After my first trip to Africa, I didn’t know if I was called to missions, but I was certain I’d love to spend the rest of my life serving there. I’m sure most of you relate to that intense desire to love and help those in greatest need. You can’t see hurting or injustice and push it out of your mind. You have to be there doing something about it. You know you really can’t do much. But you know who your God is, and you know He can. You just really want to be around to see it happen. That’s where I was after my first exposure to extreme poverty. Sold. Just asking the Lord what to do and where to go.
Trying to follow the Lord took me down some pretty fun paths. As a pilot, my first thought was Mission Aviation Fellowship. Flying in breathtaking Papua, Indonesia (which was definitely the most exciting flying I’d ever done – landing on sides of mountains and in rivers) the Lord surprised me with the call to healthcare. He showed me that the relationship nurses had with their patients captivated me. They enter into some of the most vulnerable places with people and love and serve them there. They impact lives both physically and spiritually. I’d never seen a better depiction of Christ’s love than when I saw a nurse clean and care for a man with one of the worst skin infections I’d ever seen. Looking back now, I’m assuming it was probably necrotizing fasciitis that had gone untreated for way too long. It was hard for most to even look at the man when he was found. There was little hope of his survival, but this woman without displaying even the slightest hesitation or fear of contracting the infection went to work making him as comfortable as possible.
It obviously made a huge impact on me because now I’m an RN, and I’m in school getting my nurse practitioner degree. I’m still asking the Lord when and where. Apparently the answer right now is Dallas, TX. It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but the Lord has us where we are for a reason. We are called to be missionaries wherever we are. I’m so blessed and overwhelmed with the turn out at the global missions health conference. To see so many organizations and so many people with similar passions really encourages me. What an impact we can make if we really surrender our lives to Christ! I’m excited to see what He does! Thanks for doing what you do!
Trying to follow the Lord took me down some pretty fun paths. As a pilot, my first thought was Mission Aviation Fellowship. Flying in breathtaking Papua, Indonesia (which was definitely the most exciting flying I’d ever done – landing on sides of mountains and in rivers) the Lord surprised me with the call to healthcare. He showed me that the relationship nurses had with their patients captivated me. They enter into some of the most vulnerable places with people and love and serve them there. They impact lives both physically and spiritually. I’d never seen a better depiction of Christ’s love than when I saw a nurse clean and care for a man with one of the worst skin infections I’d ever seen. Looking back now, I’m assuming it was probably necrotizing fasciitis that had gone untreated for way too long. It was hard for most to even look at the man when he was found. There was little hope of his survival, but this woman without displaying even the slightest hesitation or fear of contracting the infection went to work making him as comfortable as possible.
It obviously made a huge impact on me because now I’m an RN, and I’m in school getting my nurse practitioner degree. I’m still asking the Lord when and where. Apparently the answer right now is Dallas, TX. It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but the Lord has us where we are for a reason. We are called to be missionaries wherever we are. I’m so blessed and overwhelmed with the turn out at the global missions health conference. To see so many organizations and so many people with similar passions really encourages me. What an impact we can make if we really surrender our lives to Christ! I’m excited to see what He does! Thanks for doing what you do!
