Today is my last day at the age of 23. Tomorrow, I turn 24 and then, 2 days later, I leave the country for 10 weeks. I remember my last birthday very clearly. I was interning at Taylor Road Baptist with some incredible teenagers and we had a movie night where I got an awesome Cookie Monster shirt! I loved what I was doing, but the position didn't pay and I had no idea what the future held.
About a month later, I was turned down for the Journeyman program through the International Mission Board. Closed door. I remember praying, "God, what do you want me to do then?" Then I received a text message from Lee Dymond: "Why don't you come work for me?" AUM was nowhere on my radar, but God knew it was exactly where I was headed.
After several months of paperwork and waiting, I was officially placed as a Semester Missionary at Auburn Montgomery's Baptist Campus Ministries. I began working alongside Lee in campus ministry striving to reach college students with the Gospel. God provided a position that fit what I needed and what the BCM needed. Through working with the BCM, I was provided with my first opportunity to present my testimony. I had no idea how students would respond or how their view of me may change once they learned of the past sin in my life. That's when God first spoke Jeremiah 1:7 into my heart. I was to go where He sent me and say what He commanded me to say. I learned that my testimony was not about my past sin, but about the present and overwhelming grace of my Savior and Lord. After sharing my testimony at the BCM, doors opened up quickly for me to connect with students not only at AUM, but also at Alabama State. I have since been able to speak at both Alabama State's BCM and Taylor Road Baptist Church sharing my testimony.
Doors were opening but all within a very short-range view. All the while, God was impressing upon me the importance of understanding the power of the Gospel. With a growing passion for the Gospel came a growing passion for missions. However, when I first found out about Poland as an opportunity, I remember thinking, "Poland?? Really?" I had been actively praying about and seeking out mission work in South America, so I was quite caught off guard by an opportunity in Eastern Europe. I knew nothing of Poland other than the fact that I dated a guy in college who had a Polish heritage! However, the Holy Spirit began to open my eyes and transform my heart.
I was still hesitant when I met with Laura Hash, the camps director in Poland for Josiah Venture. However, after meeting with Laura and learning about JV, how they do ministry, and the opportunity that was available for me to serve, I knew without a doubt that I was Poland bound!
So here I am, sitting on my floor looking at a pile of stuff and wondering how to fit it into a backpack with a peace of heart. A peace that I am going where God has sent me. A peace that is firmly founded in God's sovereign nature that He has proven to me over and over again.
I'm not certain what this summer holds, but I am certain that God will work.
Soli Deo Gloria.
