Blessings

For those of you reading this who have not yet heard the news, in July I will be going to Africa for two weeks. I have always loved helping and serving others in any way I could. I am a nurse, my profession is basically me doing exactly what I love. It's not just a profession for me though, my job goes into such a greater detail than just a paycheck. It's a calling. More like a blessing personally.

I had been going through a hard time lately. Just not knowing really what my future was going to hold. I often felt sad and then I would feel guilty because I know how truly blessed I am. I have always wanted to do missions but my desire for it became exceedingly strong in high school. I found myself researching all kinds of mission and medical mission trips and I remember feeling so overwhelmed with the applications and acceptance needed to even be considered. I remember one night, sitting in my room reading the qualifications for a certain medical missions trip. It read *must have 2 year of experience required* I thought to myself, 2 years?! I don't even know where I will be next month, let alone two years down the road.

Just recently, my cousin had been offered the opportunity to possibly go back to Africa, where she visited six years ago. I was SO excited for her because of the giving and loving person she is. I expressed to her that if she was to go if it would be possible for me to even come long. A few days went by and we didn't hear much and then she told me that they were not going to be able to go. My heart sunk, not just for me, but for her as well. A few weeks later I was over at her house, playing cards with our family. I remember her family talking about how she was going to go to Kenya this summer and that it was working out after all. I was SO excited for her but at the same time wishing I could just hop in her suitcase and go with her. :) In the middle of the card game she came downstairs and said hey, we have room if you want to go, but you need to decide fast since we are buying the plane tickets tonight. My heart felt like it was beating outside of my chest. Of course I wanted to go, its something I had been praying about for awhile now.I kind of took a chance in this next part. Without knowing how I would really pay for it all, I honestly felt God telling me to not worry that He would supply all my needs and bless me. To just GO! So I said yes, buy me a ticket.I am beyond excited for this trip, I can't sleep at night and every time I think about it I get that kid in a candy store smile. My heart is filled with love and my mind is filled with peace. I can't find the words to describe how blessed I already am and the best is still to come!

It's amazing what can happen when you let go and let God, He knows the plans for you. He knows the desires of our hearts, and He hears all of our troubles. Like Jess said in the post before, even if you can't serve by going to Africa or another country, doesn't mean you can't serve here. I challenge everyone reading this to serve someone or do something( not for yourself). It's not about us, we are servants for the Lord.

-Molli 

p.s. for the other girls that are going, I am praying for you daily and I am excited to share this blessing with you all as well. (:

A Girl Named Alice

Nearly six years ago now, my life was changed forever.

In 2007, my sister and I began a journey to Nairobi, Kenya.

I think I sensed that my life would never be the same, but I had only an inkling of the kind of affect the three-week trip would have on me.

In Kenya, I met Alice.  Alice was an orphan, about two years old, living at Imani Children’s Home. With a group of people from my church, I spent multiple days at Imani Children’s Home building a play-fort for the children. But mostly, I spent those days falling in love with the innocent and carefree smiles and laughter.

I formed a particularly strong bond with one little orphan, Alice. She had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen and her eyes sparkled with life and joy, she was always laughing and playing. She was carefree, adventurous, and so unaware and naïve of what life was like outside of the gates of the Children’s Home.  But as we drove away that last day, I knew someday she would be faced with a harsh and cruel world, and I prayed in that moment that the Lord would be real in her life and would sustain her through whatever her life held.

At 16, I felt helpless as I stared out the window, knowing I might never see her again, wishing there was something I could do.

I am nearly 22 and often I have felt that same helplessness, wishing I could do something and feeling powerless to make a difference. For the last few years, I told myself that as soon as I got my RN, then I could finally do something, finally help, make a difference. But last summer, RN finally in hand, I told God enthusiastically that I was ready and asked Him to open a door. I was met with silence.

Discouraged, I felt lost and confused, for years I have felt the call “go”, the command “love”, the desire “heal”, and now, when I was finally done with school, no door opened and I felt frustrated. In December, God blessed me with a job at the hospital I had hoped to work at, and I felt peace.

However, as summer draws near I have begun to feel that same restlessness grow, the desire to go, the longing for Kenya, for my Africa, for my Alice.

A few weeks ago, I did not know what this summer will hold, whether I would go or stay, and during that time God spoke to me.

I was sitting in my car in the drive-through for McDonalds on Sunday morning before church and thinking of Kenya, wondering why God would give me a desire and not fulfill it. I felt frustrated and remember thinking “God, if I don’t go, how can I possibly be of use to those orphans?”

That’s when it hit me straight in the face.

I have been making excuses for years, that I couldn’t make a difference here for Kenya, I have been refusing to act because it seemed impossible.

I have always known God asks some to go, some to pray, some to invest, but I never realized He could call one person to all of those at different times in their lives, and despite myself, I always held “going” above the other two as more important.

It was in that moment, I saw the truth. Going was easy, and I could see the benefits of my labor. Giving and praying are harder in many ways. For the first time in my life, I realized that maybe I was not only called to go.

That was when it came to me, I knew I wanted to start something here, regardless of what this summer would hold, I wanted to begin something, to share this message, to make a difference for Alice, and all those like her. Not all are able to go, we have responsibilities, families, full time jobs, but perhaps we can still make a difference.

“A Girl Named Alice”, is in a way, their voice, the children’s voice, crying for love, crying for help. We can do something; we can be God’s hands and feet.

I am not sure yet what God has for me to do here in the USA, whether its simply raising awareness or whether I am to begin a specific ministry. However, this week I found out I will be going to Kenya this summer and I am elated. The Lord has answered my cry with a yes. I will be traveling with three other girls, and one will meet us there. So the other night while I was laying in bed, the idea came to me to start this blog.

I am hoping the other girls will post as well throughout this journey. 

I do not know what the Lord has in store for us, and the work He has for us to do, but I pray that He uses us, and that we take our experiences and change the world and enhance His kingdom. 

I am asking that any and all who read this, do not make the mistake I did in thinking that just because you cannot go you cannot make a difference, please, please pray for this trip, pray that our hearts and eyes would be attuned to God and His spirit and His will.

God bless you all!

(P.S. the attached photos are of Alice)