My name is Taylor Shea Blankstein. I am 21 years old. I was born and raised in Kennesaw, GA, though as of March 30 I will be living in Woodstock. I am the daughter of Phil and Tracie, and the youngest sister of Lauren, Brittany and Joseph. I have attended First Baptist Church of Woodstock for the past three years and have loved every minute of it. I am currently a Junior at Kennesaw State University, majoring in World Languages and Cultures-Concentration Spanish.
I am silly. I laugh long, loud and I snort often. I enjoy reading for hours at a time, and make a habit out of reading books in their entirety in one day. I love to sing. Often. I sing while waiting tables, I sing while doing homework, I sing while walking, I sing while driving, and as much as I’d rather not admit it I sing more often than not without consciously thinking about it. (Sorry future teammates/bunk buddies). Music brings serenity and peace into my life that nothing else can. My momma is my best friend in the world, but I’ll always be a daddy’s girl. I love being outside and seeing new places. I love Spanish and I get the feeling I will fall in love with other languages as I come in contact with them. I like to think that I’m adventurous, or at least that I’ll try anything once. My heart longs for new places and the road less traveled.
I fail often, but I like to think that I learn from my mistakes. I have an incredibly hard time opening up to people about my past, mostly because of my own insecurities and because the walls around my heart have protected me from feeling hurt. I’ve recently learned though, that walls do not honor the One who brought me through the pains of my past, and eventually my silence ends up hurting those that have a real desire to know me and love me. So I guess you could say that I’m a work in progress, as we all are, and that in that particular area of my life God is refining me and showing me that in Him is where I find my security.
The deepest, and most desperate desire of my heart is to honor the Lord with my life, and to see the people of all nations fall in love with the Savior of the world. When I graduated high school in 2010, I lived in El Salvador for nine months through an organization I was introduced to by a friend. Those months in Central America taught me a lot about the woman I want to grow to be. It was there that I fell in love with serving others and pure joy that comes from considering others before myself. It was also there that the savior I’ve been learning about my whole life became a reality to me. My life has been His and open to His purpose ever since. When I found out about the World Race in January of 2012, I doubted I could ever do anything like that. However, while in El Salvador God emptied me, just to fill me up with this intense passion and affection for His people; more specifically the people of nations foreign to me. He’s been telling me for years now that His purpose for my life is extraordinary, and that I just need to wait for Him to move and be ready to follow where He leads. A few months ago I had a friend leave for the World Race, and the idea of it has been pressing on me. I’ve spent countless nights tossing and turning. My soul has been restless, knowing that I’m going to leave again soon I just don’t know how or where. I’ve prayed and sought Godly counsel about the World Race and at every turn the Lord has been faithful to confirm that this is where He’s leading me. I told Him that I wasn’t going to do anything I wasn’t 100% sure He was in. So He used my Mema, my mom’s mom and the biggest spiritual influence in my life, to tell me not to be afraid and that He will meet me on the mission field. So I applied, and throughout the entire process prayed that His will would be done. I was accepted two weeks ago. All I feel in this moment is complete and total peace about His power and sovereignty in my life.
I go because I was called.
I go because I want to bring hope to people who are hopeless.
I go because I want to love people who feel unworthy of being loved.
I go because I want to serve people who don’t expect to be served.
I go because I want to see God move in power in the lives of the people I come in contact with.
I go because I ache to be stretched to the very limits of myself, so that God can fill me even more with Himself.
I go because this American Dream is poisonous, and I want to experience firsthand what Paul describes in Philippians 4 when he says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
I go to be brought low, and I go to abound.
So whomever you are, I hope that you will walk with me on my journey…even if only vicariously through my words and prayer.
