We have spent the past two weeks building raised garden beds at the camp/church where we are staying in the Philippines. They are made of cinderblocks and then filled with layers of cardboard, soil, compost, and leaves. I don’t understand all of the science behind it but apparently earthworms like the cardboard and it makes the soil healthier which makes for better crops.
We also organized the preschool/church library and sorted through boxes of donated books. We all enjoyed reliving childhood through some of our finds like the Bernstein Bears (my personal favorite from childhood), Magic Treehouse, Boxcar Children, Junie B. Jones, and Clifford. I’m glad that some of the kids here will get to fall in love with reading and some of these characters just like I did when I was little.
December 27th we got to celebrate our incredible team leader Madison’s 23rd birthday! It was so much fun to celebrate her all day and even attempt to make cookies on a stove (it was a struggle). Our teammate Susan was even able to surprise her with a sweet video of her family singing her Happy Birthday. We were especially glad we got to celebrate the whole day because on the 22nd, we didn’t know it was our pastor’s birthday- his 50th birthday specifically- until dinner time. He did manual labor with us all morning on his 50th birthday! He’s pretty awesome and doesn’t look a day over 35.
As this month wraps up and 2017 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting a lot on this past year and it almost feels like two separate lives. I started the year as a student at TCU and I’m ending the year as a missionary in Southeast Asia. In the last twelve months, I worked as a camp counselor at the place where I found the Lord. I got to help baptize a dear friend and teammate. I built a house in Mexico. I graduated from college. I helped at an orphanage in the mountains of Peru. I interviewed at five different vet schools. I went to Machu Picchu. I had thanksgiving with a bunch of ex-pats. I lost my grandmother. I presented my thesis. The list could go on for weeks. But, the single greatest part of 2017 isn’t on that list.
The best thing that has happened these past 12 months has been an incredible growth within me. I have grown to trust the Lord.
I’ve been a Christian for probably 8-10 years but the past twelve months have shown me what it truly means to trust the Lord. At the end of 2016, I had applied to vet school, set up interviews for some of those applications, and was waiting to hear back from the World Race. I was working on my thesis research and basically just moving toward graduation and professional school. I really didn’t know what was going to happen with grad school or the race. I wasn’t sure if I was willing to turn down going to vet school to do the race. I knew I wanted to go but was it worth it?
By the March of this year, I had everything set up perfectly for me. I had five vet school offers to pursue my dream career in August 2017. I had great friends and family who were all excited for me. But, I also had a World Race acceptance and a journal full of desperate pleas to the Lord asking Him what I was supposed to do.
Seeing as it is now December and I’m writing from the Philippines, clearly I decided to go on the World Race. I finally stopped asking God what I was supposed to do and if this was right or if that was right and I just let Him work everything out for me. I got a deferral to attend vet school starting in August of 2018. I received incredible support from friends and family. All of my fundraising was finished in November. Trusting the Lord has brought abundant blessings into my life.
For so long, I thought I trusted God. I prayed and asked Him for things or thanked Him for things. I prayed for other people and for things I couldn’t control. I prayed but I never gave God the depths of my heart. I wasn’t willing to give up my greatest wants or desires. He could have everything else but He couldn’t have that one dream, that one goal. That was mine and mine alone. I was going to make it happen and I didn’t need anyone’s help- not even the God of the universe. When I finally let go and began to trust the Lord with my whole heart, I was relieved of an enormous pressure to achieve all of those things. Sure, they are still things I want: vet school, a family, etc. but they no longer have a chokehold on my life. God has shown me that His way is better. It doesn’t mean everything will be easy and it doesn’t mean that every desire of my heart will be realized, but it means that I will have life abundant at the hand of my savior.
So thanks 2017. You’ve been one heck of a year and I can’t even begin to imagine what the Lord has in store for 2018.
Thanks for being a part of this journey and as always, please let me know how I can pray for you as this year comes to a close!
