why i am not a missionary... or am i?!?

when i was in high school i was set on being a "missionary". i was going to live in a foreign country and play with children all day at an orphanage and love on them.  my life was rocked multiple times  while traveling on mission trips, from the mountains of kentucky to the beaches of the dominican. my heart opened up and i found a passion for children and the poor. when I was 17 I went to orphanages in India, and really, my life was changed. I left that country knowing I was going to be a nurse. I worked with a hospital and was giving shots and providing healthcare to the poor in shanties in india. woah. 

i knew that i was going to do medical missions forever. 

knew it. 

that was the only way to be a real Christian and serve God, right?!

well, that is what I thought. 

fast forward 5 years. 

((throw in some more mission trips scattered across the world, then picture me in Durham, NC))

I was a nurse. working in an emergency room. 

i wasn't a missionary in another country, and I realized I wasn't going to be. 

but did that mean I wasn't serving God?

was I not living my life for Him?

in high school I thought the only way to genuinely serve God was to be a missionary or a pastor. in college I started to learn that there were other ways, but wasn't really sure where or how. 

and then I became a nurse, and realized it was daily decision to serve Christ no matter where I am. what i am doing. I had a calling, and it wasn't to be a missionary in another country, or to be a pastor, or a counselor. I was called to be a nurse.

i spent two years in an emergency room serving Christ as much as I could. 

it wasn't beautiful. 

I definitely didn't always have the best attitude. 

It was really hard. 

but I slowly began to realize, God called me to serve Him in medicine. He called me to love those that others don't. To listen to the sick and dying. to hug the elderly widow when she is all alone. to cry with those who just received the worst of news. Christ called me to love and care for those around me. 

so then... I became a nurse practitioner. 

really, it just happened. 

might as well have a "career change" in my mid-twenties. 

 and then I fell into my new career. 

I didn't have a job interview. I didn't put in an application. 

I was given a job. Asked, sought out, provided for. 

unbelievable really. 

more unbelievable, was the company. 

an amazing non-profit that provides free healthcare to the poor, helps the sick in their urgent time of need, and the company strives for justice, service, mercy and excellence. 

how amazing is that. 

oh no, it gets better. 

at least 4 times a year they travel to Haiti to provide healthcare in a medical clinic.
you just get asked, and then go.

so. just like that, i am going to haiti.
to serve on a mission trip for one week.
in the past 10 years i have gone full circle.
i started as a 'i must be a medical missionary to serve God' to learning, no. you can serve Him right here at home. to now be going on a medical mission trip to serve those in need.

perhaps i needed to come full circle to learn that serving Christ is a daily choice.
its not something that "just preachers do" or "missionaries" or "clergy".
its a daily choice we are given.

so i ask that you will pray for me and my team as we head south next month to Haiti. We will work in the clinic and provide medical care there. I don't have many details, but I look forward to the adventure ahead :)