Forever For His Glory

2006 My dog was put down on Thursday. For those of you that didn’t know Fanci, she was my white schnauzer that I’ve had for 10 years. She was my shadow - she’d do homework with me, sleep in my bed, everything. I could hold her upside down and she’d be completely content because she trusted me and knew I would never hurt her. If I left for somewhere overnight, as soon as I returned home she would be ecstatic! She hated when I left. And then I started doing missions and I could never explain to her that I’d be gone for months at a time. So every time someone would get home, Fanci was there, waiting for me, but I didn’t come back. So she waited, and waited. My mom says she was depressed waiting for me. Fanci had never been depressed, but she was. I broke her heart. And when she should have been in comfort, sitting snuggled in my lap for her later years, she was confused because I wasn’t home. But all of that is ended now. When I was briefly home last month in-between mi...

“ Wow, you're going to the Caribbean on a mission trip!? Lucky! Really suffering for the Lord. Haha!” Missions work really isn't always exciting without the pain. Granted, some outreach locations make outreach “nicer” (I'm glad I haven't been called somewhere cold!), but there really is a pain that comes with missions regardless of where your location is. But it's hard to imagine until you've experienced it yourself. I've missed so many birthdays (and births), weddings, holidays, family togetherness, and just sitting on the couch talking to a friend. Counting from October 2014 - June 2016 (which is the soonest I'd get home), I would have spent 8 months out of state for various mission training's, 6 months out of the country on outreach, and only 6 months home interspersed between the times of being gone. And if I do go home in June, it would only be for a month or so before leaving again for 9+ months. Missions work really is I think ...

If you had asked me when I was 10 what I wanted to be when I was older, I probably would have told you married and/or a veterinarian/horse trainer/professional singer. But instead, I’m here on a beautiful Caribbean island for 4 months, loving on kids and teaching them about Jesus, and getting ready to go into full-time missions. What?! That was definitely not in my 10 year old’s master plan. 2007 - Halter-breaking Freedom Yet here I am, and I can’t imagine being anywhere else! But I find it very funny because my 10 year old self would have thrown such a fit if you had told her this was where she would have been in 11 years. No joke. This is so far from what I wanted back then. It makes me think about my friends in various positions. Engaged. Getting a degree. Serving in the local church. Single. Serving in a nation across the ocean. Married with kids. Teaching adults. Teaching children. Living with their parents. Living on their own. 2008 - Some of ou...

Sara's Salutations    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from St. Vincent! Since arriving on the 11 th , we've had fun trying to learn the Vincy culture! St. Vincent is a beautiful nation that is rooted on God and His Word and I've been delighted each day as I learn more about the nation and their people!    But even though St. Vincent is rooted on God and His Word, there is a lot of backsliding that has occurred, especially among the men. We have gone street evangelizing with the YWAM KC Discipleship Training School that is here on outreach, and we run into men all the time who know what God's Word says (and can quote it to you quite well!), but because of sin don't feel like they can go to church or be forgiven. It's heartbreaking to see, knowing that most of the men we pass smoking weed or drinking, know who God is, but for one reason or another have turned from Him.    Part of this campaign initiative is to disciple men, women, and chil...

Let me begin by saying this: that if God had let me live in the muddy mire for all of my life, and then sent me to hell for my sins, God would have been perfectly righteous and just to do so. I do not deserve anything. But God and the way He loves. It all began with a phone call last Monday afternoon. “Do you want to go to the International House of Prayer on Thursday?” The International House of Prayer (IHOP) is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and they facilitate 24/7 praise and prayer, which they have been doing for 14 years. My friend and her mom were going up to Kansas City because my friend was going to be in Youth With A Mission’s Intimacy 2 Impact Discipleship Training School for 3 months, which happens to be about a mile down the road from IHOP. The call was a direct answer to my mom’s prayer that she had prayed the day before the call - that she could see how IHOP facilitates prayer so that she could organize a 48 hour prayer where we live. I didn...