There I was, eight years old and in third grade. I sang “This Little Light of Mine” all the time, and every night I prayed, “Jesus, shine through me.” I had no idea where this prayer would take me, but at eight years old, it was sincere and heart felt.
At the time, my family was making plans to go to Israel together on a mission trip. The moment I heard about the potential to serve God in this real and practical way I started saving every penny I came across. The trip was all I could talk about. I remember talking to my church friends on a Wednesday night about the adventure I was going on with my family in the summer and all of the awesome things I would see and get the chance to do. I was beyond excited and ready to share the love of Jesus with people on the other side of the world. Well, friends… that trip never happened. I. Was. Devastated.
I quickly recovered from the blow, as any other third grader would. Summer came, the pool opened, swim team started and the sun rose sooner and set much later. Long summer days were packed with playing Rummy at adult swim and sharks and minnows at kid swim, 5 cent Warheads, and a constantly sunburned nose.
The possibility of a mission trip to Israel came up a few more times during the years following third grade but nothing ever came of it. Fast forward five years. My prayers still consisted of “Jesus, shine through me,” and my desire to be a light wherever I went was still at the core of my being.
So, five years later when I was in eighth grade and thirteen years old, I attended a Christian conference in December 2008, in Missouri. There, I found myself in the midst of close friends and strangers alike praying over me. One of the strangers told me the Lord gave him a picture of me and asked if he could share it with me. I eagerly opened my heart to the man’s words:
“I see you on a mountain, with a backpack, loving the unloved, untouchable, and unwanted.”
As the words escaped his mouth, I knew in my heart of hearts that this picture was, without a doubt, a picture of me doing the Lord’s will. It was a picture of a light shining into the dark places of the world. I held onto this picture in my heart and continued to pray, “Jesus, shine through me.”
The next year, in 2009, I went on a mission trip to the Philippines to teach dance to missionary kids. On one of our days off, the team met with Alex Kuhlow who founded Threads of Hope, a ministry in the Philippines that provides thread for women to make bracelets for profit to provide for their families rather than sell themselves for sex. This was my first encounter with human trafficking. The Lord completely broke my heart that day.
Helping Alena make a bracelet in Puerto Galera, Philippines (2009).
Upon returning home, I researched human trafficking and found a local effort that had just gotten started called Richmond Justice Initiative (RJI). I began volunteering and soon was added to the staff. Through high school and college, I served with RJI and went on many mission trips through my church. That little prayer I prayed since I was in elementary school was still prayed frequently, only it looked a little different now:
“Jesus, shine through me. Take me deeper into your heart for the unloved, untouched, and unwanted. I trust you.”
RJI event (2012).
God began taking me deep into his heart for justice as I immersed myself in statistics and stories of modern-day slavery and worked in the anti-trafficking movement. I felt his hand pressing me into a life of ministry in which Luke 4:18-19 served as my daily affirmation of this calling.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Enter the World Race! Freshman year of college I stumbled upon AIM’s website, and I told my parents that I was going on the Race when I graduated. I held onto the idea through the seasons and sometimes thought it would never happen or that I wouldn’t ever be ready for such a crazy adventure as this.
But, the Lord takes us very seriously when we sincerely pray that he shine through us and take us deeper. In March 2014, I found myself applying for the WR. On April 24, 2014, I received the phone call that opened up a new chapter in my adventure with God. Now, here I am, letting the Lord prepare my heart to share his love, joy and light and to proclaim healing, liberty, and freedom to the oppressed and captive people of the world. I wish I could find that man who spoke those words over me in 2009 and rejoice with him in the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord! God is sending me to the mountains, with a backpack, to love the unloved, untouched, and unwanted!
The World Race is exciting, terrifying, and exhilarating all at the same time. I find myself wondering if I will ever be fully prepared for the ministry the Lord is calling me to. But the Lord constantly reminds me that it isn’t about how ready I am. It is about how willing I am.
I assure you, if you ask the Lord to shine through you and take you deeper into his heart for the unloved, untouched, and unwanted, and you go before Him with a willing heart, He will take you seriously. He will take you on the greatest adventure of your life.
You see, you don’t have to have it all together. I can testify to that! I am far from perfect, I am prideful and stubborn, I regularly stumble over my words and have to start my sentences all over again, I worry about things out of my control… but I have a willing and passionate heart to go where the Lord sends me. And I trust him.
That is all it takes. Willingness. Trust. Passion.
So pray that He shines through you. Pray that He takes you deeper into His heart. It might just be the best, and most adventurous thing you ever chose to do!
Indian children writing my name in Hindi (2010).
