And so it begins...

To be completely honest, I feel like God has a great sense of humor. It seems the one thing we always say we won't do is the one thing He will ask us to do. Anyone who knows me is aware that I've never been much for missions. I've sat through countless missions emphasis weeks at LU, rolling my eyes and wondering why we didn't have a business emphasis week. Then one day, sitting in church, something clicked. Our pastor was talking about Freedom 4-24, a program to raise awareness and help fight the human trafficking industry in Thailand. As he showed a video detailing the struggles these girls battle every day, my heart began to break. I realized these girls, who were younger than I am, had to sell even their dignity every day, because they were required to financially provide for their families. I hated it, and I wanted to help stop it. I began to get more involved with the Freedom 4-24 cause through church, and the more I learned, the harder it was for me to get it out of my head. I literally couldn't stop thinking about these girls and how badly I wanted to help make a difference in their lives.

At some point during those weeks, I felt God draw my heart towards Thailand, but I was so scared. I talked to a couple key friends, and to my parents, about what God was doing in my heart. I finally surrendered, said "Ok God, I'll go." Within 24 hours, out of the blue, I got a phone call asking me to go to Thailand for a month during the summer, working with the ministry Freedom 4-24 supports. I knew God had big things in store for me.

In the days that followed, a close friend shared the following quotation with me, and it has become my anthem, so to speak, for this journey that I'm about to take.

“God’s will always expresses divine intention. Christ is intentional towards us. He never bosses us or appoints us to something for the sheer sake of presuming authority. His will always have a purpose. Sometimes we go our own ways, and God still has mercy on us and shows us something there. Other times we beg Him to allow us to go a certain place and He consents. Still other times God takes us places we never intended to go. Those are places where He will reveal Himself to us in ways we didn’t even know He existed.”- Beth Moore

I never intended to go on any mission trip, much less a month long one to Thailand, but God, the author of my story, had bigger things in mind for me. I know its going to be an amazing month, and He has shown his faithfulness through each and every detail of this trip. I fly out for Bangkok on Wednesday the 24th with Lyndsey and Janette, two of my roommates, and closest of friends. I should be able to update this blog a few times a week while I'm there, so stay tuned to hear about the work God is doing. Keep us in your prayers, its going to be a trying month, full of the unknown. However, as Paul said in his letter to the Romans, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"