All I wanted to do was serve Jesus and follow Him. I learned in college through Chi Alpha that there was a Heavenly Father who wanted a tangible, day to day relationship with me. He didn’t want me to come only when I was desperate or reciting the prayers I grew up with. He wanted my whole heart. He wanted me. When I came to realize that, I laid down my dream of becoming a surgeon. I gave up the plan I had so intricately planned for myself as I came to understand that God’s ways were higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8-9). Why? Because He loves me and knows and desires only what is best for me.

After graduating university, I gave a year to missions. I found out through Chi Alpha about the opportunity to serve overseas and curiosity sparked. As soon as I saw France on the list my heart leapt at the thought of serving in a place I had only dreamt of visiting since I was a little girl. One year and then I’d figure out the rest of my life. That was my plan, but God had something else in mind.

I remember his gentle but firm whisper saying, “You’re going. I just need you to trust me.” It terrified me to think that God was actually willing to give me this dream of mine. I graduated, raised my budget, went through the hurdle of getting my visa and landed in Grenoble in 2015. 

I never imagined that when I walked into our ministry center that I’d feel like I had come home. Hearing prayers in different languages, worshiping in a language I had been learning since middle school, it was the homecoming I never knew existed. I never thought that as I co-led a French-speaking small group that my heart would ache for this nation. I never thought that this one act of obedience would be the step I needed to walk into the path the Lord was laying out before me. My heart was now longing for university students and French seculars to have the opportunity to come into a place where they could belong and journey with Jesus

One "yes" changed the course of my life. The “yes” to following Jesus. The “yes” to getting to participate in the Great Commission. The “yes” to the path that He has for me. May we be brave to step out into the unknown and cling to the One who is sure to never let us go.