My year as 23.

Have you personally
seen a change in yourself this year?

Do you know that your
life has personally changed another life for the sake of Christ?

Another year goes by and I look back on my life. Asking
myself if I have changed?  Wondering if I
have blessed others lives, if Christ would see my past year and say “Well done
good and faithful servant.”

 

These are questions that I wonder and what I was asking
myself on my 24^th birthday 4 days ago. Another amazing year has
flown by, and it’s crazy to think of what my year as 23 years old held. It was
a year that I was blessed to visit not just 11 countries but 16. I ministered
in countless and sometimes hilarious ways to people of all languages, colors,
and religions. But more than those things, it was a year of personal
transformation and change.

1 Timothy 4:7-8
says,

“Train yourself to be
godly. For physical training is of the same value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both
the present life and the life to come… we put our hope in the Living God, who is the Savior of all men and especially
of those who believe.”

My year as 23 was a year of training myself in godliness and
a journey that took my heart captive by God. It was a year of surrendering my
right, expectations, relationships, dreams, and future. A year where I felt God’s
love and presence so thick that all I could do was bow in worship and
thanksgiving. It was a year I saw God provide for my finances, bringing over
$15,000 in my account! I learned what it meant to trust God in a deeper level
and to experience his perfect faithfulness. I saw God answer prayers in some of
the most personal and beautiful ways, speaking to the secret places of my
heart.

 

 

 

There are people that I will always cherish: the Cambodian families
that brought me in their homes, offering me their best when they had nothing. People
like my Kenyan brothers dancing with all their hearts at the small African
church or my Nepalese family wading through rivers with me as we hiked and laughed
for hours on our way to share the Gospel with Buddhist. I’ll never forget being
in the home of a Rwandan believer as she shared the story of her and her
children surviving the horrible genocide 17 years ago by hiding in the bushes
with a new born baby having no clothes or food, but seeing her praise God for
his goodness and their survival, even though they lost her husband and older sons.
  There
are countless men and woman whose testimonies deepened my love for Christ and challenged
my faith and trust in God.

 

My life has changed. My heart has exploded with crazy love
for Jesus more than I thought possible. I know that in all things God is good
and that my ministry and life won’t stop when I reach America. God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever, so with each day that passes I will cling to His
faithfulness and hope.

Thank you to all who have followed this crazy, up and down journey
of faith in my life! I couldn’t have done it without your prayers, encouragement,
and support. Who knows the things that your prayers accomplished for God’s
kingdom and the freedom that your prayer brought!

But there is more to come! I am no longer 23. The year of 24
has begun and with that comes the next step of faith in God’s plans. God has
prepared me for something wild and great, a life as a disciple.

Will I be in American
or overseas??

I’ll let you know on my next blog!

Much love!