Five Hundred Forty young hearts sold out for Jesus. Surrendered to His will. Ready to abandon everything for Him. Young adults who are kingdom minded, ready to spread the love of God which knows no borders. These 540 peeps, myself included, who thought we’d be spreading the love of Jesus around the world for the next year, have been sent home. 2 months in.
While my heart is broken, I cannot wait for this next season of life. Why? Because I have absolutely NO CLUE what its going to look like. Am I terrified? Absolutely. But what a great opportunity to learn how to lean even more completely on the Lord. These past two months in Colombia changed me in the best ways possible. I walked into this place questioning my faith and with very little boldness. Today, two months later, the Holy Spirit has spoken to me in ways I never could have imagined. He’s shown me what it looks like to love people so unconditionally you can hardly bear to leave them. Jesus has given me a little piece of his heart. Amid all of this craziness and transition, the Lord was and is at work. 1. He allowed us a WHOLE day to say our goodbyes to our sweet friends at Ciudad Refugio. This provided an amazing sense of closure which has helped a lot with the process. 2. One of the boys in the youth group was finally vulnerable and opened up with us the night we left. We’ve been pouring into him the past two months, and what a testimony it was to see him vulnerable, and reading God’s word! Wow the Lord works in crazy ways!
A week ago today we stepped off the plane and began our transition back to life in the States. Being thrown back into the U.S. so abruptly has been incredibly difficult, and there has been lots of grieving of what happened on the trip and what was to come in the next four months. We will all be grieving and processing what happened for months and months to come. But we have to move on. The harvest is ripe in the States and its time to go and make disciples!!
So… what’s next?!
The Lord did not bring us home early to sit around and go back to our previous selves. He’s brought me back to the states with a passion for Him that I’ve NEVER had before. I’m at a point of total surrender, just sitting here with open hands asking the Lord each day, what do you have for me? And He’s answered. God’s opened a door that I am absolutely stoked about. My friend/teammate Matthew is starting up a ministry in St. Louis, and has invited myself and lots of others to join! His parents have graciously opened their doors to us, making it an offer I can’t turn down. There is so much prayer and thought and planning going into this ministry as we speak, but the vision for it is…
– homeless ministry – street worship – house church – prayer walks – local outreach – whatever else the Lord has in store –
We really don’t know what this next season of life is going to bring, I may serve in St. Louis for a month and then head back home, maybe six months who knows. The important thing is that this is not a step of fear but a step of faith. We are expectant that the Lord is going to do great things here, raising up new leaders and new followers of him. I could not be more stoked for this leap of faith, and ask for your prayers as we get this started.
While this past week has been extremely difficult, filled with tears and goodbyes and unexpected turns, the Lord is still great and we can rest in Him and find joy every morning in our sweet Jesus. Lets Get Involved!
Psalms 70:4
let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you
let those who love your salvation
continually say, “God Is Great”
