Before I knew God, I drowned in dark depression, deceit, and lived in fear. Sin and suicidal thoughts controlled me, and I had no escape. I struggled to find so many things: purpose, love, peace, joy, zeal for life, and much more.
Meeting the Lord of all creation brought me out of the trap I was ensnared in and gave me life abundant. Not life without struggles, but life with hope.
2020 has been a year none of us expected. I wish I could just blame the pandemic for wrecking my plans, but I'm learning a bigger lesson when my life plans get sideways.
On my journey over the last year and half, there have been many times I had to continuously remind myself of the goodness of God in spite of my circumstances.
After my Discipleship Training School (DTS) ended last spring, going home was difficult. It was hard to go from seeing friends everyday, worshipping and living in community to only seeing my immediate family.
Living in a world that seems to be falling apart can be scary. Sicknesses are taking lives, families are separating, friendships are ending, and people are losing their jobs. There are many things that make it seem like we are in world-wide upheaval.
When I first came into missions, I thought I might end up working with the people who lived in garbage dumps in the Philippines, thousands of miles from my home.
When I said yes to God, that’s what I thought He would have me do.
There is a global prayer movement afoot. God's people are interacting with each other like never before as they share needs, concerns, and victories.
I find myself praising God when life is going good. I can say in the morning (good times) you, God, are good. In those times, it’s easy to thank God for what you have. You run to God, you tell others about God, and you kind of feel invincible. Life’s going great. Am I right?
I was a member of the radical underground. While few Americans remember the tumultuous 60s era in our history, I was right in the middle of it. The hippie movement was at its height, and I fit right in doing drugs and participating in protests and demonstrations in Washington D.C. and elsewhere during the Vietnam War.
"I walked down to the local convenience store to buy a Coke when I noticed a man who looked like he was in pain. He said his shoulder was hurting, so I offered to pray for him.
Have you ever entered an event or season of life with a certain expectation and left it with the complete opposite result of that former belief?
I was living in Tennessee as part of a very small church when my heart began to stir for missions. One day during Sunday school, a missionary came to our church and heard me share how I would love to do foreign missions someday. I was on fire and ready to go!
It's been 30 months since I graduated Shiloh Ministries, and boy what a ride it has been. Never could I have possibly imagined, dreamt, or let-alone orchestrated the past 30 months. Thank God He did! I remember the graduating day at Shiloh. I was positive that I wanted to pursue God, but totally clueless about where or what that even looked like. All I knew was that my next step was taking me to Youth With A Mission (YWAM).
