I was a free child, running through the tall back weeds barefoot. Climbing trees, eating weeds (don't tell my mom), & pretending to be Indian. Dressed in oversized tee-shirts I felt certain I was a beautiful princess.
Even then, I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up.
I wanted to be a missionary.
I heard the stories of our family missionaries & knew that they lived lives of wild adventures. I would raptly listen to every story they told, sitting perfectly still even at 7 in my Sunday best. When they asked if I wanted to be a missionary I soundly raised my hand, of course! Pick me!
I was blissfully certain that I would do just that.
9 years later I went on my first mission trip with Royal Servants International to Ireland. It changed my life with the plentiful opportunities to talk about Jesus, love on people, and have wonderful fellowship.
At 16 the Lord landed me in Asia. I saw new light come to old men’s eyes, shopkeepers engaging each other in Jesus conversations, rain stopped by prayer, Christ’s Spirit overcome spirits of oppression. Women who were given Jesus Christ’s hope.
It was breathtakingly beautiful and I was hooked.
…
Senior year, three months before graduation… I wanted so desperately to go overseas but there were no open doors. I had no team, no location, nothing.
I wasn’t even living life with international students.
Holding my life with open hands I was preparing for life in the U.S. Recognizing that God’s timing is perfect and mine is not. I began filling out job applications for areas in the U.S. Praying I would at least be able hang out with people from different cultures.
Sitting at Coffee with Rachel (Every Ethne) who mobilizes college students to missions, I was told I could go. I didn’t scream or freak out as I normally do, I went into shock.
One moment there were no options, the next I knew I could go.
1 ½ hours: Time it took to fill out my application
½ – 1 hour: Time it took to figure out references
8 hours: Time it took to actually look through the different options and figure out working with women who are in prostitution was an option, and so was working in the muslim world.
1 weekend full of decisions: I decided it was okay to go with my heart and choose Cambodia.
2 weeks later:
Application filled, references sent in, location set, interviews done.
My LORD GAVE ME THE BEST PRESENT EVER!
He is letting me live my DREAM.
I was 15 when I first heard of sex slavery
16 when I saw the ramifications of it
17 when I spoke in public about it for the first time
18 when I started actively fighting against child slavery
…and now hours of research, prayer, tears, and a broken heart later…
My Daddy is letting me go to them!
To actively love on prostitutes
To tell of the Fathers love
& I CAN’T WAIT!
“7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11
