For the past four months, I’ve been living in direct community with 8 other girls. We’ve shared the same room in Ecuador, Peru, and Guatemala. We are the first people we see every morning and the last people we see at night. We go to the same ministry site together during our days. We are a team of 9 girls who signed up for a long term mission trip to fulfill the great commission. We are a team of 9 girls who signed up to be refined, to give, to sacrifice, to grow, to break, and to be made whole again.
I realize that I’ve spent every day with them, but you haven’t. Let me introduce you to my people. A week ago I prayed about a word that describes the individuals that make up my team. After sharing these words with them, I also want to share them with you.
—
Caela Steele
MAJESTY
You behold the Father with great awe and wonder. You are a daughter enthralled with the grandeur of who her Dad is. Your awareness of His Majesty has created a heart of gratitude within you, in which almost every situation you see the Father before you giving the gift that is good. With your Father being Majesty, it only makes sense that you are royalty, you are beauty, you are wonder, you are good.
Erin Anderson
ADVOCATE
Your heart is a passionate defender of the least of these. You fight for the piece of heaven in others to be brought out and brought forth. At ministry, when presented the opportunity to go home early you chose to stay with me to fight for my dream alongside of me in seeing the painting completed (we were in charge of painting a mural and we had limited time to finish it). You took up my vision and helped me carry it. That is a testament to who you are. You are not one to give up fighting and you stand in the gap until the person you are defending takes up their own arms again. Your gift of spiritual empathy enables you to meet others where they are at, and your advocacy helps lead them to move forward into their dreams.
Maddie Kuykendall
MIRACLE
A miracle is the restoration and reordering of things being the way God designed and created them to be. You are a miracle. You are as miraculous as the great unfolding of the Christmas story to the cross. You are a work of art in the hands of God. You are a masterpiece of layers and textures and colors. You are a story of immense detail. You are God’s self-portrait. You are not a series of sorrows. You are not a cycle of trauma. You are not a downward spiral. You are a daughter delighted in. You are victorious. A crown of life has been placed on your head. God is not finished working miracles within you. You will always be His miracle. You will always be a reflection of the supernatural power and healing of God. You, Maddie, are a miracle.
Julia Yoder
GLORY
You are supernatural. You are captivating because the one who made you is captivating. You are deep and emotional because the one who made you is deep and emotional. God, in His infinite wisdom, is completely expressive. He feels sorrow as mighty as the ocean waves roaring in turmoil and joy as golden as light of a sunrise. He feels both at the same time. Jesus wept at the passing of Lazarus with full knowledge that Lazarus’ day would end in resurrection. It is like God to express sorrow. It is like God to express joy. You bring glory to the Father by being who you are. You are glorious to behold. You are a worshipper.
Jacee Yount
LEADER
You are a woman of influence. Your role is not to be a follower or someone who stands at the back. Your voice matters. The listening prayers that you share with people are so powerful, and they are needed. Your insight makes a difference because the Holy Spirit speaks through you. You were chosen to be the story teller because you are a good leader (the story teller is the person on our squad who encourages us to tell our stories via blogs). The first time you stood up and gave a prompt I was amazed at your authority and confidence- not because I was surprised by your ability, but I think I was surprised at how much you didn’t give yourself credit for. You have important words to say and you say them well. You are a leader. Keep stepping into your influence.
Chase Robinson
CONFIDENCE
There are two words that I wanted to give you- confidence and security. God loves you because He loves you because He loves you. That is security. You have not earned it, but you are worthy of it. You carry yourself securely. You are chosen to be an anchor of hope and confidence in the Lord. You have called upon Him in your time of trouble and He has answered. I know that you have confidence in the Lord. He knows that too. He has confidence in you. When you share what the Lord speaks to you, it changes everything. You do not need permission to share what you hear. You are becoming confident and secure in who you are in the Lord. It is changing everything.
Aly Badinger (My Squad Leader)
HUMILITY
My first memory of you is during a team time at training camp when something you said about honor and vulnerability hit a pressure point for me and my story. You asked me if I was okay and I told you that no, what you said had bothered me. I saw in your eyes that you had no intention to defend yourself. You sought only to understand where I was coming from. You had compassion before knowing my story. From then on I have trusted you to listen to me sincerely. You are rare for many reasons, the one I talk about now is your ability to ask for forgiveness without feeling belittled in your own worth, value, or identity. You carry your identity with authenticity and humility. The Lord is satisfied with you. You are a good and faithful servant of what, and who, the Lord has given you. Thank you for loving with sacrificial love.
Jordan Daigle
LOOKED AFTER
The Lord gave me the word child. You are His child. But it seemed important on His heart to say that you are a child looked after. You are not forgotten. Children at play will often run with their backs facing their parents, chasing their imaginations around with wild excitement. It is not because they feel like they must leave their parents behind to do what they’re doing. It’s because they have full confidence that their parents are watching them, laughing with them, and celebrating their creativity. That is how God intends His relationship with you to be. He has given you a spirit of creativity and a heart of passion to chase away evil and pour out love. He celebrates you because He is a good Dad. You are a child looked after. You are pursuing the freedom to dream and create, and it is good.
Alivia Simpson
SIGNIFICANT
Your presence matters in every space that you step into. You do not go unnoticed. Your ability to be flexible is valuable and your calm spirit is influential. Still, do not feel the need to compromise your convictions or perspectives to favor somebody else. Do not be afraid of challenges or being uncomfortable. It is in the uncomfortable and challenging places that we gain the knowledge of our own significance. It is in hard places that we get to see the power and influence of our own choices. You are significant. Your choices have a powerful effect on those around you. Do not be afraid to step into the uncomfortable and find your influence. You are significant. Your voice matters.
—
My team.
ABUNDANCE
There’s 9 letters of abundance and there’s 9 girls all together. We each have a different personality, a counter perspective, a unique approach of doing something, a capacity of different talents. We are an abundance of quirk and creativity.
Jesus came in order for us to have life, and have it abundantly. With Jesus, life is overflowing. Love is not scarce. We call each other higher because of love. We forgive because of grace. We laugh because of joy. We are a team pressed into seeking the abundant life.
This is the team that the Lord has given me. We are women of God that uniquely and powerfully reflect the heart of our Father. We are resilient world changers. We are created for communion with God and others.
Over the past four and a half months, we have refined each other. We have called each other to boldly step into our identities. When feelings were hurt and when miscommunication brought disunity, we have sought to understand each other. We have given the benefit of the doubt.
This time together will matter for the rest of our lives. This time together has changed us, we are refined to live a life worthy of the callings we have received.
Thank you for the devoted prayers and freely given donations that have sent me here to be a sister.
