This 2000 graduate of Maryville High School and alumna of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said God knew that about her. It took a catastrophic injury during her last soccer game at UT to clue her in.

After an anterior cruciate ligament tear, Sterling was at home, in pain and unable to do much of anything as the people around her went on with their daily lives. It was in that alone time that Sterling, who accepted Christ as her savior years ago as a child, began to feel that her plan for her life might not be the one God had in store.

"God kept putting this word in my head: Surrender," Sterling explained. "I was saved as a little girl but I had not really asked God what he wanted me to do with my life. Finally, through all of that, I said, 'God do you have a plan for my life that is different from mine?' And He was like, 'Yeah, I actually do.'"

Sterling was called into full time ministry, in February 2005. Ever since then, she said, her heart has been on fire for missions.

Destination anywhere

Her assignments have included time in Mexico and then several months in New Orleans after the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina. Her initial introduction to disaster relief came when she stopped in Baton Rouge just days after Katrina and witnessed 6,000 evacuees taking refuge in the convention center there. The images from those desperate days remain with her.

"That was my first experience with disaster relief," Sterling said. "People were in the worst period in their lives."

That next year, Sterling decided to drive from Tennessee to Mexico, stopping in New Orleans to check on progress and new friends. A friend who worked for the Baptist Seminary in New Orleans approached her about her summer plans. Sterling had thought she was supposed to go to the seminary in North Carolina but she felt the call of God and the people of New Orleans. She agreed to stay for the summer. But at the end of those few weeks, it seemed the work was only half complete.

"By the end of the summer, I felt like God wanted me there full time," Sterling said. "I ended up moving to New Orleans and staying for 18 months." That was in January of 2007.

While there, Sterling worked for the New Orleans Baptist Seminary, facilitating projects for the large groups of youth, college and adults who came to this mission field. There were sometimes groups as large as 400 who came in for the week.

Expanded horizons

Besides the relief effort there, Sterling was also able to take some classes at the seminary, which included some on missions. She has always been very aware of what is going on globally and did a project on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Those faces on the evening news grabbed her and wouldn't let go.

She began doing research on mission organizations in Africa and found one, Africa Inland Mission, that interested her. Sterling applied as a missionary and was accepted into the program full time. African Inland has been sending missionaries to 18 different countries in Africa for over 100 years.

Sterling's departure date is fast approaching -- June 24. She was required to raise all of her financial support, which amounts to about $1,800 a month. She has spent the last several weeks sharing her story in the community and asking for prayers. She has also made and sold jewelry to make her required goal.

"It's not easy to go that route," Sterling said of the fundraising challenge. "When you are raising your own support you are not just raising financial support. You are raising prayer support too. Just knowing I have hundreds of people praying for me while I am there is so important."

Her home church is First Baptist Church in Friendsville.

What's in store

She isn't nervous about where she is going, despite the toll AIDS and HIV have taken on Namibia. Sterling said one in five adults there is afflicted with either AIDS or HIV. The average life span is 40 years, she said. Most children being born today will lose their parents before they become adults.

Sterling will be working with a social welfare group to provide care for small children. She may be there for up to two years.

Her parents, Charles Sterling and Pam Yarnell support her decision. Sterling said she had a plan for her life like anybody else -- marriage, two kids and a white picket fence -- but that will all have to be on hold for a while. "I threw out my five-year plan a few years ago," she said.

So days from now, this missionary from Maryville will load up her two 45-pound suitcases bound for New York and then Kenya, where she will spend three weeks learning about the cultural and customs of Namibia. She doesn't know for sure even where she will be living, but chances are it will be in a local family's home. That suits Sterling fine. She agrees with this nomadic lifestyle.

She said when she was first accepted as a missionary there, she was imagining living in a remote village instead of the large capital city of Windhoek. "I was prepared to live in a hut," she said. "But I know God has a plan and He knows better than I do where I need to be."

The right focus

When she looks at her life and the opportunities afforded her, Sterling has to stand in amazement. She loves sharing her faith with others and encourages young people to heed God's call in their lives. For some, being on the mission field might be service right here in Maryville, she said. "You can mow your neighbor's yard."

It will be a heart-wrenching experience in Africa as Sterling witnesses firsthand the ravages of disease and poverty and tends to the tiniest victims. As for what lies in store after Africa, Sterling can't know. She said she has taken a path that leads there and another path will be revealed in time. God tells us, this missionary said, to not worry about tomorrow.

"I graduated from college and God sent me to Mexico," Sterling said. "In Mexico, He called me to New Orleans. From New Orleans He has called me to Africa. I trust that I will go to Africa and He will let me know how long to be there and where to go next."