Hello friends. I am Christy Belle McPherson. I am the youngest of 9 children and was born on June 29th, 1999. For the past 40 years my family has attended Covenant Life Church in Atlanta, GA. I grew up in a stereotypical home schooled, farm grown, big family kind of deal. Most of my friends when I was a child were mostly like me in the sense of this stereotype. My family first moved to Buford when there were no subdivisions, clothing stores, restaurants, or anything really in the area. Now, however, it is part of metro Atlanta and is home to the mall of GA. My childhood was very simple but could also have been a reality show.
My freshmen and sophomore year I attended Heritage Academy, a Christian universal model school, where all of my other siblings spent their high school years at and graduated from. I, on the other hand, moved up to a log cabin, in the middle of the woods, on top of a mountain, in Dahlonega in April of 2015 due to my parents retirement. I can honestly say I like it better in Dahlonega than Buford; less traffic and slower pace of life really hit it for me. But at first it was not like that at all. I, in fact, hated this redneck small-town that I was supposed to call my home. Culture shock is a good word for what I was feeling. Being the first child to go to a public school was a bit confusing and hard… still is hard honestly, but I eventually got into the flow of things. I went into my junior year wanting to be miss popular and feel accepted. It was different for me, it messed with my identity. But that’s a whole other story.
Growing up I had absolutely no desire to be a missionary or go overseas for radical trips. I wanted to live on a quaint farm with a perfect husband who went to work every day and have many little children of my own. My perspective changed extensively after going to Jamaica on a school mission trip the summer after sophomore year. God solidified my calling as an overseas missionary a month later when I was at a church youth camp. This past summer I went to Guatemala for a month which was by far the best experience I have had in my 17 years of life. I grew so much and saw God work in new ways, the trip was definitely a reassurance for my future. Now I am passionate about serving farm owners in poor countries who don’t have much, comforting a widow who grieves for her dead husband, and showing the love of Jesus to children who I don’t even know.
God has called all of to different fields of ministry. He plants different passions in our hearts so that His Kingdom will thrive. We are His vessels, now we must go.
