“My life is meaningless”

Speaks so much power & truth! If you have the time, which I’m sure you do, read it!

I’m not going to lie, I can read thousands of inspirational quotes about living life to the fullest, I can read one book after another about what habits I need to build to fulfill my dreams, I can go to church three times a week and hear one message after another about the purpose of my life… and yet when I wake up in the morning and go through the same daily, weekly, monthly routine life doesn’t seem so vibrant with purpose, so permeated with potential, and so immersed with meaning.

From going to work, to attending and leading Bible studies, to preparing and teaching lessons in church, to hanging out with family and friends, to exploring new places, and to writing.

Every day, every week, every month, it’s all the same.

Maybe the people change, the situations change, the locations change… but the routine remains the same.

And in…

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We don’t start something in THEM, they start something in US

As I wrote in my last post, I attended a two week trip to the Dominican Republic. I left the states on May 18th and would returned June 3. Going into this trip I had heard countless stories about how beautiful the Caribbean was, chinola juice and the crazy drivers. I also heard stories about the need for missionaries, people who are willing to share their faith and what God has taught them throughout their life. As many people know, I love to talk. However, when it came to my faith, I was very uncomfortable talking about my relationship with God because I never thought that I did enough to deserve one with him. I knew that God loved me unconditionally, but still I let my works and what I thought being a “good person”, get in the way of that. I remember watching a video one day and I don’t specifically know if it was at Cru or at a bible study meeting, but it said this great quote. “How could you hate someone so much to not share the good news with them?” This stuck with me so much and I automatically felt guilty and convicted of this. I started to realize that yes, God gave me a gift and love for having community and fellowship but he also gave me that for a purpose. He gave me that to share his word and he wanted to use a sinful and completely normal person to do it. You see, nobody is perfect. We live in a society that expects us to fit into this beautiful mold, but the great thing is that at the end of our lives none of that will matter. All the things we work toward, rather that be a tan, fit bodies, or amazing careers, God loves us unconditionally and will use us the way he always intended to. Isn’t that a crazy thing to think about. In the gospel it says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He loved us so much, that he saw our brokenness and still wanted to be our Savior. The truth is that we are sinful and we will commit sinful acts time and time again. But the amazing truth is that because of our faith and trust in him, God gives us grace to forgive us everyday of our lives. We don’t have to do anything to receive his love but to believe and have faith in him. That is so beautiful and such a testimony to God and all he has fulfilled.

Because I have grown & grasped God’s love and grace in my life, I was desperately needing to share my faith. I felt God pulling on my heart to share the gospel overseas. He calls us to share the gospel but also to the nations. I had heard about the Dominican Republic and  the main denomination was Catholicism. My religious background was Catholic and although I wouldn’t consider myself catholic, it definitely was my past and part of the reason why I am who I have become. I always loved God and knew he had a purpose for me growing up but I never had a personal relationship with my heavenly father. When I got to college, I saw what that looked like and I desired that with all of my heart. I wanted to fulfill that emptiness in my heart and nothing was satisfying me. The reason for this is nothing and I mean nothing on this earth will fulfill us. Yes, God created us to have life and experience it abundantly but also to not abuse it and put it over him. I realized and wanted a personal relationship with him and fully commit myself and my life to him. He is my Savior and my father and my reasoning for going overseas. Over the next 2 weeks I poured out, shared the gospel and my story to over 40 girls on 3 different college universities in Santo Domingo. I have never been more afraid and excited in my life to have conversations. God used me those 2 weeks in ways I couldn’t have ever imagined. I personally saw 2 girls accept Christ, 39 more girls accept Christ and over 100 girls rededicate their lives to Christ. One of the most amazing memories I experienced was a conversation I had with a girl named Nicole, who is pictured in the photo above. She didn’t have Christ in her life for 10 years and when I shared with her, she accepted Christ in her life again. I expected her to listen and respond to the questions I was asking really poorly in spanish but I never would have guessed she would be so impacted that she would rededicate her life. She could she her sins in her life and knew that God loved her anyways and wanted a relationship with her. See we don’t start something in them, they start something in us. We came to the Dominican Republic thinking that we would show people Christ and they would be changed but ultimately WE are! The students showed me everyday that God took this girl to share his good news. Even though I wasn’t strong in my faith 2 years ago, I was able to put God on the throne of my life and he transformed my life. I’ve been able to reflect on where God has taken me and where he will continue to direct me. God is too good and will always prevail! God Bless!!!

 

Lesson # 1: Learning Obedience

Back in February, I decided to apply for summer project. It was through Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru), a campus ministry that I’m involved in at Western Kentucky University. I applied for the 2-week Trek program since I had to complete 240 internship hours for my Interior Design degree. I got accepted late February and planned my summer accordingly based on this missionary trip. Of course when I got home to tell my parents the news about getting accepted my dad said, Madeline what does this have to do with Interior Design? It was hard to explain to my parents that I was going on a trip to the DR to spread the gospel to several college campuses in Santo Domingo. People automatically assume when you say mission trip they picture you building houses or something in relation to that. That wasn’t even close to what we were about to encounter. So by the end of February/early March, all I knew about my summer plans was that I was going to the Dominican Republic and I had to get an internship.

I spent most of my semester looking & praying for an internship in Louisville to fall into my lap. The first place I applied to never got back to me, but luckily my next option got back to me right away! I would be interning at Huber Decor, a commercial interior design company very close to home. It finally seemed like everything was falling into place and it was! I realized that even though I didn’t have an internship, I had relied on Christ to get me this far and for the first time in my life I was putting full trust in him. I had obeyed him when he was putting summer project as a desire in my heart to go and now I had to be patient with my internship. I had done all that I could to get one and I just had to wait. I’m a firm believer that because I was obedient to God and his plan for my summer, my internship fell into place for me. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned thus far, be obedient and God will do his will for you. A lot of this involved patience, which i’m not the best at but God will provide. In knowing that, you will be patient. So the next time you want something to happen and you wonder why it isn’t happening for you, take a moment and reflect. Think about in preparation for whatever it is, were you fully relying on God to get you there? 

Only the Beginning: Part 1

I never thought I would be the girl to start a blog but I guess there is a first for everything, a beginning. I’m always wanting to discuss and I figured having a blog could help me & also encourage others. My entire blog is about life, wisdom, trials and encouragement. What these things have meant/taught me and how it has affected the ones I love around me. Excited to share many thoughts, ideas & lessons learned!

First official blog is coming soon……