Growing up as a missionary kid, I noticed that my family was often subject to various kinds of expectations and stereotypes from others. Even now, when I tell people that I am attending Bible college to be sent out as a missionary, they usually expect me to tell them that I grew up knowing and loving the Lord, largely influenced by my parents to follow in their footsteps. My journey leading up to being called to obedience to God’s will in my life has been one even I couldn’t expect. In fact, I lived a life of sin and rebellion against my parents and against God until my senior year in high school. The struggles I faced and put my family through before I was saved can only be described as a living out of Ephesians 2:1-10. I know in a literal sense what it feels like to be dead in my sins, to be an enemy of God, saved by the rich mercy of God through Christ.

   After I was saved from the pits of sin and death, the Lord showed me clearly that my life was not my own. I was at a point where I had been saved by grace through faith, and I was being called to see myself as Jesus’ workmanship, created in Him for good works which were clearly prepared by God beforehand for me that I may walk in them. My first step of obedience was applying to and starting my studies as an undergraduate student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Obedience to God, submitting to the stream of His will taught me the ultimate relief of giving up control of my life to the most reliable Rock who would provide for my every need. One of the biggest blessings and assurances of the first signs of His abundant providence was the opening of the door of the EMK scholarship. Being an international student and studying without the benefits of being a citizen proved much more limiting than I had worried. EMK has allowed me to grow in trust in the Lord and the ways He provides for me in my steps to obey Him. It has also allowed me to choose to invest my time into learning the ways of the interdependent Christian life and to focus on growing in loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind without the burdens of having money as a hindrance.