The Warm Heart

mis·sion·ar·y

   [mish-uh-ner-ee]

3.

a person who is sent on a mission.

I've always wondered what it would be like to be a missionary, to be sent on a mission for God. I'd give up my friends, my family, my phone, my time - all to serve others. But there were always hesitations. I can't take a year off from school. I need to finish in four years so I don't have excruciatingly large loans to pay off in the future. Or, I just don't have the money right now to do something like this.

Well, I am tired of making excuses - I am going to Africa! Sadly, I won't be able to go for a year or six months, but I do get to be there for a solid two and a half weeks. I am so excited that this opportunity came up. I would read the e-mails announcing the trip through the student missions office at Loma Linda and kept the idea in the back of my mind. Finally, I prayed about it, asking God to impress on me what to do. Suddenly, "Africa" was being mentioned in random conversations I had with people, even sermons! I knew this was His sign - I had to go.

So, I'll be joining 15 other students as we travel to...

Malawi is on the eastern side of the continent, sandwiched between Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. We'll be staying at Malamulo, the Adventist Hospital there. I might get the chance to help in some clinics, teach health education, and help with VBS for the kids. It really doesn't matter what I do, though. I am just so ecstatic to get the chance to go on a mission for God.

Only 3 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days to go...

PossAbilities Challenge

I come from a family of athletes. My dad, a professor of Exercise Science, is all about sports. My younger brother is the same, and my mom has always been a runner. Me - not so much. But, I've decided to change all that and start running. I've been putting in 30 minutes of cardio a day for almost 3 weeks now. This is my longest work-out streak ever! As great as daily exercise is, I decided to take it a step further and set a goal for myself. So, I signed up to do a 5K here at Loma Linda called PossAbilities Challenge. PossAbilities is a really awesome community outreach program for individuals with disabilities.

Here's a really inspiring video about PossAbilities:

As a participant in the race, I get the opportunity to raise money for PossAbilities. My goal is to raise $50. I can't wait to run my very first race, April 29.

For those that are interested, here's my personal web page for PossAbilities:

http://www.active.com/donate/possabilitiestri/alliee55

Love Never Fails

You know when you hear a song that speaks to your soul? It's as if the artist knows exactly what you need to hear right then. In the sermon I heard this Sabbath the speaker told a story about a mission project in Africa. The group had brought over a thousand American Standard bolts and had left the matching nuts back in the States. They had a slim chance of finding the standard nuts they needed to complete the building project, but they looked anyways. An old man at the local hardware store thought they were so foolish for thinking they would have Standard nuts and bolts for sale in a place where the English metric system was used, but he looked anyways. Sure enough, on top of the boxes of supplies was a large box of 1,000 standard nuts. Exactly what they needed! He received the box 60 years ago when a man from the United States had come to Africa and was working on a project of his own. He only needed the bolts and left the nuts with the owner. God solved their problem 60 years ago. That's why we can never doubt if God is in control. He is and He was in control long before the problem even happened.

Here's the song that I needed to hear today, by Brandon Heath.

Love Never Fails

Love is not proud

Love does not boast

Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river that flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

A Father's Lessons

My dad has always taught me the most valuable lessons in life.

"You can't always get what you want."

"If you spot a rattlesnake just freeze. Daddy will take care of it."

"You can never trust a Dodger fan - ever."

"If 'wishes' and 'buts' were candies and nuts, we'd all have a really nice party."

The most important lesson he taught me was this, the golden rule: "You don't know everything." This has been the hardest lesson to learn of them all. I tested my father constantly while I was growing up. When I was 6-years-old he was trying to teach me how to play baseball.

"Level swing. Eyes on the ball. Watch the ball hit the bat."

"I know what I am doing dad."

"No you don't."

Of course I would swing and miss because I closed my eyes at the last second. It wasn't until I listened to his words, that I actually made contact. I hated admitting that he was right. I would usually play the denial card.

"No dad. I hit the ball this time because I swung faster than usual."

He wouldn't argue with me. What's the point when you have a stubborn daughter that knows everything? I don't blame him.

My life is filled with stories like this. He would be explaining something to me and I would interject and say, "I know, dad." You know what he would say? "No you don't." I became very frustrated. When would I know everything? He seemed to know everything, but he's 50-years-old. Do I really have to wait until I'm middle aged before I know everything?

As I've been getting older, something strange has been happening. I realize, slowly but surely, that I really don't know anything at all. This has been hard to admit, believe me. It's challenging to go from the girl that knows everything to the girl that knows nothing at all. Isn't it strange that as I get older I am realizing how little I actually do know?

There is one thing that I am learning. I do not know what is best for my life. I've made plans, and I've seen them fall through. I am disappointed at first, but with time I realize that the plan was a terrible one or it didn't actually make me happy. As a graduate student I have had to make many plans: plans for an internship, plans for group meetings, plans for my future career, etc. Everything is organized in my computer. I know what my day looks like, what my week looks like, even what the whole month looks like. It is full of plans.

But my plan for my life is anything but expected. I can't expect that things won't change. Things will change, dramatically. They change for a reason. He is the reason - The Master Planner. The one who designed the Universe, created me, died for me, saved me, loves me - knows what is best for me. He knows my heart. He knows what I need. His timing is perfect.

I don't know everything, but I do know one thing. His plans are so much better than my own.