Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Though Chains Be of Gold, They Are Chains All The Same."

Well 2009, you have been quite the year.

This year has probably been the most the most difficult, humbling refining, and fulfilling year of my entire life.

Sigh.

When I say fulfilling, I do not actually mean I have been content or satisfied all year. In fact, there have been many seasons of discontent and constant hunger.

But somewhere, in all the failure, the searching and the discontent, I have been fulfilled because I sought. Everything I strived for was worth working toward even if I never saw it come to fruition like I thought it should. At least I put up a fight. And that fight has made me a stronger person whom I have never known before.

Yes, I grew up in a Christian home with godly parents, but...

I feel like I have finally started living this year.


My eyes have been opened to so many things, both good and bad. Many I have never had to face before but it has forced me to not just know my convictions, but to stand up on them in my actions as well.

Most significantly, God has begun to reveal just how significant we are as humans. He has given us an abundant source of magnificent power!! Yet there is such a scarcity of His followers that live life with this understanding on a daily basis! We have not truly lived! We do not fully know God if we do not know and see His power dominate our lives! YES, it will be tangible! Yes, it will change the way you live and every life you touch!

I feel like I've found a leak in a dam and the entire wall is about to break!


This discovery is so timely as I prepare to go on The World Race. Living in a tent for a year, on a mat, on $3 of food a day in poverty stricken countries where I am susceptible to all kinds of risky situations sounds illogical for a girl like me– the youngest child from a tight knit family living in a great neighborhood who likes her nice clothes and pretty accessories.

I have motivation to make something of myself... graduate school, entrepreneurship, and becoming a professor.

But I first have motivation to make something of myself: to be a woman of God (as He defines it), a servant, a life-changer; a sister, mother, and friend to those who live without. I want my hand to be the one an orphan holds. I want to embrace the prostitute who has forgotten her worth as she's sold every 30 minutes. I want them to know [they. are. loved.] because no one has ever told them so.

My wounds, healed by Christ, have made me strong enough to bring healing to those looking for the Healer.

My comfortable bed, nice clothes, and fine jewelry aren't worth keeping if it costs me the real life I was made for.

So here's to 2010: the year that dam finally breaks and God's power gushes out through my life. The year I joyfully walk away from the stuff I used to care about.

Though chains be of gold, they are chains all the same.

Friday, December 11, 2009

As a Matter of Fact, I DO Know What I'm Doing After College!

Many of you have heard about the calling God just recently placed in my life over the last couple weeks. In case you haven't, let me tell you now. I've just been accepted into the World Race July team with Adventures in Missions. Please read the press release about the January team below and ask God how you can walk alongside me in this next step of faith!

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GAINESVILLE, Ga., Nov. 23 -- Over 100 men and women ages 21-35, compelled by issues of social justice and simple living, are leaving the comfort of their homes and possessions in January of 2010 to travel 11 to countries in 11 months, sharing the hope of Jesus Christ as they go.

The group is called the World Race and was first conceived by Seth Barnes, founder and executive director of Adventures In Missions, in 2006. He designed a trip that would remove young people from their comfortable lifestyles for a year--to see the developing world and be transformed by what they saw. The first team consisted of 14 people. Since then, AIM has sent 92 teams consisting of over 630 men and women on 12 different trips around the world and visiting over 64 countries.

"While I am excited to observe a medley of people this next year throughout the world, I am more excited to love, serve, and care for the people that God will place in my life," says Hannah Vitkus of Nashville, Tennessee, who is looking forward to leaving in January. "Be it an orphan, a prostitute, the homeless, a college student or an older family--with your help, I am able to do this--to be the hands and feet, to go, to love, to serve."

"I expect to be ripped from my comfort zone on this trip. I expect to see Christ move in unimaginable ways. I expect to have the experience of a lifetime. I expect to never be the same," says Jesse Walsh of Birmingham, Alabama who is also leaving in January. "But most of all, I expect to not have my expectations met and in turn, be given something I could have never even known to expect."

Each World Race team relies on the hospitality and generosity of strangers--whether this means living in a tent in a farmer's field, staying in an urban shanty or enjoying the rare comfort of a warm bed. Through their experiences, World Racers learn to depend on each other. They also learn to care more and live with less. It's a journey of self-discovery and worldview--a chance to explore life in a whole new way.

"I'm leaving behind the woman I thought I have always wanted to be, to become the woman God intended me to be... which is someone I never had the guts to be," shares Michelle Euperio from Mesquite, Texas, who is also a part of the World Race in January 2010.

"Many people look at the World Race and get the wrong idea," says Barnes. "They think it's about young people seeing the world. The reality is that, while young people often sign up because of the adventures they know they'll have and the worldview that a year of global travel will give them, it's really an initiation experience. On the World Race you learn about what God is doing on the earth and how to join Him in it."

For more information on the World Race visit www.theworldrace.org.

World Race participants and staff are available for interviews and speaking engagements upon request.

Adventures In Missions (AIM) is an interdenominational missions organization that focuses on discipleship. They emphasize prayer and relationships in their work amongst the poor. Since being established in 1989, AIM has taken over 80,000 people into the mission field, some for as short as a week and others for as long as a year or longer. Through 14 bases around the world, AIM has year-round ministry to places where "the least of these" are found. AIM believes that by giving people the opportunity to hold orphans, bring hope to the hopeless, and pray for the sick, lives are transformed.


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Original Article can be found at ChristianNewsWire.