As I sit here to write my first blog, I can not help but be thankful to God for how his hand has been intertwined in my life. How he has been so involved, how he has used different people and sittuations to bring me to where I am now. I have started this blog to so I can share the journey that God has had me on and where he is leading me to now. When I was fifteen years old, I went to a church camp as I did every Summer... but that summer was different.
Now a little back story to get to the point of where I was at at that summer camp... I had grown up in church in a great christian home, with a loving family and already been on a few missions trips out of the country building homes for the homeless, working in orphanages and just showing the love of God to people.God had placed on my heart a huge passion for missions. I had been running my business for a year. Yes, I started my construction company when I was fourteen. (that is a complete "God Thing" that I might write about another time) Teaching a class at church, and doing the things that growing up in the American christian culture I was taught to do.
For a couple months before that camp, I had really felt God stirring in my spirit. I was praying for God to reveal to me more of his plan and calling on my life. On the last evening service at that camp, I remember talking to God just like one of you were sitting across from me at a dinner table. God started to reveal to me more of his plan, and gave me a vision. He showed me that missions was going to be part of my life, but that it was in the distance. I asked God "Why in the distance? What is your plan?" I wanted him to reveal to me more... He just said "Not yet, I will in my timing." For those of you that know me personally, you know that I can be a very type A personality.So just sitting back and not knowing was not always an easy thing for me, but I knew God was smarter than I am or will ever be. He had to teach me to rely on him and wear down a bit of that "type A" in me. Lol... Our God is so much wiser than we are.
When I went home, I knew God had placed a call on my life. I would regularly pray for the vision he gave me and for him to reveal to me more of his plan... but he would consistently remind me, not just yet... my timing not yours. So I kept going with life, knowing at some point, God would reveal to me more of his plan. I continued to teach and volunteer at my church. I went on more missions trips serving using the gifts God had given me, leading teams building home for the homeless, and doing local volunteer work to. My business grew and so did my knowledge and ability to run jobs, crews, and manage men. Now that I have been a contractor for seven years, I look back at the different jobs I have done, situations I have been in and know that God was using those situation to prepare me for what is to come.
Now, lets fast forward over seven years to the present. For the last several months I have felt God stirring inside of me. It started a bit before I started to plan a short term missions trip to Joplin with some friends. Since that trip, it has only been growing stronger.I have again been praying "Lord, reveal to me more of the vision and call you placed on my life years ago. I want to fulfill your call." This time, God did not tell me to "wait" he told me to "get ready to GO, to get my ducks in a row so I can go wherever he calls." I can not tell you how excited I am. I do not know what is in store, and I do not yet have an answer on where I will be going... But what I do know is, is that God asks us all to be obedient. To that question, I have said YES!!! and am taking a step of faith and will go where ever he calls. For those of you that have been a part of my journey, I can not thank you enough for role you have played and how God has placed you in my life, how he has used us knowing each other to shape you and me. Thank you for your prayers.
.
