THE LOST SHEEP
Sitting in this exact spot one year ago, I was researching and trying to decide what colleges I was going to apply to. I was in a comfortable season of my life and was dead set on following the typical path for American children. After a while, I finally made up my mind that I was going to be a petroleum engineer, following in the footsteps of my dad and siblings. Little did I know, God was about to shatter the whole foundation of the comfortable life I had been living the past 3 years of high school.
I’ve grown up in a Christian home. We went to church every Sunday and I became involved in the youth group at my church once I got into 9th grade. In those moments, I would have considered myself a Christian, but looking back on it, I never truly understood the Lord or the immense love that he had for me in my everyday life. The only time I truly felt connected to God was whenever I would go on mission trips with my church, but that connection would soon die off once I returned to my normal life.
The things I was doing and ways I was acting was putting up a barrier between the Lord and me. Throughout my years in high school I was a lost sheep. I was wandering around following new things which looked tempting, yet I did not realize that I was losing sight of my shepherd. On August 1st 2014 I put myself in a near death situation. (It’s too long to put on this page so I am making another blog post about my salvation experience if you would like to read it). I was only 15 minutes away from dying and all because of the path I had chosen to take.
The Lord really showed me his unfailing love through my true friends who stuck by my side through this scenario. It took me a long time to apologize to all of the people who I had hurt and to come to face the fact that I needed change in my life. My shepherd had finally found me wandering around and was starting to bring me back home. The only way I could continue a happy life would be with God.
Over the next few months, the Lord truly showed himself to me and opened up a path of following him. I had never been happier and it was all because of the love of my Lord and shepherd. All I wanted to do was be able to show others the true power of our Lords love. Because once someone truly recognizes the amazing feeling of love from God, there is no way they would do anything to risk that!
I was sitting down with my friend at her house, when her mom showed us a video of something called the World Race. It didn’t really speak to my friend but that moment literally felt like God grabbed my hand and told me “take a step of faith.” I had never felt so called to something in my life. I took a giant leap of faith, stepping away from the normal path and applied to the World Race Gap Year “3n9.” 3n9 is a mission trip where you travel to 3 different countries in 3 different continents living in each one for 3 months. The goal is to spread the love of God through all types of mission work, doing anything and everything you can for the lord.
Two weeks ago I was accepted into the program and decided on route 3, meaning I will be traveling to El Salvador, Malawi, and the Philippines. I have never been so excited in my life.
The next and biggest step leading up to this trip is fundraising. The trip costs $12,500 which covers all needs including airfare, food, shelter, and all the mission supplies to help all of the other lost sheep in the world. I can’t wait to see what God does within me and to all of those whom I come into contact with. Your prayers for both these six months of preparation as well as the nine months when I am on the trip would be incredibly appreciated. Faith is the biggest and best thing for me to focus on right now because being able to raise so much money is an act of God by itself. I NEED the help and support of EVERYONE to accomplish this task.
If you feel called or led to support me in this huge journey/act of faith, the easiest way to donate is to click the tab on the left side of the page marked “Support Me!” All donations are tax deductible! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and listen to my heart. And I will try to post my salvation experience tomorrow!
Praise the name of our Lord!!!!
P.S. I would love to get together and be able to talk to you and share my thoughts and interest in person!! Please contact me at [email protected]. Or just through the contact me tab!!!
Also click on the “subscribe for updates” button at the top left of the home page to get updates whenever I post something new! This is the website I will be posting on throughout my entire trip!
