All Things Work Together for My Good

"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.