Politics. Politics. More politics. That’s all my career was ever going to be – I had built my life around it, put my hopes in it, and thought I was going to make a name for myself in the movement. But God had other plans.
I was just 16 years old when I took my first missions trip to Honduras. I told the story often to whoever would listen – I heard God whisper in the back of that van that I would be back. But I didn’t know how. Years went by as I would keep circling back to the same thing over and over again – heading to the global mission field. Time after time when I would feel the tug on my heart, I would run in the opposite direction, choosing to not listen to what God had for me and instead go through unnecessary trials and heartbreak.
Even in college, whenever someone would ask me what I wanted to do with my career, I would mention my heart for missions, and the response I often got? “Politics or missions?! Well they go together perfectly, politics is a great mission field.” But what they didn’t understand was that God didn’t want me in the chaos of daily political life. God wanted me fully surrendered in Him. And that was far, far away from politics.
My last semester of college I decided to randomly take a women’s ministry class to fill an elective course that I needed to graduate. Turns out that God wanted to do more in that “random” elective class than I could’ve imagined. Through the class God pulled me even deeper into the knowledge that politics was wrong, and ministry was where I needed to be. I prayed over and over that God would open doors for me to know what my next step was after graduation. One day I felt Him say “I need you here, now.” So that’s what I did. I kept going to class, and I kept the faith that God would open the right doors.
One day I got an email that would change my life – a job offer that I had only dreamed about. I accepted immediately. God had opened the door so suddenly, and everything felt right. I went ahead and started to plan my life as it was always going to go – a job in politics.
I moved and started the job, but there was just something within me that was craving more. God knew what was right around the corner.
It all changed one day when my then boyfriend came knocking on my door to break up with me.
The same day he did that, I fell to my knees and told God, “I’m ready. Here I am, send me.”
The next month I took to praying, researching, and even more praying. Finally in July, I decided to put my deposit down to finally do what I knew in my heart that God had wanted all along – global missions.
I’m beyond blessed to have the opportunity to serve Jesus for four months in South Africa, and to lay every thing I’ve ever known down at the foot of the cross and pursue Jesus with my whole heart. I launch in January, and it would be an honor to have you follow along on my journey to know Christ deeper, and serve the people of South Africa. I’m praying that God would use this trip to bring all glory and honor to the name of Jesus.
Please reach out if you have any questions, and please add me to your prayers as I am fundraising, and spiritually and mentally preparing for this next journey.
