That quote was written in a note from home that was sent with me to Africa. I reread that letter the night I first began really thinking about staying in Thailand. When I read that quote, it confirmed in my mind what I already knew- God was calling me to take a step of faith, which at the moment looked like a giant leap. And no matter how big a leap of faith He calls me to, I know that He's the only safety net I need, the only one worth jumping into. He's lead me amazingly well so far, so how could I say anything but an excited yes when I knew what He was telling me to do?
I guess I should give some background information before I dive into what's going on in my life now. You see, it all started April 27, 2012. That's the night I encountered who is now my best friend, sweet Holy Spirit, for the first time. It's the night I truly gave myself completely to my awesome Daddy God. It's the night Jesus saved me, redeemed me, freed me, gave me life, and healed me in every sense of the word. And since that night, He's taken my once meaningless life that was completely empty but full of searching, and turned it into a whirlwind of an adventure more beautiful than anything I would have dreamt of for myself.
I could go on forever explaining details of all the amazing things I've seen God do in and through and around my life since then, but I'll try to just keep it to the basics. So I got saved the end of April 2012, then when college plans didn't go as expected, God lead me to go on a 9 month trip around America feeding and loving and hanging out with my homeless brothers and sisters. It was a beautiful journey that totally changed my life (you can read more about that on my old blog, loveworksamericatour.blogspot.com ). During that trip, I began feeling God calling me to Thailand. Once I finished that trip, I signed up for Harvest School, a two and a half month missionary training/equipping school through Heidi and Rolland Baker's Iris Ministries. When I signed up for that, I saw that there was a three week optional extended outreach to Thailand after the school, and since I knew God had called me there, I signed up for that as well.
So on September 28, 2013 I made my way to Pemba, Mozambique for Harvest School of Missions for ten weeks of getting wrecked and healed and loved on by God as well as learning from and falling in love with the poorest of the poor in the village and the bush bush. There aren't words to explain that experience and how much it changed me!
Then on December 11, I left Africa along with the rest of the Thailand team and headed to Bangkok. This huge and majorly westernized city was a complete contrast from the simplicity of the lifestyle of "Africa time" and sitting in the dirt we had just experienced the past two plus months. But we know that brokenness looks different in different places and people groups. Sometimes it looks like extreme poverty and hunger and trips to the witch doctor. Other times it looks like red light areas and empty wealth and drink offerings to Buddhist shrines. So we took what we learned of sharing the love of Jesus and going low and slow and stepped into this new place as sent out lovers.
We partnered with different ministries and did outreaches to the red light areas and slums of Bangkok as well as going to a northern village that ministers to young girls in a preventative way, bringing them into a loving family environment and sharing Jesus with them.
After about the first week of the trip, whenever I thought about getting on the plane back to Memphis December 30 (the scheduled end of the trip) I had no peace at all. But then I would think about staying in Thailand longer, and I had incredible peace about that. I knew what God was telling me to do, but as always, the choice of whether or not I was going to follow His leading was up to me. So about halfway through the outreach, I changed my return flight to April! When I did it, it didn't even feel like there was a choice- how could I do anything but follow Him when He's proven over and over to me that He knows what's best and following Him is the best choice I could ever make?
So here I am in Bangkok at the beginning of my time in Thailand apart from Harvest School. My time here as just begun and it's already full of God's mercy and love and provision. When I officially said yes to God's prompting and switched my flight home, it seemed like a gigantic leap of faith due to the difference between the amount in my bank account and the amount estimated that I would need for the next four months. But if I've learned anything in my less than two years of life with Jesus, it's that if He calls you to do something, all you have to do is say yes and let Him take care of the rest. Like Mama Heidi says, He equips the called. And God has made what I thought was a crazy leap of faith (silly me) in hindsight look like a tiny little step onto God's already clear cut path for my life. All the things I thought were going to be a struggle, like finding a place to live and having money for everything, have been so simple and finances haven't been an issue at all and aren't going to be. The amount I thought I would need at the beginning was so much more than what is really needed. And we got money back from what we paid for the outreach, and it was enough to basically cover my rent for my entire time here! God is such an awesome provider! I knew God was going to take care of all the details and finances, but I didn't expect Him to make it that easy! He is so good!
What I have planned so far is in a day or two I am heading back north to the ministry that I worked with with the Iris team. They have a sugarcane field as a way of providing for the girls and supporting the ministry, so I'm going to stay with them for a couple weeks to help with the harvest and just to spend more time with that beautiful family. I plan on staying there until Kate, my friend who came to Thailand with my outreach team and is now my roommate, gets back from traveling some more through Southeast Asia. Once I'm back in Bangkok I plan on doing more outreaches to red light areas and slums, learning the language, and just sharing the love of Jesus and releasing the Kingdom everywhere I go.
I'm so excited about this time in Thailand and all the adventures God has planned for my future. I decided to start this blog to record all the adventures Holy Spirit takes me on and all the miracles I get to see God do during my short little pilgrimage through this world. I'll be happy if this blog is nothing but a personal documentation of my time, and I'll be honored and humbled if it at all gets to bring God glory or reveals His love to anyone who reads it.
So, to whoever reads this- be blessed and know that you are loved with an everlasting love by the God of this beautiful universe!
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