Wow! Our God is just so incredibly good to us, and the fact that He delights Himself in us just amazes me every. single. time.
Think about it our Creator loves us so very much that out of all the beauty He created it is our very hearts He is after!
It is us he wants a personal relationship with! He wants to spend all of eternity with us, in fact He sent His only son to save us for that very reason, praise God! It amazes me just how perfect His love is and how unique His plan for each individual life..
And man I am so excited about the direction He’s leading me in this next season of life! If you know me personally you probably know that mission work has been something I’ve always loved and dreamt of,
I think it really all started when I was in probably second grade I seen this picture of this child holding an empty bowl and I’ll never forget it. those eyes so full of hunger and desperation did something to my heart, my own eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t believe this was real, that there were children who really had nothing to eat who never knew if they could find something to keep them alive for another day. It broke my heart and I vowed that someday I would change this (lol the dreams and faith of a child am I right?) It amazes me now, how even though I’m not that little girl anymore that desire is still in my heart. That desire to feed the hungry, to go to the most desperate of places and become the hands and feet of Jesus. I’ve decided to follow where he leads running fearlessly into the unknown knowing that it is my Savior who’s right there holding my hand, guiding me and constantly giving me the strength and courage I so desperately need..
I’ve been asked why Africa? How did you decide to join the world race? Honestly these are some of my favorite questions simply because of how clear God has whispered the answers into my heart …Growing up whenever someone would ask me where I see myself in the future I’d often respond “I don’t know somewhere in Africa riding an elephant or something “ literally I’m not kidding it was an easy answer, a great way to keep from admitting that really I didn’t know where or how God was going to use me. I knew I didn’t want just an easy ordinary life but never knew how to explain that to others,.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I began wondering where that all came from I began to search my heart asking God to reveal His will for my life, and He answered in some profound ways reassuring me that, yes the mission field was on my heart and that He had placed those desires there. I went on a short term mission trip to Serbia in the spring of 2021 and had some amazing experiences, and some very profound things spoken over me. Making it clear that this would not be my only trip on the mission field. I came back feeling renewed, inspired, and overwhelmed by the goodness of God, but it wasn’t long until I fell into a season of desperation.The enemy began to attack me with his lies. More than ever before I began to doubt, to believe the lies that there was nothing I could ever do that would amount to anything, I doubted that God could use someone like me someone with only a 9th grade education, someone who as much as I love to talk, and thrive around people, I still really struggle when it comes to standing in front of a crowd and speaking, and I need to work really hard to vocalize what I’m actually thinking as it’s hard for me to express things with words.. So I was in this season of doubt for way too long I had pretty much gave up on the dream I had in my heart for so many years and came to the point where nothing really mattered anymore. When suddenly one night God opened my eyes to how selfish and insecure I was being,I repented and asked that He would begin to reveal to me his promise he made in Jeremiah 29 that His plans were not to harm me but to give me a hope and a future. I began to see the word Africa everywhere, and slowly the dream God had placed in my heart began to come alive again. I started researching and looking for an organization to work with and praying that God would make clear the path in front of me. I can’t remember exactly what reminded me of this but a sweet friend and coworker I knew once went on a World Race trip as well, and I decided to reach out to her and ask a little about her experience. (Shoutout to Edna for going out of her way to meet with me and to answer the questions I had.) Such a sweet blessing really! After talking with her I decided to go ahead and send in the application for the semester trip (and I mean how amazing is it that they had a trip planned to go to Africa in the spring of 2022!) I felt even more confident that this was from God as I began to share this opportunity with my family and others in my life and they encouraged me to follow those dreams, believing in me and covering me with words of encouragement …
And yes here I am, I WILL BE GOING TO AFRICA and I am so incredibly excited to see what God has planned for me and my team! I have a feeling it’s going to be epic!
We will be going to 3 different countries eSwatini, Lesotho and South Africa and we’ll be helping different ministries such as Impact Africa, AIM, and Africa4Jesus.
I’ll be sharing more of my journey and hopefully be able to keep everyone updated through blogs so feel free to follow along and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to me I’d love to hear from you !
The Joy of the Lord truly is my strength and I am so so excited about this! Thank you so much for all your prayers and your support…
With love,
Anna Smucker
