Though I was blessed to be raised in a Christian household, and have been following Christ as long as I can remember, God has been working on me this past year to bring me along from someone who knows and believes in Him, into a passionate disciple who just wants to breathe in His presence and soak in His word. I no longer want to be content with crossing off “quiet time” from my to-do list: I want to walk in His presence every waking moment of my day.
For the past 4 ½ years, my husband Gary and I have been passionate about volunteering in our church’s junior high youth ministry program. This past summer, we were blessed to lead a group of students to Tijuana (with AIM) for our first-ever student missions trip. It was an amazing time to model leaving one’s comfort zone to serve Christ, and we were thrilled to see our students rise to the challenge and allow God to work through them in many different ways.
As God has been increasing my appetite to do His work, I have been increasingly uncomfortable about being surrounded by lukewarm Christians unwilling to leave their comfort zone. I yearn to partner with other Christians that are willing to leave everything to serve God, to encourage them and be encouraged by them. I long to serve God in areas of great need, and hopefully make a difference for Him. My husband and I strongly believe that the Lord led us to apply for this trip, and is going to teach us and grow us in these areas. I hunger to experience the “plentiful harvest” that Jesus talks about in Matthew and I want to be one of His workers. I want to open the eyes of my peers to the reality of what is going on in other places. I’ve looked into short-term mission opportunities before, but none had called to my heart the way this one has. I simply cannot stop thinking and praying about it, and praise God for this opportunity.
Other interests of mine include scrapbooking, knitting, blogging, ballroom dancing, colorguard, hiking, and cheering on the University of Southern California Trojan Football Team! Fight On!
