For the past couple months, my heart has been bursting with excitement at the thought of spreading Jesus’s love to and playing with the children of Africa. Since we have such a large team and there are various ministry opportunities here in Swazi, we were broken up into different groups of ministry. I was thrilled to be assigned to carepoint ministry, which provides children with both food and an education. Much to my dismay, I was switched from carepoint ministry to administration due to certain logistics. As much as I would like to say that I trusted God and happily accepted this...

           Today, I sat in the Paris airport for twelve hours. Today, a life dream was fulfilled as I viewed the Eiffel Tower for the first time, but today this dream looked so much different than I imagined.             For years I dreamed of jaunting off to Paris, leaving the airport, dining at a little bistro, walking narrow streets, and all the while stuffing my face with authentic French macaroons. I imagined turning a corner and moseying on over to the Eiffel Tower. I envisioned taking a handstand picture in front of it, and...

This past week I experienced a time that has changed me for the best. I showed up in Atlanta on Monday morning with lots of butterflies in my stomach to say the least. With me being the oldest of the group, I had pre-deceptive notions of that I wasn’t going to fit in or no one was really going to include me. As soon as I walked into the atrium in the airport, I knew that this just wasn’t going to be the case this summer. Without hesitation, a blonde girl, who soon turned out to be Alexis from my team, ran up to me with arms wide open, welcoming me into the group of people...

It’s a hard thing- to come to the end of a season that has been huge in your life.  If I can try to wrap up my biggest lesson from this experience into one idea, it’s that I love love. It’s been the little things I loved. Even though the children here know little to no English, we’ve made friends. They know we are friends because we have loved them well. When they skin their knee they come to their malongos. When they just want a band-aid they find a tiny scratch and come to us too. When they fall on the playground we dry their big fat tears and wipe their...

This place has made me a lot of things. Sad, happy, more loving, quick to listen, and hopefully a better friend.. But more than anything I believe it’s made me thankful. I catch myself being thankful for silly things… And then realizing I usually take “silly things” for granted. One of those silly things are spoons. Every day I watch children scoop up rice and beans out of their big bowls into their little mouths with even tinier fingers. The dirtiest little fingers I’ve ever seen. I’m thankful for spoons. I’m thankful for shoes. On any given day...

What’s your biggest fear? Does it have to do with your physical, emotional, maybe even spiritual safety? As true Christians, we are called by God to only fear one thing, and that’s Him. So naturally, the question arises.. What does it mean to fear God? Fearing God is knowing that He is the Alpha Omega, the Beginning and the End. Knowing that He is holy and sovereign, above everyone and everything, holding your very next breath in His hand. Not just knowing that, but applying it to your life. So much that it affects our actions and the way we live, turning us away from a life of...