ONE YEAR.

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A few months ago I was walking with a friend in Niger (because there’s not much else to do there) and I told her I knew I was sad and struggling because I didn’t care about the little things anymore. Such as, the beautiful birds in my compound, the plumeria tree outside of my door, the mystery of who I would see in the day, the bright turquoise feathers on the ground that I normally believed God dropped just for me… I was numb. It wasn’t easy for me to tell her that, but as soon as I got it out she looked at me and just said “I know, me too.” 

Then I went back to Alabama for summer break and honestly just for some time to heal and try a couple different forms of therapy. 


One morning in late July I got to walk one of my favorite trails in Birmingham. After months of micro-current neuro feedback therapy and mood stabilizing supplements, I noticed the birds again. I stopped for butterflies, I captured pictures of the sun shining through the trees to look back on the day that I noticed beauty again. By no means does this allow me to stop taking meds or that I won’t have down days, but praise be to God for the resources and fresh air that remind me He is still good. 


Humans are messy, feelings are hard, life can be tough but God is good and He loves us no matter what. 


I am loved.

I am chosen.

I am forgiven.

I am accepted. 

I am included.

I am in Christ wholly.

I am a daughter. 

I belong to God.

I’m going to let His opinion of me trump my opinion of me. 


(I highly recommend you listen Passion City Church's Podcast Episode 557: "The Power of the Mind Fixed on the Cross of Christ")



The past year living in Niger has 100% had its ups and downs. I moved here with the intent of focusing on one ministry and simultaneously started teaching kindergarten and fell in love with it! I continued serving the best way I knew how while still adjusting to life in a fourth-world country. When that stopped working, I sat in the pain and did what I was counseled to do and then moved on. The stress and trauma that one experiences in their first year on the field is more than you can imagine. The things that I see daily that I have just grown accustomed to would blow your minds, but that's a blog for another day. 


One week from today I will enter my second year of holistically teaching and making tiny disciples (with the biggest hearts) as the Lord sees fit. I have an opportunity to teach health education to at-risk girls, which along with teaching at the international school, is a dream that the Lord placed in my heart on my first visit to Niger in July 2013, NINE years ago. I'm on the hunt for a great French tutor so I can be more effective in the community. I also am going to start a little EFL club (English as a foreign language) and will be working a part-time marketing job. I kind of am tired just thinking about all of it; however, I am beyond grateful and honored and baffled that the Lord has invited ME to live this life in this country. I mess up and hurt others every day and will most likely continue to do so until I die, but I praise God for the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation and that He is with us every step of the way. I still pinch myself sometimes when I am driving down the road and see boys playing soccer and women carrying water, trying to dodge goats and cows thinking that I can't believe I get to live here after dreaming about it for so long.


Cheers to one year down and Lord willing, many more to go. 

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