As I sat in our homegroup meeting filled with young professionals, I was struck by how many of them complain about their jobs. Whether it’s unfair managers, mundane tasks, or unmotivated coworkers, a lot of them dislike their profession. I have never been able to relate to that. I’ve often found myself asking, “If I’m in my early 30s and already living my dream, what could the rest of my life possibly hold?”

I’m able to ask that question because immediately upon graduating from the University of Michigan, I became a support-based missionary. As a college student, I believed I would go on staff with my campus church, reaching students in Ann Arbor. The Lord had much different plans for me. 

I knew instantly that was where the Lord was calling me. My dreams were finally coming true.

As a 12-year-old girl, I knew the Lord was calling me to work with orphans. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew in my lifetime, I would do just that. Upon graduation I knew the Lord was calling me to leave Michigan and move to Orlando, Florida, to work at the Reliant (at that time known as GCM) office coordinating short-term mission trips for multiple church networks. I served there for two years, all the while wondering when I’d have the chance to work with orphans.

In 2007, I was asked to join the staff team at Fellowship Church in College Station, Texas. I had never heard of Texas A&M University before helping coordinate their mission trips, and I had no idea that there were over 100 countries represented by international students on their campus. I accepted the invitation to visit and was introduced to a family who would be building a new orphanage in Nigeria. I knew instantly that was where the Lord was calling me. My dreams were finally coming true.

It’s hard for me to believe all the Lord has allowed me to partner with Him to do since moving to Texas. We began a church mission partnership with the ministry in Nigeria. I welcomed 40 children to an orphanage in a tiny village in Nigeria. I met a Nigerian man who loves orphans, fell in love, married him, and now he serves on staff with Reliant as well, reaching students at Texas A&M. I’ve grown in my role at our church to become its missions manager, overseeing and mobilizing teams and individuals to Italy, East Asia, the Balkans, Mexico, Israel, and Africa. I help students see that the Lord has brought the nations to our doorstep, that they are sitting in class next to students from all over the world, and that they can reach them with the gospel. Together, my husband and I hope to grow an orphan-care movement in our church and city.

From the time I was in my mid-twenties, I’ve been living out the adventure and dreams the Lord gave me from a young age. Raising support is a gift. You meet people you never would in any other context, and you gain the freedom and flexibility to do so much in ministry.

In very few other careers could I have moved so easily from Michigan to Florida and from Florida to Texas, all the while serving the Lord in various roles. Throughout all my moves, I have a team of about 100 people cheering me on, praying for me, and giving generously to Reliant on my behalf, which allows me to follow the Lord’s calling on my life.

I hear many people say they could never go into support-based ministry. For my husband and I, we wouldn’t have it any other way.