what I've learned after four years of college...

When I came to college I thought I had my plan figured out.. I was going to be a nurse, get a good job, get married, have kids, have a cute house,  probably be involved in church but not really taking an active role in its work etc etc. I was very content with enjoying college, making new friends, and having my relationship with Jesus be something that was on the side and irrelevant to everyday life.

 However, that all changed the summer after my freshman year when i went on a trip with my church to an orphanage in S. Africa. It was there that i fell in love. I fell in love with the people of Africa. I fell in love with the culture and atmosphere. I fell in love with the struggles and hardship but also the beauty that was all around. it was also there that I fell back in love with my Savior.The faith of the people I was in fellowship with there just blew my mind.  The believers that I met had so little and struggled in such great and tangible ways and yet they praised God. Some of them did not have food to put on the table for dinner that night and yet they trusted that God would provide (and let me tell you.. he always did). The children had such a contagious joy and hope for the future that I had rarely seen before. It humbled me so much... I realized that although they had nothing according to our standards, they were so very rich.  I realized that in America, I had it all together so i had no need to really trust that God would provide because I could do it for myself. My hardships did not at all compare to what some of these people faced, but still i struggled to praise Him. I realized that i was so easily distracted in the states that my view of God had become so limited and shallow. It was after my view of God changed that I developed a love for sharing about Him to those that were without hope around me.

 The experiences I had in Africa made my transition back to the place I had once called home very difficult. I came back to America very bitter at materialistic Americans and very discontent to live life and do anything productive here. I just wanted to get back to the kids and get back to serving and ministering to the people that I so loved. The next year, I sought out every opportunity I could, to get back to Africa. However, it seemed that as soon as a door would be opened a crack, The Lord would just shut it in my face. I finally came to my senses and realized that The Lord not only wanted me to live on mission in Africa but that He desired for me to live for Him in America as well. I finally realized that the lost weren't just overseas, they were all around me and they need love and need to know my Savior just as much as those overseas. He desired that i be a missionary to Indianapolis. So, I decided to move back to campus and get involved in a ministry where I could share the love of Jesus and invest in people's lives on campus. Little did I know that God would bring the lost right to my own apartment. I was randomly paired to live with this girl who intellectually knew all the right answers but did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. I, reluctantly at first,  was able to spend the next six months investing in her life and loving on her and sharing the gospel with her... Sometimes in a very direct, borderline harsh way ...but by the grace of God, and encouragement and support from other believers in February of last year, Kylie accepted Christ as her Savior. Seeing her life completely transform and seeing God take a hold of her was the greatest gift i could ever been given and it totally changed my perspective of my purpose on this earth. I realized that The Lord desires to use me all the time for His glory and He so wants me enter into the joy that comes from life lived for Him. 

That joy was multiplied when I was finally given the opportunity to go back to Africa and serve for a the whole summer last summer. I went to Ghana west Africa and was able to not only practice  nursing and deliver lots of babies. but I was able to share the gospel with people, some of which had never heard the name of Jesus before. I was able to witness baptisms and discipleship and The Lord really move in people's lives. After that summer, I knew without a doubt that is what The Lord desires for me to do the rest of my life...  I do not know what the next few years look like or how exactly The Lord will use me but I do know that whatever it is He will give me great joy in it and He will be glorified as I hand over my life for His Kingdom. 

I pray that the story of my life will help you see that God has a far greater plan than anything you can dream of for yourself! I wouldn't have dreamed in a million years that my greatest desire would be to go back to a place of no electricity, no running water, and no diet coke! However, I have never had more joy then when I was clearly living in His will. 

I also hope that you understand that you have a role in Gods mission to reach the world! Not all of us are called to be goers...(maybe more than want to admit it?) but all of us do have a role to play. Maybe you are the pray-er? Maybe you are supposed to be the prayer warrior that does not stop ceasing in prayer for the missionaries advancing the gospel around the world. Maybe you are the sender? Maybe The Lord will bless you with resources one day to give to advance the kingdom? Or maybe you are a goer and God is tapping at the door of your heart and urging you to go and see and serve. Please! Listen! And go! All of you no matter what role the Lord desires you to play... Don't sit around waiting for someone else to go overseas or someone else to talk to your roommate or someone else to share with that girl or boy in your class... You never know.. Maybe that someone else is Thinking the same thing...? We are called by the Father to proclaim his name to the ends of the earth so that one day every knee will bow and tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 10:14-15 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”"

This is something I had written in my journal a while ago but found again a few weeks ago and it was a challenge to me and I hope it will ring true for you as well...

"I want it said of me one day that above all I lived to serve and please my Savior. That I loved with a love that was supernatural and a grace that could only come from the example of my love and Savior Jesus Christ."