In the past four months we have spent in Asia I have eaten SO much passion fruit – whether that be in the form of popsicles, juice, candy, or simply the fruit. I have discovered that I absolutely love passion fruit! But more than eating this delicious fruit in Asia, I feel like God showed me more of what I am passionate about.
One of the reasons why I wanted to go on the World Race was to figure out what I am passionate about. A lot of my friends are passionate about fighting against human trafficking, working with high school students, or helping with kids’ ministry. Before the Race, I felt like I really wanted to pour my heart into serving God in some sort of ministry outside of my nursing job, yet I had no clue what that would look like for me.
During our sixth month in Thailand, I felt like God answered my prayer for this. I have always loved encouraging others and I feel like this is one of my Spiritual gifts, but one night while we were worshipping, I felt the Lord more specifically put on my heart that I have a desire to make others feel seen and known. There have been times in my life where I have felt unseen and unnoticed by those around me. At times, I have felt like an outcast in groups of friends and have felt uninvited. Because of these feelings, I have a desire to make others feel invited, seen, and heard.
In addition to making people feel seen and known, I also really value discipleship. In college, I was discipled by a couple of wonderful women whose lives radiated Jesus. I was impacted so much by these women’s examples and they helped me to follow Christ more closely in my own life. Because of this, I want to disciple other women and encourage them to seek after Christ in their own lives. Jesus calls us to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20) and this is exactly what I want to do.
Although this passion of mine doesn’t point to a specific place, as of late, I feel like the Lord is calling me to do this wherever I end up after the Race. I am so excited to see what He does with this and I pray that He would use these passions to further His Kingdom wherever I am.
