How it all started

January 4, 2010 


I have been called to go to India on a short term mission trip (approximately 3 weeks). That's all I know right now, because that's all that God has revealed so far. But I have so much that I want to share with you about what happened before I got called to India. 

There are few things that I am 100% positive about. If you know me very well, you've heard me say "I could be wrong, but I think..." However the events leading up to India have been crystal clear. 

1) God told me in the 11th grade that I needed to apply to be a teacher cadet. I had never wanted to be a teacher, but I thought it would be fun. When I started filling out the application (aka obeying God) I almost instantly decided that was what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I became a teacher cadet, and the activities of that class changed my life. From then on, I was a teacher in every way. It became a huge part of my identity.

2) So knowing I wanted to be a teacher and 5 short months til graduation from high school, I started researching SC colleges that had good education programs. I came across this little school that I had never heard of and passed it right by. However, every teacher I met was soon telling me to go apply there. So I sent in my application and Mom and me took a road trip to the campus. I took one step out of my car, looked around and began to cry. God told me loudly and clearly that I was supposed to go there. Winthrop consumed my thoughts for next 2 full weeks until I received acceptance. 

3)Because I was a teacher cadet I heard about the Teaching Fellow's Scholarship and decided to apply. I didn't get the scholarship at Winthrop (but some other school) until 2 weeks before graduation. But I told God and everyone else that I was going to Winthrop with or without it. I think God was testing my obedience to him, since Winthrop would be $6,000 more expensive each year if I didn't get Teaching Fellows. I obeyed, and God rewarded.

4) Because I was at Winthrop I wanted somewhere to go to church up here. Also, at the end of the summer before my sophomore year of college I decided that I needed to stay at Winthrop more weekends and so really needed a solid church and so started looking harder. I found Fort Mill First Baptist Church and fell in love almost immediately with everyone there. By February I had joined the church and was serving there. My Sunday School teachers encouraged me to grow in my faith and to push my boundaries.

5) Because I was a Winthrop Teaching Fellow, (the other institutions don't do this) I went to the Dominican Republic in March of my sophomore year (last year). I didn't want to go, I was probably the most reluctant traveler, but I did. I prayed my way to the plane, on the plane, and everywhere in between. I fell in love with the DR. It was a phenomenal place and it changed my life. I would never have left the country if it wasn't for this trip. I now had a desire to teach, at least for a short time, in a foreign country, but that is still to be decided. 

6) Because I saw that I could survive, and thrive, leaving the country for the week, I know had confidence that I could go be a summer missionary. But I was still not wanting to leave the country, or the southeast. I ended up in LowCountry, SC. Just a few hours from my hometown. I was there for about 10 weeks of my summer, with one week of break in between. I made it there by the support of my new church, and my family and friends.

7) My involvement with the church lead me to go to the Passion Conference this past weekend. There I had several conversations in which people brought up India. Then I went to an area where they had detailed maps of the world displayed. I heard God ask me to be a missionary again. I walked closer to the maps running my finger over them as I asked God "where?!?" It became very clear, very quickly that God didn't want me going anywhere but India. 

I'm going to India. I don't know how. I don't know exactly when. I don't know who I'm going with. I don't know what part exactly or where I'll stay. But I'm going, because God called me too. God has orchestrated this whole thing for at least the last 4 years, and he wants me there. I have such a desire for India now its unreal! I never wanted anything to do with the country, and now its all I can think about. Just days later and I've spent hours researching. I'm buying books, and talking to all sorts of people so that I can know all those details. I can hardly wait!