When I was 15, I had a call to missions placed on my heart and I surrendered my life to that call upon returning home from my first mission trip. Then, I took matters into my hands and told God to "hold on" while I pursued my dream of going to college and earning a degree. While I know there is something to take out of my time at Baylor, the last three years has only led to frustration over whether to follow my chosen career path or my calling.
I can no longer be frustrated because within the last two weeks, God has moved swiftly and made it known that He's tired of me putting His plan to the side!! Let me tell you how God has shown up lately:
1. Last fall I was offered an internship where I would live and work in Haiti for two months. I unfortunately turned down that opportunity. Last Monday would have been the day I left the US and my heart was full of regret weeks before that date. The week before, I received a message from a friend I haven't heard from in awhile. The message was only, "when is your next trip to Haiti?" That's it.....then I didn't hear from him for a week.
2. I had a water emergency in my apartment that Saturday and my landlord came over to fix it. When he arrived, he looked puzzled and asked, "why are you here? I thought you were supposed to be on the mission field." I was shocked! I didn't tell him about Haiti. Unbeknown to me, my roommate had told him, but I thought that was a message from God.
3. On my way to The Porch on Tuesday, I received a text from my mom that was a sure message from God:
"You need to defer your half of the loans and let us drive your car and you go where you need to go. Pray about it."
Wow!! In the middle of Dallas rush hour traffic, I started crying. She knew I was called to Haiti the moment I got in the car when she picked me up at the airport last year after my trip to Ferrier. It's amazing how God can soften everyone's hearts and pull things together at the perfect time.
4. On Thursday I went to work and spoke with the missions pastor. I wanted to know if there were any Haitian churches, neighborhoods or people he knew of in the Dallas area. Not only did he know of one, but the intern in pastoral care is from Haiti. Of course, God! I went down the hall and introduced myself. His face lit up and his accent appeared the moment I showed interest in his home country. His family still observes Haitian culture and he's even teaching his children Creole. Wow! I had been praying, asking God to show me the purpose for my job at First Dallas and here it was. This man offered to teach me Creole and to come over for dinner so he and his wife could teach me the culture and eat traditional Haitian food. Praise the Lord! ( I LOVE Haitian food!)
5. This man also gave me a contact name of a friend of his that is moving to Haiti next year. Later in the day Thursday, the intern came to my desk and said after calling his friend, he found out there was a missions fair with 40 agencies at Dallas Theological Seminary that day and Friday and I should go. I went Friday morning and met the friend. Thursday evening I had contacted a missions agency about a conference they were having at the end of the month for people going through the steps of getting into international missions. When I met this man, he was traveling through this agency! Another God thing there! He was able to answer the questions I had that day.
Needless to say, God is moving in BIG ways. I know it's all Him because, although I think about Haiti every single day, I wasn't fervently pursuing moving there right now. God has other plans and I am now ready to buy a one-way ticket. Currently I am praying about where exactly the Lord wants me and what I should be doing. I have connections and have traveled to the northern part of Haiti, but for some reason, I feel like God is wanting me in the south. This is blowing my mind because I have no connections there. My passions are clean water and women's rights/education. Right now, I'm leaning more towards spreading the gospel through women's rights/education.
As my friends, family and readers I want to ask for your support. Please be praying that God would reveal where He wants me in Haiti, what to do and for how long. There are still a lot of questions, but one thing is for sure: I'm supposed to be in the beautiful country of Haiti long-term and I'm SO EXCITED! If you feel led to financially support me in any way through this, please comment or contact me. I will know more about finances after the conference this month, but it's never too early to get started. Thank you in advance for the support, whether that's through money or prayers, and/or both!
5. This man also gave me a contact name of a friend of his that is moving to Haiti next year. Later in the day Thursday, the intern came to my desk and said after calling his friend, he found out there was a missions fair with 40 agencies at Dallas Theological Seminary that day and Friday and I should go. I went Friday morning and met the friend. Thursday evening I had contacted a missions agency about a conference they were having at the end of the month for people going through the steps of getting into international missions. When I met this man, he was traveling through this agency! Another God thing there! He was able to answer the questions I had that day.
Needless to say, God is moving in BIG ways. I know it's all Him because, although I think about Haiti every single day, I wasn't fervently pursuing moving there right now. God has other plans and I am now ready to buy a one-way ticket. Currently I am praying about where exactly the Lord wants me and what I should be doing. I have connections and have traveled to the northern part of Haiti, but for some reason, I feel like God is wanting me in the south. This is blowing my mind because I have no connections there. My passions are clean water and women's rights/education. Right now, I'm leaning more towards spreading the gospel through women's rights/education.
As my friends, family and readers I want to ask for your support. Please be praying that God would reveal where He wants me in Haiti, what to do and for how long. There are still a lot of questions, but one thing is for sure: I'm supposed to be in the beautiful country of Haiti long-term and I'm SO EXCITED! If you feel led to financially support me in any way through this, please comment or contact me. I will know more about finances after the conference this month, but it's never too early to get started. Thank you in advance for the support, whether that's through money or prayers, and/or both!
