When I start to think about what I believe in, my mind travels back to moments in my life where I have felt God's presence. Ever since I was little, I have been surrounded with Christian influences, and I accepted Jesus into my heart at a young age, 5 years old. In the third grade I had a teacher that really opened my eyes to how big our God is. She served full time in the mission field when she was not teaching, and she is the first women I knew who was serving God with her whole heart. From then on I would come home from school everyday and tell my Mom that I was to be a missionary, just like Mrs. Rudasill. My Mom would smile at me and say, "Ok honey, you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up!"

            About 5 years later I was presented with the opportunity to experience the dream I had talked about for years. My youth group decided to take a mission trip to Matamoros, Mexico the Spring Break of my freshman year, and I was so excited! In Matamoros we built houses for needy families in the colonia and did VBS with kids in the area.  That year in Mexico was the first time I truly quieted my heart to hear the God of the universe speak to me. I had never before seen God work like He did, and I was amazed to see people around me use their gifts to love on desperate people. God laid a passion on my heart to love people with no love in their lives and to give the hope of God to the hopeless. Worship there was amazing for me… to be under the stars and hearing nothing but a guitar, away from all distractions and worries and just thank God for who He is, and was, and will be forever opened my heart to what genuine worship is. A song that we often sang was called "Power of Your Love".

Lord I come to You

Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I've found in You
Lord I've come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love

Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
By the power of Your love

The power of God's love became so real in everything in my life. I saw God working in amazing ways, even when I came home He continued to reveal Himself to me the more I sought after Him. I love the verse that says "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" because that is so true.

        The power of God's love constantly astonishes me. I was blessed with the incredible opportunity to visit Kenya last summer on a mission trip and the power of love was more real than ever. God's love can shine through us, even in the darkest of places. While in Nairobi, we went to an orphanage and my heart was broken to see the extent of poverty those children were living in. But the joy those kids had from recieving hugs, smiles, laughs, and love filled me with a greater passion to show how great God's love can be when we make ourselves alvailable to pour it out to those around us. So I have experienced the power of love and I believe that the amazing love from our God is unchanging and will endure forever.