Preparation

God is always preparing us. I love that while He is standing beside us, He is going before us and paving the way. As I look back at certain moments in my life, I could tell you that He was preparing me for something, but at times I didn't know what it was until years later.

I was fifteen when I went on my first mission trip to the Philippines. It was then that the Father planted a seed in my heart for missions and gave me a desire to reach out to others in need. I knew that He was preparing me for something greater, but you don't always realize the depth that a moment will have on your life at fifteen. Yes, the summer of 1999 forever changed me and my remaining year in high school, but the eternal impact that those months had on my life did not come full circle until fifteen years later.

At eighteen, upon my high school graduation, I spent my "gap year" studying abroad in Costa Rica. The eight months that I spent there prepared me for so much more than just speaking another language. I learned how to become one with another culture, feel at home in a country that I was supposedly a "foreigner" to, and embrace it for all that it entailed.

In my early 20's, I entered a four-year relationship. At the time, I thought that relationship was preparing me for something "great," but in turn, it prepared me for something else…something better. From that relationship, I learned how it felt to "hit rock bottom," but to have the Father come alongside you and pick you up, how He turns your ashes into beauty, and more than anything, how He redeems you.

During my four years of teaching, I had the privilege to teach a subject that I was passionate about, pour into my students, guide them, mentor them, and talk to them about their value and worth. What I had experienced in my four-year relationship or the wisdom that I had walked away with came into "play" on numerous occasions as girls, and even some boys, sat with me and poured their hearts out. As I tried to prepare my students for the "real world," they prepared me for what I am doing.

As I sit here writing this, I know that the Father is already preparing me for something else…something that the future will hold, but I still cannot put my finger on it. Before I left for the Philippines, one of my prayers was to find a great church to connect to and join a small group. Within two weeks of being there, God answered those prayers. My prayer was the same before coming to the DR. Yet, finding a small group to join has proven to be rather tricky. Have I given up? No. But, I also believe that the Father is trying to show me something and prepare me for some years that I may encounter down the road.

When I think about missionaries who have gone before me and even missionaries who are currently in remote parts of the world, I am reminded that not all have always had a group of believers nearby to fellowship, worship, and commune with. Some have had to wholeheartedly rely on the Word and the Holy Spirit to fill them, guide them, and pour into them because there was or is no one else there to do so. I am not saying that you are not wholeheartedly relying on the Father to guide and teach you because you fellowship, worship, and commune with others. I have had to rely wholeheartedly on the Father as I stepped out in faith to pursue this calling on my life and did so with many other believers pouring into me and guiding me along the way. But, I am saying that I believe God is starting to prepare me when I might not have the "luxury" of being surrounded by other believers. In the years to come, I could find myself on the plains of Africa or the streets of India, and what I am going through now is preparing me for those moments...

Things to PRAY for:

• Please continue to hold our girls up in prayer. Pray for their hearts, souls, and minds. Pray for a change from the inside out. So many are still fighting strongholds from within. Each girl has shown growth and a desire to change, but the battles they face are from years of internal conflict.

• Please hold our staff up in prayer. Pray that we will continue to have wisdom and insight into situations as they come. Pray that we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and continue to have supernatural energy as we go about our day.