His Purpose, Not My Plans

It is late, and I am tired. But for some odd reason, this is often the time that the Lord puts on me to write. To share. So here I am. For years I have prayed and asked the Lord to lead me where He wants me.  I have asked Him to show me where and how to serve Him. And I have, for the most part, followed Him. I have worked at VBS, I have packed meals, I have organized fundraisers, and of course, I spent two months of my summer working as an unpaid intern for Friends of Refugees summer camp. But yet, when God presented me with an opportunity to grow a ministry that I have fallen deeply and truly in love with , that I have spent thousands of hours at, to serve Him... I said.. no. God. No. I am too young . Find someone older. Someone with more experience and contacts and resources. Anyone but me. I can't do this. And then slowly, slowly, He has chiseled away at my resistance. He has softened my heart. He has shown me that it is not by my own strength to ...

Once upon a time (like five or six years ago) in the middle of a cotton field on a hot summer afternoon, two early teenage girls sat on a golf cart and talked about God's plan for their lives. The two girls talked about how they didn't know what their "story" would be or what it would look like. They wondered if they'd ever get to do anything that'd be cool for the Lord or if it would all just be ordinary, because as of that moment they felt like God hadn't done anything through them that was "cool".  Let me just tell you that those two girls had no idea what was ahead.  One of those little girls, the one on the left (the one that's not me.) would be faced with numerous challenges both herself and with her family. She had to learn that as hard as it is, the only constant thing in life is he Father and His love. But her story, it's not just cool, it's REALLY cool. And it shows over and over how good the Lord is.  An...