My Journey to ECA

Currently, I feel like God has really been using these past few years to teach me, grow me, and prepare me for further service in His kingdom. God truly blessed me with the wonderful gift of a godly mentor these past three years. Through her, God’s Word became alive and my desire to meditate on it grew more and more. I learned a wonderful method of personal bible study for devotional time, learned to use/memorize scripture in areas where I was prone to doubt God’s promises, and to depend more on God’s grace. Her love and support helped me to let go of the shame I felt about a genetic disorder I was born with and share how God was working in my life at a women’s event at my church just this past January. What freedom there is when our identity is found in Christ and not our circumstances or whether we succeed/fail at something!!

The current sermon series on Leadership that my pastor, Collin Smith, is preaching has been really speaking to me. Check it out at http://www.unlockingthebible.com/. Looking at the life of Elijah and his call to ministry in 1 Kings, God has been showing me how he leads his people and how leaders respond to God’s call. After God calls Elijah to confront Ahab, he then tells Elijah to go hide at the brook called Cherith. While it seemed that God was beginning to move in the ministry he had for Elijah, he now brings Elijah to a place of hiding where he learns to depend on God alone. I can relate to this. As I have gone to school to be a teacher, God has seemed to shut the door on using those skills in a classroom of my own. While I struggle with why God has not opened this door for me, God has showed me how I can still humbly serve the student’s with special needs that have come into my life. As I continue to depend on God and wait for him to show me where to use my ability to teach, God started to give me a vision of using these gifts for his glory as a missionary.

I have always loved going on missions trips, and the few I went on in high school to build houses for the homeless down in Mexico were life-changing experiences for me. The seed was planted to go and teach overseas came when I heard about a family from church who is serving at a school called El Camino in Bogota, Colombia. Through prayer (and encouragement from a dear friend), God laid on my heart one Sunday that I was to go and serve him and the students at El Camino. Every concern that I had was met with God reassuring voice that He would provide. As I started to prayerfully follow his leading, the door has been widely opened for me to go and serve Jesus at El Camino next school year!!! I am so excited to go and serve Jesus in this way. Check out El Camino's website at http://eca.edu.co/.  Prayers are much appreciated as I continue to rely on God's provision and his power as I prepare for my service to Him in Bogota.

Prayers:

• God's provision for me, financially and prayerfully, as I prepare to leave for Bogota on July 23rd.
• My family - as they prepare to send me off for misisonary service in Bogota.
• That God would already be preparing the hearts of the precious students and their families to learn more about the gospel of Jesus for the 2012-2013 school year at El Camino.
• God's glory would shine as I seek to use the gifts he has given me.