Passion...

At APU (and at ADP, actually), they encourage each student to take a strengths assessment called "StrengthsQuest". This was put together by Gallup, and to be honest, I was quite skeptical when I first saw the test. But, because I was going on a mission team, I had to take it.

My top strengths were:

Arranger
Belief
Communication
Context
Developer
Positivity
Responsibility

After the test, and after taking time to learn about what each strength meant, I began to understand myself in a completely new way.

My most prominent strength is belief. It is simply defined in this way: "Your work must be meaningful; it must matter to you..your Belief theme will matter only if it gives you a chance to live out your values."

Anyone who knows me KNOWS this is true. Think about politics...think about family...just about anything in my life! I am a passionate person, and when I stand behind something, or when something really means something to me, it's hard to get me to not talk about it :)

I say all of this for a reason...missions is a huge passion in my life, and has been for as long as I can remember, thanks to my Grandmother. My whole life has been spent learning about missions, the whys, hows, wheres, etc...and now I have several short-term missions trips under my belt as well. The more I teach about missions, experience missions, the more I want to do that for the rest of my life. Period. I can't imagine anything more satisfying than serving others and sharing the love of Jesus with them--which I realize you can do anywhere, but I feel like I might end up overseas...

I am really praying about the Lord's call on my life...but things seem to be pointing toward career missions, overseas...most likely in an "unsafe" country...and that excites me to no end! It's what gets me through the day, knowing that right now I am in a position to learn and to grow, and to receive training for whatever the Lord will bring my way...

Tonight, I spent 2.5 hours listening to a friend share about her recent missions experience in India, and then sharing about my own experiences. Another friend came in later who just got back from the D.R., and she shared about her missions experience as well. I am so fired up right now, so passionate about all that God is doing around the world...and I just had to post this. :)

God is doing amazing things in my heart, and in my life, and I am so excited to see where He leads me...because I'll go wherever that is...