The Race Is Coming Up!

I feel so blessed to be able to go and serve the Lord overseas so soon! It is crazy how quickly this trip came up, but I am so grateful to be surrounded by friends and family who are supporting me as I pack and prepare to leave on August 27th for the next nine months.

The book of the Bible I am most drawn to when it comes to mission work is Acts, because that is where we see the history of the early Church and the first missionaries. As I prepare to leave home, I hope to have the boldness and faith of Peter.

In Acts 4, Peter speaks directly to the religious leaders. Even though they had the power to lock him away, he boldly asked them:

"Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?" -Acts 4:19 (NIV)

Peter was a prime example of what it means to live a Kingdom-focused life. The opinions of men and the power they held meant nothing to him compared to the reality of who God is and the ultimate authority He holds.

That is the exact mindset I want to carry into these nine months. Completely focused on Jesus. Committed. Devoted. Unwavering.

Please pray with me that God grows that kind of boldness and faith in my heart as I take this step!

That's The Easy Thing To Say...

It's so simple to get on here and draft out messages of excitement or encouragement because I love to write...but I don't love to be vulnerable. Vulnerability with friends, family, and peers is something that God and I have been working through together a lot over the past year.

One thing I have come to realize is that identifying with people and sharing in each other's pain is deeply important. Jesus didn't just come to Earth to die; He came to LIVE. He experienced the suffering this world has to offer so that He could truly know us and meet us at our most vulnerable before rising to life again.

All of this to say... I am a little scared to be gone for so long.

Many of my closest friends are older than me, or seemed to have their whole lives mapped out from the freshman year of high school. A lot of them are already finishing up their degrees or moving on to their next big step. In comparison, here I am switching my major and getting ready to leave for nine months. As everyone moves away and gets plugged into new communities, it can be easy to feel like I'm being left behind.

But I know that's not true.

Whenever I am feeling down or scared, I try to ask myself one question:

"What is the lie that the enemy is telling me right now?"

Every fear and anxiety has a lie at its root:

• Is it that I am failing?

• Is it that I am alone?

• Is it that I am not smart enough, confident enough, or prepared enough for life?

All of these are whispers used to trap us in spirals of comparison. But by identifying those lies, it becomes so much easier to stand firmly in God's truth:

I AM RIGHT WHERE I AM MEANT TO BE.

...and you are too. Let's build up our confidence together to stand right where we are. Right where we are CALLED to be!