About this time a year ago, I was in Uganda on the
World Race. It was my turn to give the word and I asked God what I should say. He
told me to tell them who they are. What I’d been learning up to that point and
what I am still learning is my identity in Christ and what that means. What it
means to walk in the authority God is giving me and live out His dreams and
desires for me. As He gives me more and more of His heart, I am realizing His
desire for His children to wake up into their God given identities and do what
He has created them to do: to love God and love people, to live out of their
identities and not their inferiorities, and to passionately pursue the dreams
He gives them.
This message is the same for the people of Uganda as it is for the people of Ukraine
as it is for the people of the United
States. God is the same throughout all of
time, space and place, and His heart for His children to know Him is the same. That
is probably the biggest thing I’ve seen God moving in around the world, and
where my passions and the needs of this world intersect.
I want to see this generation raised up as one believing the
truth about their identity in Christ and walking boldly in the Lord’s will for
their life. I have been so blessed to be given this truth and the opportunities
the last two years to learn what it means and walk it out-to be Christ with
skin on to a hurting world.
It was on my recent trip to Peru that the Lord gave me more
clarity in my overall calling. I had an amazing time pouring into, praying for
and discipling the 10 high school students on my team. I have always had a
settled conviction that what we do now matters for the next generation. Maybe
it was being raised in the home of a journalist and a teacher, but I clearly
see why it matters to care about what is going on now as to how it will affect
the future, and to educate and encourage the next generation into greatness.
About a week after returning from Peru, I was listening to a sermon
called Chazown by Craig Groeschel. It is also an awesome book and talks about
asking God for His specific vision for your life. I had been getting
discouraged, feeling the dreams I had for seeing the Asian countries of Thailand and Hong Kong come alive in Christ,
seeing revival in America,
starting with the youth, and starting an organization in East
Africa for young women’s university scholarships and leadership
development were so utterly disparate that they couldn’t all be from the Lord.
And God gave me a vision statement for my life that
incorporated all three-he’s so clever like that: You are to pour into
the next generation, awaken them into their God-given identities and talents,
and help provide the resources they need to bring kingdom and change the world.
So it is with that unified vision statement that I am taking
the next step forward. I am leading a four month missions trip to Guatemala this
fall with 20 college students. I am so excited to see what God does and how
lives are changed, both American and Guatemalan, as we passionately pursue the
Lord and all He has put on our hearts.
