I am so excited for you all to meet a wonderful new friend of mine. We are both part of the “dream team” and are also “buddies”. It has been so much fun getting to know Jenn over the past few weeks and I am in love with her heart for God and others! I asked her if she would be willing to come and share about herself a little here because I know once you meet her you will all love her like I do! And while you are at it please stop over and “like” her FB page so you can keep updated on new things as they come!
What an honor to write a guest post for my new friend and cheerleader Kristin.
She offered me the chance to come on over to her beautiful space and share a little bit about me and my ministry. What a joy!
Well I am off the chart extrovert, scoring 100 percent in the extrovert category so I have no problem finding words to share with you. J Actually though, if you had known me up until after high school, I was quiet and shy. That was mainly a mixture of some painful insecurities that came from those” mean girls” who gave mean labels. But once Jesus began to show me who I was in Him, slowly building up God-fidence in me, I started to break out of my shy shell. So let’s pretend like we are sitting in Starbucks having coffee together.
First I want to hear about you and your dreams. How can I dream right along with you?
Then I would love to share with you about how I am living out mine. See I was called into missions and ministry at a young age. I remember forcing my friends to go to Bible club on the playground when I was in elementary school. I would teach them from my little precious moments Bible. No swinging or kickball for me.
After I went on my first mission trip in 7th grade I also was hooked on this thing called missions. I just knew I wanted to do it.
After college God surprised me and called me to go to grad school (that is a whole other story) After getting a master s in Christian psychological studies God surprised me again. He called me to give up everything and go live as a missionary in Nepal. I thought for life. So I did. I said goodbye to everything and everyone I knew and love to follow a call of a God who I loved more than anything and who gave away everything (HIS OWN SON) to love me!
So I spent two amazing years in Nepal. Away from every comfort possible, learning to live alive in the comfort of the arms of the Lord. It was a mixture of the hardest days and most wonderful days of my life. While there I truly learned to Come alive.
Then I began feeling God whispering to my heart I have more Jenn, I have a calling to impact ladies all over the world. So I had to say yes to God. Which meant in 2009 saying no to living in Nepal for the rest of my life and returning back to America, unsure of what this new call would look like.
When I returned back to America I noticed something that broke my heart. In Nepal I was surrounded by people worshipping dead gods all around me. I came back to the Bible belt of the south and saw people who said they knew the One true God, Jesus Christ, and yet were dead and numb inside.
So God birthed a new calling inside of me, that had to start in me. Live alive every day in Christ. Continually find what makes you comes alive and do it. And then encourage and challenge others to come alive in Christ. Provide an invitation for them to come alive Jenn.
So coming alive ministries was birthed. And I am having a blast living out this calling. It could mean anything from inviting you to come sit in my counseling office in Chattanooga and let me get the sacred honor of hearing you share your heart. Or it could be a coaching session where I cheer you into where you feel God leading you. Or it could be taking a coming alive women’s conference to Haiti and loving on the woman and orphans there at an orphanage. Or it can be when we got to host a missionary conference last year and provide a weekend of pampering for 8 missionaries on furlough from very difficult places. Or it could be pulling off on a shoestring budget or Bloom conferences which reached over 450 woman last year.
I am having a ball coming alive. Now what makes you come alive?
See – what did I say…isn’t she awesome?! Thank you Jenn for sharing your heart….and next time you plan a mission trip to Haiti let me know…..I may have to find a way to come along! 🙂
thank you soo much for letting me share my heart! what a blessing it is to have you as a new buddy!
Kristin, this is so great! As soon as the Dream Team began, and I heard Jenn was going on a mission trip to Haiti…I fell in love with her heart! I so want to tag-along on a trip with her someday, too! LOL…Maybe we’ll get to go together? Jenn, I love your passion for life…it is so contagious 🙂 You’re amazing, thanks for being such an inspiration!