It came to me right after Christmas as I was lying in bed. A plan. Not my own but God’s. I had been reading a book about success and how true success isn’t a destination or simply achieving a goal. It’s a continuous journey. Success is knowing your purpose in life, continuing to grow yourself to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. I knew my purpose in this life was to build the kingdom but I had no idea what that looked like. God had told me two things that he was calling me towards during my 3 months in Guatemala: orphans and missions. There is literally so many possibilities to that which made it so exciting. It was a small amount of direction that I knew the Lord was going to build off of. And so he did.
He gave me this business plan to open a coffee shop that organizes mission trips that go all over the world. A business that churches can partner with to send its members out to change their lives. And the coffee shop would also start programs for the homeless and college age in the community. Immediately I felt it. The excitement and the feeling of impossibility. But they always say if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough. I knew it was from the Lord because it lined up with what he had spoken in Guatemala about my calling towards missions but what about orphans? I was confused but eventually had peace thinking that I would be taking mission trips and that their was a high possibility that we would be working with some orphans. And that’s true, but that’s not all God was trying to tell me. I was reading one morning and in Colossians 1:21 it says, “Once you were alienated from God…” And I realized that all of us are orphans if we are separated or don’t know our heavenly father’s love for us. It was a pretty cool and exciting realization. I am called to fight for all orphans whether they have lost their earthy father or don’t know their heavenly one.
I am so blessed to have a plan. I will have WiFi for the first time in a couple of days at debrief. I plan to apply to Eastern New Mexico University. There I’ll study business while taking every mission trip I can get my hands on and interning at other mission organizations to make connections and get a feel for how to do the thing. If you have any suggestions of mission trips or organizations to partner with I would love to hear them! If not, just pray that I would continue to hear the Lord’s voice clearly in the steps he wants me to take to get where I am going.
Ethiopia is such a cool place to find my calling. I am so blessed.
