how wide His love

I was just weeks away from graduating high school when I went on my first missions trip to the Dominican Republic.  All the dreams and plans I had for my life were suddenly back-burnered when I realized deeply for the first time that maybe GOD had a different plan for my life than I did. 


A call to take Christ internationally had NEVER once occurred to me, and suddenly it was all I could think about.


Very aware that a one week missions trip might just have departed a "mountain-top experience" upon me, I was anxious to return, and the mission I served with was looking for interns for the summer...in less than a month.  


Mom and Dad never said yes or no, only this: "If you can find the money yourself, you can do it."


The next morning I spent an hour with Nicolle Bompart, the guidance counsellor at my high school.  I shared my heart, and in turn she prayed with me and shared a place in His call on my life.  


When I left her office, my three months in the DR, facilitating teams and participating in softball ministry in sugar-cane villages, was paid for.


During this trip, God opened doors of my heart towards spiritually and physically impoverished people and confirmed His call on my life.  My next trip was Haiti, and here we are.


Nicolle and her husband began working in Haiti immediately following the earthquake in January of 2010, even adopting their 14-year old son from Haiti after the disaster.  Since then, they've worked with Medishare for Haiti and Eyes Wide Open International, their own charity, and have recently begun building an orphanage.

Last Friday, Nicolle's husband David was in Port-au-Prince and leaving a bank when he was shot in the stomach and chest and robbed.  Today he passed away in a Florida hospital, going to be "with someone who loves him more than me," Nicolle wrote.


I feel so devastated for their family, so broken by so much ugliness in the world in general and in my particular corner of it, so grateful for the ongoing testimony of their lives and so grateful to know, in a small way, a family who helped make the reality of Christ's love known in my life, and in the lives of SO many others in this country we call home.


When God shows us something through His eyes, touches our hearts like only He can, and calls us to action as a part of His perfect plan for our lives, I just NEVER want to be afraid.


For His Glory.


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