“I am someone who has been saved from my own standards of success and perfection so that I might point to God’s perfect grace and truth—Jesus Christ. As a model missionary kid, I thought that by being good enough God would give me whatever I wanted. Thankfully, God loved me enough to shatter that lie and when I was nine my family moved back to the states where I was anything but the perfect American child. Socially uneducated and obtuse in an already socially awkward life phase, my inability to fit in American culture led me to a crisis moment with God where I ultimately found the love of God to be the source of acceptance that I had been looking for all along. Placing my peace in the identity of God is a truth I must still preach to my own heart every day and in a large part, I think this is what instantly drew me to the Gospel-centered congregation of Citylight when I moved to Omaha three years ago for college.
During college, God continued to grow my heart for people through my semester in Ecuador, my summer as a camp counselor, and my year as a community builder at Grace University. It was during my final fall semester of college, that I met Robin Laney who through Perspectives started to share with me about Citylight’s growing interest in international missions. As someone pursing long-term international ministry under the CMA, the shared desire instantly captured my attention. And now, I am really excited to work at Citylight to empower a stronger, long-term ministry partnership with one or two other ministries around the world.
Throughout the Bible, I see this story continually repeated—one person prays humbling before God, God responds with a seemingly impossible vision (except for the fact that we are talking about God), and then if the person will say yes in faith and obedience; a miracle happens. This is my heart and vision for myself and others. My coming to Omaha was that of a skeptical, in many ways, begrudging yes, and now, I would not wish my life any other way. Through the humble yes, I have seen God slowly transform the lives of many people dear to me, and as I look back in either joy or exhaustion, I realize amazingly that the most changed person is me. In Citylight, I see people of a humble yes, and I am so excited to be a part of the adventure God brings as we seek after His heart for every individual.”
