His hands and feet.

Praying for a sweet friend and her new life!  Above is a picture of Lauren.  If you can't already tell from that beautiful, sweet, giving smile.....she's a 'God's girl'.  She's seeking Him, listening to Him and simply being His hands and feet.  

I met Lauren through my church....a place that I also work.  In meeting and getting to know Lauren, I've been blessed with the opportunity to see God work his wonders through her.  For a 20 'something' women....(as she describes herself)...she's pretty amazing.

Her Bio reads: (I'm a 20-something on THE wild goose chase after God's heart. This chase has led me to the Dominican Republic for a year to teach missionary children and serve the lost, lonely, hungry, and forgotten.)

I wish like Lauren other young people...realized ....how faithful, loving and 'for us' our God really is.

She 'gets' it.

I love that so much about Lauren.....and it impresses the heck outta me! 

When I fist met Lauren she was working with the kids at our church. (mine included) My daughter LOVES her...and I couldn't even imagine a better person for my daughter to look up to.  Because she has a heart for kids and God..and ministry.......she was lead to missions in our church.  

To be specific, her path brought her to the DR (Dominican Republic).  It was through these mission trips that she felt the pull.  A pull you can only really discern when you are on a close walk with the Lord.  To surrender all she knew and take a huge step of faith.

God was calling her to come back to the Dominican Republic...but not just on a mission trip.  He wanted her full presence.  Her life.  Complete devotion that didn't end in a week.  He wanted her to take her life and move to the DR.  To be His hands and feet in a more permanent kind of way.

wow.

How do you respond to that kind of request?  Many of us would quietly dismiss that thought and say...'No..he couldn't be asking me that' or 'thats WAY out of my comfort zone....not now Lord'

Thats not what Lauren said....

She prayerfully considered the request.  She replaced FEAR with TRUST and pursued His request.

"Good and faithful servant"

Lauren left this past Monday.....a new life, a leap of faith...a calling.  I encourage you to visit her blog and hear first hand, the path she is so faithfully following.  

Do we all have to surrender our lives and go out into the mission field?  Well...not always to the extent that Lauren is being led to.  The world is a mission field.  Life is a mission field.  It's about reaching out.  Outside of ourselves.  Our 'comfort' zones.  To the places and people we don't know or that we simply just keep in our peripheral.  

Our neighbors.

Our towns.

Our communities.

Reaching out where there is need.  It's everywhere if you look.  You don't need a plane ride to bring your there.

Stories like Lauren's beg of me to look at myself.  My intentions. My goals.  Do they only include me?  Do they reach out to others?  Do they fill a need outside of my own?  

Does Lauren's story beg of you to look deeper? First inside yourself and your ambitions....and then outside to the world around you?  

Please visit Lauren and send her some encouragement and prayer.

She's not just filling real needs in a real place.

She's an example of what Jesus asks us to be.

His hands and feet.

Click on this picture to get to Lauren's blog

'Footprints in the Sand'

-Patti-