I have arrived to Adana, Turkey, where I will be spending month 11 and serving this community. After over 40 hours of travel on 3 different buses and one night in Istanbul, the Lord has brought me to a beautiful country to serve Him and His people. Turkey is absolutely lovely and such a wonderful country. It is the first first-world country I have been to since December in South Africa. I am reminded of many things from home in the few short days I have been here, and my time here will help with my adjustment back to America at the end of this month.
Excited we made it Turkey for month 11 by the bay, fun in the park with Katie Stoddard and Megan Frazer, and street kids getting ice cream at Burger King without any shoes on.
My time will be spent serving alongside a local community of believers. I am not sure what this looks like yet, but I am pumped to see how the Lord is going to use me here this month. I cannot believe it is already month 11, and I am in awe of all the wonderful adventures these 11 months have held. Every day, I continue to have new experiences and have my eyes opened to new cultures and ways of life different than my own. I am so very blessed and grateful for all that has happened these 11 months. The greatest joy comes from opening my heart to serve the Lord and willingness to give Him my life for His kingdom, to serve Him wherever He takes me and however He desires to use my giftings for His glory.
First Fro-yo since month 3 in Vietnam in Adana, views of the bay in Istanbul and the top was taken on a ferry ride to the Asian side of Istanbul(Turkey is both in Europe and Asia but most of the country is in Asia).
Reality is that this amazing Kingdom journey is coming to an end and God is preparing me for the next season of my life. Through the bittersweet emotions of this journey coming to a close, I continue to be given an urgency to serve where I am with all my soul. This urgency is overflowing into what the Lord has for my next season, which is taking me back to Nepal for 10 months to serve His children. I will have more details about what exactly this will look like after I return home and get more details in order.
In order to get myself ready for this next season, I was given some sermons to listen to by Heidi Baker, the head of Iris Global. I had the opportunity to listen to the first one yesterday called “Passion and Compassion.” With the help of Scripture and her words, the Lord completely met me on the back patio in Turkey and wrecked me with His love.
“And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27
This one verse summed up the entire gospel and the way we are called to give our lives. Passion comes from loving God with all your heart and overflowing with the love He has given us as His children. Compassion is to love your neighbor as yourself and to see how you can serve the ONE in front of you. After hearing these very simple truths, I have come to a better understanding of how God desires for me to serve Him. It is as simple and easy as loving Him with every ounce of my being and using the overflow of this to love all those around me.
“Open my eyes, let me see, break my heart.”
-Heidi Baker-
These few words are my prayer and what I am asking for my Papa to give me. To be given His kind of passion and compassion to truly understand how to serve the one in front of me. I have a second part to this prayer, which is my reason for returning to Nepal in the August. I have asked the Lord to reveal to me the passion of my heart for specific ministry and who He created me to serve long-term, whether this be street kids, evangelism, street preaching, human trafficking, working stateside or internationally. I also pray for a specific ministry I can work with full time to serve the nations. Whether He plans for me to serve in a different country or in America, I ask for a ministry to serve alongside long-term and begin walking more in my giftings to better the Kingdom. I am confident He will show me all of this and answer the prayers of my heart because He is such a wonderful Dad and wants goodness for His daughter.
I ask for your prayers as I finish this season and begin the next and that I take time daily to see the one in front of me to serve, rather this be my teammate, street kids, or a host family. I want to meet each person with the patience of Jesus. This is something I will take with me the rest of my life and will begin to walk in more as I gain deeper understanding of Papa’s love for me. Thank you so much for the many ways you have supported me on this Kingdom journey and have come alongside me to serve the nations. I will never have enough words to express how you have forever impacted not only my life but so many more for eternity.
