Your Grace Finds Me : A Life Changer

There have been many things in my life that have caused me to grow spiritually and have literally changed my life.

But there is one thing that has changed me in a HUGE way!

That thing was my mission trips to Chihuahua, Mexico.

The first time I visited Mexico it was in September in the year 2009. I was 11 years old.

Experiencing a new country and culture is amazing, but as an 11 year old it was a little scary. Even though I was with my family and some of our closest friends, being 1,000s of miles away from home, meeting new people, and having to use my very little Spanish, was just a little out of my comfort zone.

My first trip was a lot of site seeing and working with a children's program that my church sponsors called Light Shine.

I'll tell you a little bit about Light Shine since I will talk about it a lot throughout this post!

Light Shine was started more than 7 years ago by some of the missionaries that work down. Light Shine is a children's program for the Native Indians called the Tarahumara that live in Chihuahua City. Most of them have come from the Sierra Mountains to find better work and try to live better lives.

(Both of the above pictures show the Sierra Madre Mountains. It is truly breathtaking and no picture can do it justice)

Light Shine tries to get these kids off the streets, gives them a good meal, plays games with them, teach them how to take care of themselves, and most importantly teach them about the love, grace, and forgiveness of out Lord Jesus Christ.

Since going in 2009 I have gone back to my home away from home and second family twice. I went back in 2011 and then in 2013.

I have watched these kids in Light Shine grow up! I have also seen these kids accept Christ into their lives, become baptized, and lead the younger kids in Bible lessons and worship.

I have watched these kids share the gospel with the Mexicans. *(Back story) The Mexicans treat the Tarahuamara Indians kinda like how we treat Hispanics in the U.S. They give them the crappy jobs and look down on them*

It brought tears to my eyes (and for those who don't know me...that is a VERY rare occasion. I don't cry) as I watched these kids share the gospel and love on the people who dislike them and look down on them.

God has used each of these trips to:

1) Push me further and further out of my comfort zone. I still hate getting out of my comfort zone because, well...it's uncomfortable and the inside of my bubble is very comfortable. I have learned, however, that some of the coolest things I have experienced were outside of my comfort zone. I have also found that I have grown closer to Christ outside of my comfort zone more times than I have inside of my bubble. I think the reason for this is that, when I'm comfortable I don't really NEED to rely on Christ. But when I'm scared, alone, and uncomfortable it forces me to rely on Him!

2)With each of my trips, God has shown me that I don't truly understand the extent of God's love and forgiveness. Each trip I come home completely overwhelmed with the love that God has for me and the lost. After each trip my desire to share the gospel and help people has strengthened and my fear lessened. Now of course, I'm not perfect and often shy away from a perfect opportunity to share the love of Christ with someone, but God is showing me that there is no need to be afraid because He is speaking through me...

I actually read this in my devotions a couple days ago;

In Matthew 10: 19-20

"...do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

I don't know about you, but that relieves a lot of my fear, because I don't have to worry about messing this up, because it isn't really me speaking...but Christ, speaking through me.

3) After each trip, especially after the last one I was on in 2013, God has created a passion and love for the lost and hurting. Now I have always wanted to help people on a medical level, but He gave me a desire to help people on a spiritual level as well. I desire to build relationships with people, mentor people younger than me, etc.

I feel like I could go on forever about Mexico and the millions of things that God has shown me, but that would take WAY too long!

If you have considered going on a missions trip and feel like God is telling you to go, but fear, money, etc are keeping you from actually going... drop everything and GO!!!!

If you haven't considered a missions trip I would encourage you to prayerfully think about it! It is an amazing experience!

Here are some pictures from my last two trips!