When I imagined what this missions trip to Thailand would look like I thought it would be completely different. I imagined we would be living in small straw huts inside a tiny village in a rainforest. I thought I’d be spending every day at an orphanage teaching children and that I’d be doing evangelism with my team throughout villages. If someone would’ve told me God brought me to Southeast Asia to do things like breaking chains I would never have believed them.
Now here’s the funny part: My team is actually spending time here breaking literal chains. Bike chains, to be exact. We’ve spent hours upon hours (among the many other things we do) cleaning, breaking, and sorting pieces of bike chains. The chain pieces are used for jewelry made by refugees working for Outpour Ministry. (AND THEY’RE AMAZING!!) But those aren’t the only chains being broken.
Being away from home for so long (almost halfway done!) has forced me to rely on God instead of my friends and family. And while I love Sarasota with my whole heart, I was sort of “chained down” there. I was stuck in the city that held my whole past. Everyone I’ve grown close to and grown apart from had me invested more in where I had been than where I was going.
Although I tried my hardest, I was never perfect. I didn’t have perfect grades in school. I wasn’t the best on the Raider team (@Sam). I definitely wasn’t the best friend, daughter, or sister in the world. And being on the outside, so far away, looking back on my life, I realized that I needed to get away for a little bit to do some healing and growing. Being away has allowed God to work on my heart and break chains and regrets of the past.
God has showed me that it’s time to move on. I can leave every regret or mistake I made in the past. I can leave them in the “old Sarasota.” And when I come home, I get a fresh start. I’m a new creation that God is taking time to shape every single day.
I’m so beyond blessed to be where I am, and to have the people on my team. I have the most loving and encouraging teammates. And the missionaries we have the opportunity to work with are some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met. They pour their hearts and souls into their ministry.
So if I could ask you all to keep my team and Outpour Ministries in your prayers it would mean the world! Pray for us to all keep breaking chains in the name of JESUS!!!
Lots of love!!!
