right I could do that, but the Lord has made it abundantly clear that He is sending me into all of the world because that harvest is plentiful. There are so many in this world that exist around us that do not know the name of God and do not know of a man named Jesus that died on an old rugged cross to offer them the free gift of salvation. since July 12th 2020 at 2:20am, my exact moment of salvation, the Lord has Called me to missions and ministry and though I tried to fight that call for a long time, I know at that exact moment I was not just called into salvation, through the blood of Christ alone, but the Lord also said I can not keep this good news to myself. You see the gospel is not just for me. It is not just for Georgia, it is not just for the South, it is not just for America. The gospel is for every tribe, nation, and people. The World Race because the Lord has been gracious enough to allow an old sinner like me to be washed by the blood of Christ and tell others of the Good news of Jesus Christ!
