HAITI {Reflections}

Friends, I am home from Haiti and my soul is full. This short term medical mission trip exceeded my wildest dreams. God blessed me there in ways I could have never imaged and for that I am incredibly thankful. Praise be to Him!

Beautiful Hinche, Haiti

When I reflect on the past week we spent in this country, my mind goes about a billion ways. Memories flood in. Sorrow, joy, pain, and love hit me simultaneously. The longing to be there again strikes me like lightning. Looking at Facebook pictures over and over bring the widest smile to my face. Pondering on what the Lord showed me, and still is showing me, never ends. Let's face it, I'm a hot mess. But at the same time, I have never felt so close to Jesus. I have never felt so close to being an actual follower of Christ.

One evening while we were in Haiti, our team was sharing about what God has been teaching us over the past few days. Many testified how much closer they felt to the Lord while there, almost in a sense of surprise. Why would God be near when we have lost our comforts? When we are living so simply? When we see devastation each day?

Because that is what it means to truly follow Jesus.

Read the gospels. Read the words of Jesus. Now compare it to the actions of the contemporary American church. There is a huge disconnect, isn't there? Something is missing. Something is not right, and you know it. Now I am not here to bash the church of the good ol' USA. Too many have done that before me. But I will say that it appears as if many Christians in this country have been privileged, to the point of being spoiled, to the point of living too comfortably, to the point of being a disciple only when it is convenient to them. And that is not how Jesus describes His followers. Here is the problem - we are deviating from truth and finding ourselves wrapped in a superficial Christian life of luxury.

Jesus tells us that if we want to follow Him, we must leave everything behind. Cast our nets. Don't bury your father first. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Seems like quite the challenge, right? Doesn't seem popular or easy to me. But it's so worth it.

Now living a life of surrendered simplicity dedicated to running behind Jesus is great. But where exactly are we following Jesus to? Where is He going that we must go also?

To the broken. The needy. The poor. The captives. The orphans. The widows. The sick. Those who are in desperate need of a Savior.

It is in the ruins of a broken life where we find Him. Reaching out to the least of these, who literally have nothing, is right where He is. He told us so - the Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Once we are obedient to His call and go take care of those shattered hearts and crushed spirits, He whispers to us, "I'm right here. Right where I said I would be. Take care of my people. Feed my lambs."

God has slowly been revealing this to me over a period of time, but I feel like I am finally beginning to wrap my head about genuine discipleship and take action. Being in Haiti showed me even more how all of this is real and true. I am for real growing and stepping closer to Him. And by this I mean I have graduated kindergarten and gone to first grade in the school of being a legit Jesus follower. This is progress, but there is still much more growth to happen in me.

"If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
The LORD will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."
{Isaiah 58:10-11 // NKJV}

Brothers and sisters, that's a promise to us. Looking to be satisfied eternally? Loose your life to follow Jesus to the poor and brokenhearted. He's there. He promises.

Perks of living a missional life. Don't you just want to eat her up?!

So there you have it. Just a slice of what God showed me in Haiti. Can I share more with you? Email me, or better yet talk to me in person! God is doing mighty things. Amen?!

Love you all. Can't thank you enough for your prayers and support.

Heavy influences on this subject are Francis Chan, Katie Davis, and Jen Hatmaker. Thank you guys for being obedient to the Lord, even when it's hard and unpopular.

HAITI {Here I Go}

People,

I'm going to Haiti. Yes, Haiti. Omg. I can't even.

(cue squealing, screaming, jumping up and down, etc.) 

I stand amazed and this opportunity the Lord has given me to serve the people of this country. The fact that He ordained me from the beginning of time to embark on this very mission at a time such as this to love on Haitians is blowing my mind. Wow. He is GOOD, you guys.

My bags are packed, my new, fresh journal has been opened, my heart is bursting, and the Lord is with me.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
{Joshua 1:9 // NKJV}

What an incredible promise. Thank You, Jesus!

Since I know the Lord has blessed me with incredible prayer warriors, here is a list of prayer requests for our short-term medical mission trip to Haiti:

~ To God be the glory.
~ Protection and safe travels.
~ Sharp minds. We will be learning a lot of medical training on the spot. Pray I bring my thinking cap with me!
~ Divine appointments.
~ Open hearts. That we may receive all God has to show us and teach us.
~ Opportunities to share the gospel.
~ Strength. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. Just everything.
~ Protection against diseases and sicknesses. We're going to a third world country. So, yeah...
~ School. When I get back, college Anatomy & Physiology will be waiting there to kick my booty. Pray it all gets done when it needs to!
~ Be led by the Spirit. Anything else that comes to your heart and mind, pray!

Thank you all for your constant love and support! I couldn't do it without the encouragement I continually receive. Love you all!

Road Trip Memories and Lessons

Well friends, Easter break is officially over and I'm headed back to school. Sigh. It never lasts long enough, does it? I had a lovely week, however. Our fam went on a road trip! I'll spare you the millions of details and wrap it up in a nutshell:

9 days
40 hours in the car
6 states (including Cali)
4 hotels, 1 mobile home
1 memorable family vacation

We all had our moments, but we still love each other. No one killed anyone. Yet. ;)

The final day of our trip, Resurrection Sunday, we visited our old church for Easter service. What a great time of worship and hearing the Word being preached!

Recently, it had been on my heart to contact this church and see if they would be interested in hosting our Christian dance ministry for performances. I wanted to make connections with the church while I was physically there, but when the opportune moment came, I didn't feel up to it. I'll just email or call them instead. Later.

My mom asked me after the service was over if I wanted to find someone to talk with about us performing there. Yes! But, no. Kinda, sorta. Nah. It's okay. I shrugged it off. For some strange reason, it sounded scary to me. I knew this was something I wanted to do, but something was seriously holding me back.

After we took a typical family photo outside of the church, I decided to make a little bit of a deal. If I find our business card in my purse, I'll go find someone to talk to. I began to search my wallet and bag. No business cards were in sight. That's it, I won't go.

Word got to my dad that I was itching to talk to someone and he basically dragged me into the sanctuary kicking and screaming. (Well, at least that's how I felt.) Right before we were about to go introduce ourselves to some of the main people in the church, I broke. I started crying. Yep, I was scared out of my wits. Oh dear.

People, hear me out. All the Lord was calling me to do was introduce myself. To friendly people. And talk. About dancing. For Jesus. In church. This was NBD. These are all things I am normally super comfortable with. I've done far scarier things in my time. What in the world was wrong with me?! Fear had overtaken me completely.

My poor family was wondering what happened to me that would cause me cry over something like this. My tears are not an everyday occurrence...something had to have been wrong! Honestly, I just told them that I didn't know why I was crying; I really didn't. Looking back on it now, it's clear this was a serious spiritual attack.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind." 
{2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV}

God does not place a fearful spirit within us. That fearfully shy spirit that came upon me was not from the Lord. In fact, the Bible says that perfect love casts out all fear. His love gets rid of that fear. Casts it out. Throws it away. When that timidity is gone, we are fearless in Christ. And guess what? The devil just won't put up with that. At all. How did he attack? By crippling me with fear. It almost worked.

Praise the Lord my dad had the courage to go up and talk to people while I was collecting myself and drying my tears. I finally decided I had to accomplish this small mission. So I did. I talked to the right people, made connections, and did what I knew I had to do. Thank You, Jesus.

I know this whole story may make me sound incredibly lame, but this is real life. I didn't share this with everyone to talk about random occurrences during my Easter break. I want to encourage you if you're fearful and tell you, "I totally know. I've been there!" Our flesh constantly wages war with our spirit and we give way to fear. We're human. We get scared at the little things that really are no big deal at all. Heck, I even got scared about publishing this post! Fear hinders us from accomplishing God's will in our lives. Don't let the devil scare you from setting out on a mission for the Lord. Be bold. DO IT.

If you made it to the end of this post (and actually read the whole thing) give yourself a pat on the back. It was long. If you're my family who's reading this, you're probably laughing because you were there with me during my most vulnerable moments. Thanks for stickin' up for me. You rock.

With that being said, I am off to school! Since it's first day back after Easter vacation, this is my attire for the morning. Don't hate. Chemistry at 7:00 am shows no mercy.

I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter! Jesus is ALIVE! Amen?!

"Death has been beaten,
the grave has been conquered.
Jesus is risen,
life ever after!"
{"The Victory" by Phil Wickham}

xo,
AKG