Leaving Your Comfort Zone to Pursue Your Purpose

The Mission Life Team in Bogota, Colombia, February 2021

Sometimes God unveils his plan for your life early on.  Sometimes it is much later and there’s a few detours along the way. For me, it was a 12 year detour but with every experience, he was preparing me for my purpose. I just didn’t know it.

I grew up in a catholic family. In the summer, my sister and I attended church with my grandparents every morning. I knew God but I didn’t understand how to have a relationship with him.

It is during some of your most trying times when you rely on faith to get you through. My divorce was that time for me. Up until then, my life had been pretty smooth. I was a TV news anchor. We had a nice home and two young daughters but for the first time in my life, I had no control. The divorce hit me like a ton of bricks. I was angry and bitter for a very long time.

Fast forward about 10 years when I attended a service at Manchester Christian Church with a close high school friend. It was very different from what I was used to. The band was worshipping on stage and as I looked around and started singing, I teared up. After years of feeling lost, God led me back to the path again. I started talking to him more often. I felt stronger.

In 2019, the girls and I went on a mission trip to Rwanda. We thought we would go to help people but instead, God changed us through the people we met, like Therese, the pastor’s wife in the village of Batima. We were invited to visit her home that she shared with her husband and 6 children. There were 3 small rooms and the family slept on just one mattress. After talking for a bit, she asked us to pray over her home. That’s when we learned they sold their previous house to pay for church renovations. The government issued new safety guidelines and it was in jeopardy of being shut down. They were sacrificing everything they had, often skipping meals, so their community had a place to meet and worship! I couldn’t believe the incredible sacrifice this family was making! Surely I could do more.

When I came home, I couldn’t stop thinking about Therese along with others I met. I thought if more young people could experience this, their lives might also be changed! Since I worked for a college, I thought about organizing student trips. Then, I found Mission Life and I started volunteering! I started to write and tell other people’s stories.

We went back to Rwanda in 2020 and we sponsored Bertrand at the Child Hope Center. In 2021, I went to Colombia and watched God open doors for 3 new Mission Life child centers! 

After all of these incredible experiences, it was now time to take care of something I had been nervous about for a long time. With my youngest daughter graduating from high school, it was time to sell our home of 14 years. Now having a relationship with God, I trusted and gave it to him and he provided the way! With a thriving real estate market, He made it happen and then some.

This brings me to the best part of the story, when he revealed my purpose. Right after we moved into our new home, my work environment changed. I started looking for a new job but God kept shutting the door. I asked Him to show me where he wanted to place me and while sitting in my office it became crystal clear. 

God helped me sell my home and with the extra profit, He provided a way for me to leave my job to volunteer for Mission Life to help expand and bring on more paid staff. Once I made the decision to obey him, he brought it full circle. While launching our Service Learning Project pilot at Concord Christian Academy, Mission Life Founder and CEO Angel Galvis told the students about the importance of finding your life purpose and how they will get to travel to our center in Colombia. That’s when it hit me.. It wasn’t about college students going on mission trips, it was about these high school students sitting before me! 

After a 12 year detour, I have found my purpose! I get to help kids find their mission in life and be part of a movement to take action to change lives! God changed MY life and now, through writing and telling important stories for Mission Life, I can help more young people find their purpose. I now know what it means to have a relationship with Him and I fully trust that no matter what happens, He will provide.. He always has.

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