"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them" Romans 8:28 (NLT)
I love this verse. Every time I read it, especially in times of hardship, I know God is orchestrating the current events for my benefit and this has played out more than ever, in my life, in the past 3 years.
Spring 2009, I had the opportunity to go to Northern Ireland on a mission trip through the organization Project Evangelism. While I was there, one of the leaders spoke to us about the possibility of them expanding their ministry to France. I felt God tugging on my heart and decided that I wanted to be involved to use my love for French and God to minister to the people of France. I spoke to 2 of the leaders about it and they prayed for me. The expansion to France fell through, but God still had a plan for me.
The same year, I wrote my senior thesis paper on women's right in Afghanistan. As I began to learn about the women, I began to sympathize for Muslim women. I felt so burdened by the concerns God was laying on my heart, but had no way to do something about them.
That summer I had an internship at my church, which involved me helping a missions team going to Honduras. I had been twice, so I knew what needed to happen in preparation for the trip and I loved organizing and prepping for it. At the end of the summer, I realized that having a job that allowed me to help people go and be involved in missions trips was something that I would really enjoy.
I realize these seem like random and unrelated events that all happened within a span of 6 months, but God was working them together for my good and his glory.
As an international communications major, I have to have an international internship and God has led me to the perfect one.
I will be in France for 3 weeks working as an ambassador for GO InterNational. GO has never sent teams to a first world country. My job is to check out different organizations they are connecting me with in hopes that GO can send groups to France. One of the ministries that I will be working with is at a church where they minister to Muslim women by teaching them to read and write French. I will be working with other organizations as well, such as Youth for Christ France.
I cannot begin to explain how excited I am for this summer. God has provided me with such a wonderful opportunity to not only serve him, but in a way that I will love and enjoy. I will also complete my internship requirement for my communications major and did I mention I'm also a French major? Yeah, I couldn't have planned this any better.
If you would like to help out, I would be more than happy to receive your prayers and financial support. I will continue to blog while I'm in France, if I have internet access. I will leave May 29th so there is plenty of time to get involved. E-mail me or leave a comment and I will let you know how you can help.
God is so good.
