The journey to Moldova

It's official...I'll be leaving for Moldova in May. Let me start from the beginning... It's been a long, hard year for me working with missions. Originally I only wanted to go back to Kenya and didn't really care if that's what God wanted for me. I've learned that I was wrong. God slammed that door shut and it was hard to watch that dream die. So after everything with Kenya happened, I started cosmetology school to just fill the time. Take up a year so then I could go and do missions work in Africa. Again...this is what I wanted. God said to me...you know what,Ashley, that's not what I have for you right now. I have something better. You have to trust me....In the mean time God's been growing this dream inside of me. A dream of...what if I could do hair and missions. What would it look like if I combined these two passions God has placed in my life. This thought just sat in the back of my head for a few months. Then, last month, at the senior high winter retreat, one of the other leaders was talking to me and said ,"How cool would it be if you could go to hair and missions? Work with the missionaries...do their hair. Encourage them. That would be such an awesome ministry." hmmm....I'm thinking..God this can only be from you. So all the way home i start thinking of how this can work and start planning it out in my head. Then a few days after I got home my dad says to me,"I've got a crazy idea for you. What if you would go do hair overseas for the missionaries." Now I'm like..."Ok, God, I get it." So I sent an email to my OM coordinator who I've been working with since august now and just said...what do you think of this. She sent out an email to all the OM missionaries and got an immediate response from 3 countries saying plans they had for me there. Guess this wasn't such a crazy idea after all. So I prayed about these countries and the ministry in Moldova really stood out to me. I looked into it a little more and a few weeks later...here I am ready to send out my support letters and getting everything in line to leave after I graduate from cosmetology school. God has thrown the doors wide open on this opportunity after closing so many. I'm so glad that God is in the middle of all of this, directing every step.

I think this is just the first stop on this awesome journey God wants to take me on. I have no idea what comes after, but I know I won't be in a salon doing hair every day. I want to be out on the mission field. My sister and I have realized we have the same passion about a specific mission field....I think God's in the works on this one. I can see us going out together to do God's work. He's got something HUGE in store and I can't wait to follow him and let him take me there.

So I'll leave for a 3 month trip in mid to late May. While I'm there I'll be able to work in childrens ministry a little bit...Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and parents have to leave the country to find jobs so there are day centers where the kids come and spend time after school til night. So I'm excited to get involved in this. A big part of my time there will be spent cutting hair...Who knew that cutting hair could further God's kingdom and bring him glory. Crazy crazy. I'll be able to cut the missionaries hair...there are 40 of them living in Moldova. I will also get the opportunity to be on a bus called The Bus for Life. It travels around eastern Eurpope and acts as a moving childrens minstry and christian bookstore since christian literature isn't abundant. While I spend 2 weeks on this bus I'll be set up to give free haircuts since many people probably can't spend much money getting their hair cut. This will be another way to attract people to the bus and share Christ's love. There is also an elderly ministry that I'll be able to spend a little time at. I'm so excited for what God has for me there. In my head missions has always been little black children in Africa, so I'm still adjusting and reminding myself that God has called us to reach people of all nations. I have started learning Romanian since English is rarely spoken there. So this will be an exciting and scary journey, but so worth it.

Pray with me as I venture into this. Pray that funds will be provided...this is a "God if you don't show up I'm in big trouble" sorta thing. I've got nothing to back me up if funds don't come in so I'm trusting that God will provide. He's been faithful before...he'll be faithful again. He's always faithful....big thing he's been showing me lately. Pray also that God would give me courage. I'm going into a country that doesn't speak my language. I'll be flying alone and switching flights in countries without English so that freaks me out a little bit. Pray that I would have courage to share my faith and that I wouldn't get homesick while I'm there. Pray for health for me and the missionaries already living there. Pray that above all else, God's will will be done and that he will use me to further his kingdom. Pray for God to speak to me as well while I'm over there as to what my next step will be when I come home.

"I am the Lord's servant and I am willing to accept whatever he wants." - Luke 1:38

I'm so excited that I'm at a point in my life where I can say I am genuinely in love with Jesus. Life is so much better when He's in the driver's seat....not easier, but better.

The storms

I'm at a point in my life now where I am extremely thankful for the storms. The trials. The rough times. I would not be the same person without them. It's during these storms that I've "needed" God the most and turned to him. If my life was roses and daisies, I dont think I would feel the need as much to depend on the Lord for every aspect of my life. The storms suck. Let's be honest. It seems horrible to be in them. But I don't think we could learn the lessons we do without them. God has become my best friend, my favorite pen pal, my comforter, my provider, an ear to listen to my cries and pleas for the storms to end, my audience to belt out songs to and have Jesus music dance parties to :), my strength, my hope, my future. I cannot thank God enough for the storms. And while you're in the storms, the only thing you want is to be out of them. But in them is when I've done the most growing and learning.
I finally feel like I can see the end of the tunnel with my mom...my relationship with her and her health. I feel like soon this whole thing will be over. A healing is around the corner and I cannot wait to see God be the mighty healer and we will give him all the praise and glory. I see a little hope in building up my relationship with my mom that's been so strained from her sickness. I got the best text in the world from my mom today. It simply said, "I love the way you love Jesus." How encouraging is that. That my love for the Lord is apparent. And I know my love for him has grown because I've turned to him and seeked him when I felt everything else was falling apart. James 1:12 says, "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." I can't wait until the day when I can sing "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. OUR GOD IS IS HEALER, AWESOME IN POWER," and know first hand that God is the ultimate healer. I have a hard time singing "our God is healer." I know that I know that I know that God heals, and Im just ready for him to heal my mom. I feel like it's time to have my mom back. For her to be able to go to church with us again. For her to be able to go watch Zach and Ky perform choir concerts. To be able to fly over to Africa to visit me. To come visit me and my family in the future. For her to feel like a mom again. To cook and clean and do all the boring things that moms do. I want her to be able to do them. I want to go shopping with her. I want to take a random road trip with her. I want to live life with her able to. And for so long that just hasn't happened. But my God is the same God that closed the mouths of lions, saved men from burning in a furnace, brought people back to life, opened the waters, died on a cross then 3 days later rose again and is now living! I have no doubts in Him.

Lord, I can't wait for what's ahead. You are so incredibly faithful and there is no doubt in my mind that you can heal. Thank you for the storms.

Faithful

Last night, I rung in the New Year by spending some time alone with God. This is the way I wanted to start the year and prepare for what God has planned for me over the next year. God is going to rock my world this next year and I can't wait to see everything unfold. This will be a year of change. I am graduating from Vogue probably in late March, and then we'll see where God leads.
This past week I spent time as a leader with our Sr. High at Spring Hill in Michigan. It was so exciting and encouraging to see God move through all these kids who want to seek after him. God is building up an army at NMC and these kids are gonna change the world. So many of them want to be involved in missions and just do the Lord's will. I went into this week knowing that I wanted to go to Zambia and work with children at the orphan school. I left the retreat thoroughly confused, but extremely excited for what God has next! At the retreat we spent some time just letting God speak to us. In that time I saw myself speaking....I don't speak in front of people. haha. I saw myself speaking to a group of women, probably about 20 to start with. We were in a circle praying, then another circle of women formed outside our circle. And another, and another. Until there were like 7 rings outside of this main circle. I was leading all these women. I don't know the color of their skin...if it was here in the u.s. or over in Africa, but God was using me to lead these women. So i have no idea where God is going with this, but I know He has some awesome plans for me this year! I don't think he's done with me in missions and I've got a ton of things running around in my head and ready to jump into action. In my journal on the first day of the retreat I wrote, "This is a year of change. Life will be different...It's all gotta be for the glory of God. There's no other option." Im going all out on this one. No turning back. Completely surrendered.

Last night I felt it was time to take down all the baby centre pics off my wall. As I took each one down I was overwhelmed by how faithful God has been to the baby centre. Most of the kids on my wall from when I was there last October had been adopted. All of them have a future now. So many unwanted children have been rescued. The stories of the journeys these kids have gone through are incredible. I know God has an amazing plan and purpose for each one of their lives! It was so good to, again, be reminded of God's awesome faithfulness.