A New Adventure in Life

Have you ever felt like there has to be more to life than working for the man and saving for the next thing? Or like your life could be more effective than just providing comfort for your own family? These are things that I think most people feel once in a while, but for me these feelings became like an itch I had to scratch.

Back in August of last year I really started to feel like there had to be more. I started contemplating what was most important in life and what I wanted the sum of my life to represent. I will hopefully have quite a few years ahead of me. So if I live purposefully, I can live the life that God intended for me and live beyond the comfort of every day life. Don't get me wrong, enjoying my family and working together with my husband to care for our kids is so fulfilling in itself. I'm not trying to downplay the importance of that. I just felt like I could do more. I wanted to be content with what I have and get the focus off of myself. This is easier said than done. I couldn't make that mental switch on my own.


Lucky for me, I go to an amazing church who had a women's Bible study last fall. The study was based around the book A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study by Jen Hatmaker. This study opened my eyes to reading the Bible and having a passion for it. I learned how to get so much more out of my time reading the Bible and apply it to where God was leading me. This Bible study was important, because my time in the Word backed up a journey I was just beginning. It ties in with me being able to focus more on what God wants than what I want myself. I could talk about this alone for quite a while, but I'll summarize with this verse I came across that helped me change my mindset.

Romans 8:5 "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires."


I saw this verse as a promise. I could in fact have my mind set on what the Spirit of God desires, I just had to start living in accordance with the Spirit. That means reading my Bible, praying more, time in praise and worship, etc. And doing it seeking the Spirit, not just mindlessly. And in fact, the more I was doing this, the more my mind stopped caring so much about comfort and truly began seeking what God wanted for my life and being sensitive to where the Spirit was leading me.

Around the same time I started this Bible study, I saw a Facebook post from my friend, Lana, who started a ministry about 14 years ago. It's called Life Impact International and they rescue children in Thailand from human trafficking. They now have over 120 kids on their property who they have rescued and are raising up. They have been so close to my heart ever since I met Lana when I was 16 at my youth group. She posted on Facebook a picture of a property they would like to buy but didn't have the money for. I knew this property would mean more rescued children. I messaged her my idea for how we could raise the funds for the property and that I would help.

Since then, it has been a complete whirlwind! I started helping out in their home office in Simi Valley and when Lana came to the states in December, she made time to have lunch with me. That in itself was such a gift. She is one of those people who just radiates the love of God. Through that lunch, I shared my heart for the ministry and another idea I had for a fundraiser - a Masquerade Silent Auction Banquet. Lana and Stacey, the ministry's accountant, loved the idea. After tons of laughter and sharing, they invited me out to go to Thailand at the end of January for 2 weeks!

 After talking with my husband and lots of prayer, we both agreed that it was right for me to go and he could handle our kids while I was away. So, here I am leaving for Thailand tonight with Stacey and Ashley, Lana's cousin, to get a hands on experience of this ministry, help out, and come back with an even greater passion to tell people about what they are doing over there. I can barely believe it! It's so amazing where God will lead you when you let him and the peace he will give you to move forward.

I'll be blogging about my experience, hopefully while I'm over there too. You can subscribe by email in the right hand column if you'd like to know when I post something new.

I hope that this post inspired you even a little to see how you can live outside of your comfort zone or make time to help someone else.

Lots of love,
Amber