The Long Journey There

How did I end up going to Kenya?

I was reminded last night that it started so many years ago --  last night God led several friends to speak truth into my heart using verses He had given to me almost a decade ago, perched on a rock in the only rainstorm Colorado Springs experienced in the dangerously dry summer of 2002.

Since that day -- when God smacked me over the head with His unchanging love and a hope for a different future -- I have wandered around a strange wilderness of fear, loathing, doubt, depression. I have found the truest friends and lost many more.

But now I feel I'm coming out of it. And I am praying that going to Kenya will cement that. I've worked at Mission of Mercy for nearly 3 years, and in so many ways I'm amazed to see how God aligned everything from a Political Science and English degree to a growing passion for justice issues to bring me to a job as a writer for an international organization seeking to change the lives of children.

Yet those three years have been hard, mostly because I've been writing from the depths of my imaginative heart about something I've wanted -- but feared -- seeing: what poverty does to a child, and what little it takes to change their lives when the body of Christ recognizes the call.

SO at the suggestion of a coworker and friend, I want to write about my expectations. And then, when I get back, I can see just what God was doing in my heart. So here goes...