Three and a half years ago my life
was changed forever after I spent 52 days working with orphans in the
Philippines. While preparing for this
trip I knew that my life was going to change, but I wasn’t prepared for the
extent to which it was about to change.
The Bible teaches us that we are to care for orphans. I read these verses and felt convicted to
help. Perhaps I had always felt this
way, but I didn’t know what it really meant to love the brokenhearted and care
for the orphan. But after my 52 days in
the Philippines I understood good and well what the Bible was talking about and
what God was teaching me. The message is
simple: There are children in need; Go help them.
This
simple revelation, go help them, changed my life and propelled me to move to
Louisville where I could learn more about missions and what my options are for
service to God. Along the way I
discovered Ninth and O Baptist Church, which has helped me to grow in my faith
in ways that I had never grown before. I
would not be where I am today without this church. Louisville also brought me to Southern
Seminary, where I was blessed to spend a year studying under some of the best
professors in the world.
After a
year of full time studies, I stepped away from Southern and began teaching full
time. At first I was uncertain of this
path, but now I know that it was the right one.
I felt that God had called me to work with orphans, with the poor, with
those who so desperately need God. So
why would God put me at Valor? And why am I working with children who are
living in abundance? Well, their
abundance is nothing without the wonderful salvation that God brings. My students are a blessing to me and I hope that
I am a blessing to them as well. They
are my mission field. It is my job not
only to teach them geography and grammar, but how to live lives that are
pleasing to God. Furthermore, I can tell
them about the things that I have seen and the lessons that I have learned in
hopes that someday they would be inspired to help others in need. I need to remember that God is my focus and bringing
Him glory is my foremost task no matter where He has put me.
And so
here I am, 3 ½ years later, living in Louisville, feeling completely blessed,
surrounded by loving friends, and learning as much as I can about God. For the past 3 ½ years I have also been
praying that God would provide me with another opportunity to work with
orphans. I don’t really care if this
opportunity is here in the states or overseas, short term or long term, as long
as I am going. And now God has answered
my prayers. In November Ninth and O
announced that our church would be taking a short term trip to a ministry in
Ethiopia called ‘Eyes That See.’ And
about 5 seconds after the trip was announced I knew that I was going. I was an answer to my prayer. I just knew right away that I was going. The trip is in October and will require me to
take about 2 weeks off work in the middle of the school year, but I am
going. The trip is really expensive, and
is far beyond my means to go, but God will provide.
The trip is 8 months and 6 days
away and I am impatiently awaiting the day when the plane takes off. I am praying for the kids, the workers, and the
country as I wait. I am praying for
me. I am praying for my team (whom I have
yet to meet). I am praying for my parent’s
nerves. I am praying for the funding to come through. I am praying for my class next year that I will
have to abandon for 2 weeks. But mostly I
am praying that God will use this opportunity for His glory and that He will
use me in whatever way pleases Him and that He will give me direction for my
life after this trip. I am praying that
God will intervene and use me because I am nothing without Him.
So here we are at the beginning of
a new story. Which will be so brief, yet
requires preparation that will take so long.
If you love me and would like to be a part of my story, then please pray
for me as I walk this road. I am not
afraid to go overseas as long as I know I have people praying for me here. So please, if you want to be a part of my
journey, pray. My journey will truly be
impossible without prayer. I don’t know
many details about my trip yet, but if you want to know more keep checking this
blog.
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the
cause of the Fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” Isaiah 1:17
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