Here we are at Seim Reap Cambodia for debrief with the whole squad to rest for five days and process these past 4 months and ministries we have worked with. It has been so relaxing, we get to stay in a nice hotel with air conditioning and beds which let me tell you has been a LUXURY!!! Thank you god!

So the other night I went out to get some food, Seim Reap is very touristy and has long streets filled with restaurants, bars, clubs, shopping, you name it, its a hoppin place. It was a fun night, relaxing, good food. Some of us decided to go to this little convenient store to get water before we headed back to the Hotel.

As we are crossing the street, out of no wear I become swarmed with women and young girls carrying small children, even infants around begging for milk. They say, “No money, no food, please just buy me milk”! “My sister so hungry please”! 

I really didnt know how to react I just stopped overwhelmed and realized if I didnt cross the street I was going to get ran over by the crazy traffic. A small girl grabbed onto my hand so tight and didnt plan on letting go so I decided to take her along. This little girl was not you average 11 year old. She walked around and spoke to people like she owned the streets. She was very loud, funny, and sarcastic. She had strength written all over her, one of gods mighty little angles prancing around. She was carrying around her little 12 day old sister begging for milk. 

I prayed and asked what I was supposed to do in this sittuation. Was I encouraging something bad going on or does this little girl telling the truth? I felt the lord tell me to buy the milk, so I did and she also gladdly picked out a donut, and some noodles. I got to love on her for awhile and tell her a little about me. I told her about Jesus, she giggled the whole time. She made me so happy, and she let me hold her 12 day old sister so preciouse, so fresh, so perfect. I felt like I had known her my whole life. 

I knew there had to be a catch behind this system and why they all wanted this powderd  milk. The mothers send their children out at night with the smallest child, drug the babys so thier out. Then when people buy the powder, the kids return it to the store owner and get half the money back. Then they bring the money home so the mother or whoever they are working for can buy drugs.

As she ran away I just sat thier imagining picking up all these little boys and girls, giving them warm baths, playing with them. Tucking them into a warm bed, knowing they wer safe, protected,and loved. I imagined all the tourists stopping what they wer in the middle of and loving on a child. Buying groceries for all the hungry people. I imagined all the bottles of alcahoI in the loud bars crashing to the floor, putting an end to peoples numbness to life. All the money being tossed around in the markets being used to buy cloths, food, endless formula. I imagined all the drunk people waking up, becoming sober and grabbing the kids and dancing ,laughing in happyness. 

I crave freedom for the world, a deep revilation of love to burst out! Knowing what we are living for,what love really is, and who our father is, the king of kings. For the gospel the come alive, that we are all free, loved, that eternity of love and happyness is waiting for us. 

Cambodia is known for sex trafficking. Men com here to buy women for the night as well  as thier children. Yes thats what I said. Women are selling their bodys and thier children to the same men. My heart is crushed, it just aches. I dont understand. I have been given so much. So much. The question is god, thier is so much need everywhere! What do you want me to do? I want to help all of them!!!!! But I know he has a plan, an amazing plan filled with lots of children, love, and the imposible that can only be done by him :) 

I have never been so thankful for my childhood. Children are so inocent, but are born into slavery not knowing a life any different. We take safty, love, freedom, and comfort for granet. Please pray for hope in Cambodia.

Deuteronomy 10 “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. 18He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes.

I cant save all of them, but I cant stop for the one :)

Hello everyone I have made it to Asia! I am currently living in a village called Maeai three hours north of Chang Mai surrounded my many rice fields. It by far has the most beautiful fields and sunrises I have ever seen. My team mate Cathrin and I are living with  a Buddhist family which has been very interesting ,in fact for breakfast their was a big bowl of locusts waiting for us! Hahaha yummy!!!!! 

Our host mother is Mali and her son pie, I have grown very close to these two and by far are my favorite contacts we have lived with on the race. While we are here our goal is to build relationships with these people and show them the love of christ. We are doing a lot of labor work and whatever we can do to honor their families. 

No matter how much I work and love them, I always feel repaid times ten. These people live to see others happy and enjoying themselves. They definitely are teaching me how to love my neighbor better than myself! When I first walked in to Mali’s home , the first thing she saw was my skin infection on my feet, grabbed cream and started rubbing them when she hadn't even met me yet!!! She didn't even think it was gross! 

Prayer is so important this month, we are talking generations and generations of worshiping buddha and false gods. 1% are christians in Asia, I am constantly interceding and prayer walking through the days. My heart is set on Mali, she is different than the other women in the village, she loves hugging and being affectionate. She is constantly serving and laughing, she is one of the most joyful loving people I have ever met. My question? Where is this love coming from? Many world Racers have lived in her home before us and Have planted many seeds here. I know she will come to know christ in her heart and break her Buddha shrine in her yard. When? I have no idea but i know god is working in her and has a plan. Im so honored to be apart of it and apart of her story!

Please pray for Mali and her family, my tonsils and skin infection on my feet! Love you all! 

So I am in the Airport waiting to hop on our next plain to bangkok and the spirit hit me with a great revaluation and realization. This past week god has been showing me some of my deepest passion and desires for my life. I don't think I have been so on fire and excited on my journey with the lord. He showed me amazing visions and passion for worship, ways he wants to bring freedom to the nations with such unique and exciting ways only possible through him. He showed me a beautiful family and husband I would love to have that would be greater than I could imagine. I felt so filled, so lucky, so excited, so focused and ready. Without even realizing it I took control, I started making plans, putting peaces together, taking his visions and adding my own plans for my future. 

God spoke to me out of my excited thoughts. Andrea I give you a choice. I give you this life, it will be very fruitful, many people will come to know me, filled with the spirit, you will be very happy. And of course I said yes! Yes I take it god! wwwaahhhhhhhhooooo. Then without thinking I asked lord this is your highest right!? Right away I heard NO. (I froze, I ask again, sure I heard wrong.) God is this your highest? He spoke…. NO. He showed me a black path, nothing I could see, just black, and said this is my highest. I don't know how to explain it to you, because it was the holy spirit moving inside me but I started to shake. He said whichever you pick I love you the same, but this path you can't see is my highest. Its filled with harder things, greater things for my glory, you will have to die to yourself. And it hit me, I have laid down my life 50%. As christians we say often, god I give you my life, my whole life. But do I walk in that? I say it but have I been living it out? 

I just started to cry, because I'm good at it these days, and it feels good. It feels good to let go of control, its so scary but so right. How can I not choose his highest? How can I choose my dreams over this calling from our god that sent our savior Jesus Christ and paid everything for our sins. He said, Andrea you need to daily surrender to me. Listen very closely every day, go where I tell you to go when you have nothing. When you  have no money, no possessions, nothing but my word and your trust. Say what I tell you to say, fast obediently, pray for those I call you to lay hands on. Im starting to walk into more  of him and less of me. Its not about me, its about him, its about his people. But Ive been holding onto things. Ive been loving myself more than my neighbors most days, dreaming of great lifestyles that include him in my plans not me his plans.

One things he has asked me to do is to stop living so luxuriously. I had a 65 liter pack, filled with nice cloths for every situation of weather, an air mattress, nice big fluffy sleeping bag. And yes I use these things, but this pack is filled with things I don't absolute need, but very nice to have and makes each day much more comfortable. I realized how much dependance I take in my worldly possessions. So i made a decision, Im going to learn to be happy in the lord with half of this. Im going to challenge myself this year to live off of less. When we got to the airport in LA we had a five hour layover so I ran to REI, exchanged most of my things. I got a 38 liter pack and fit what I could in it. I decided to go without an air mattress. I have always loved to give my whole life, I love to share and give. But Ive never had to sacrifice because I always regained what I gave, I have had everything I have ever needed my whole life. 

I want to feel the heart of god more powerfully. I want to be poor, the poor teach us how to seek after god. The poor teach us how to long for god and how to forgive. The poor teach us more about gods heart because they have to depend on him. God wants us to be dependent on him at all times. The poor are always hungry. God is calling me to hunger and thirst after him. The poor are thirsty. The poor will never say no to a feast, they'll come and eat. The lord is setting out spiritual banquets for his church, but so many of us are just full. We have restaurants on every corner, were just not hungry. Im ready to live with the suffering instead of watching the suffering. Im ready to let go and surrender fully. God I give you my checking account, I give you my worldly things, I give you my desires, I give you my soul, I give my life fully. I know that I cannot do this on my own strength, but he is with me and when I panic I look into his eyes and he always shows up :). 

We serve a beautiful, faithful god, with more love and passion we could ever imagine. I want more, I crave to feel his heart more and more intimately for his desires. I crave for prostitutes to encounter the love of our god. I crave for child soldiers to be restored of all the torture and put in warm homes. I crave to pray for the demonic enslaved to witchcraft set free, I crave to raise the dead. And that is exactly what god is going to do, through me and many others willing to die on the cross with him. I have never been this happy in my entire life. Im in love with Jesus :)!!!!!!!

Matthew 25:34-40

During this time in Central America one of the things god gave me a heart for is to pray for pregnant women of all ages. Before I left for the race my Oldest sister camille was pregnant for the first time around five months and lost a beautiful baby girl. I didn't understand why this happened or why miscarriages happen in general, but it was defiantly a point of time where I was just questioning the lord. Why god? Why? The pain that I saw in her heart made me so sad to the point I didn't even know how to comfort her. Or comprehend the level of pain she was dealing with. Camille is expecting again and I know this baby will be born healthy, beautiful, and perfect :)

On month one I woke up one morning and god told me Andrea their is an email that you need to read today from you family and its going to be hard. I decided to not check it until the next day because sometimes its just easier to procrastinate and pretend you didn't here it! The nearest internet was down the street to a little Burger King and I remember going straight to Facebook opening an email from my mom. She was informing me that my sister Anna, who is a Senior this year is pregnant. I  read half of it, jumped up from my seat, ran to the bathroom and started doing the ugly cry. You know when your snot is flying everywhere and you stop breathing. I think I sat in their for about an hour and just cried why god? Why? 

2 Corinthians 7:10- For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

That day I stayed back from Ministry and had the house all to myself to just think , pray, and feel numb. We were living a couple houses down from a brothel very well guarded by two men at all times and running all day everyday with loud music. I remember almost falling asleep when I heard a girl screaming at the top of her lungs towards the brothel. She was screaming as if someone was chasing her or hurting her. My first instinct was to run to the kitchen, grab a knife and go after her. My body instantly went numb and weak. I heard the lord say Andrea go into the backyard and pray( by the way the backyard is completely fenced with high cement walls so i am safe) . So i did, I prayed and prayed and prayed not even trying to ask why anymore. He was asking me, why don't you trust me? Do you know that I have that girl? That I am with her, that I have a plan? Do you know that I allowed what happened to Anna and that I have the best for her? Do you know that I am restoring Camille and plan to give her the most beautiful family she could ever imagine? I started to ball and ask for forgiveness, I started to understand that he knows what is going to happen before it happens, that he understands, listens, and only gives the best when we don't deserve it. And it is only my having weak faith to fear for the sadness of the world.

Romans 11:34- For who has known the mind of the lord?

He asked me, why are you crying for Anna, why do you cry out of fear? And I just thought because she is so young! Her boyfriend is so young! God their lives are changed forever! She isn't ready lord this can't be what you have for her? And I felt this peace come, it was so calming, so quiet. And he showed me Anna, he said Andrea, she will be fine, she will be more than fine, she is blessed, so blessed, so strong and beautiful. I only have the best for her, she is mine before anyone else's and I will form the most beautiful child and she will be a great mother. Do not fear for her life, that is not who I am. Love her, encourage her, and be excited for her. Now everyday I wake up excited about these babies god is forming and grow more and more faith in gods plan.

Romans 12:12- Rejoice in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfast in prayer;

When I go to the hospitals I go straight to the women's pregnancy word and I just sit with the young women. Some of them won't speak and they look into my eyes such fear and sadness. And in all situations many of them are raped, very poor, or very young completely in on the process alone. And I hold their hands and cry with them, encourage them, explain to them the gospel and how precious these babies are no matter what their circumstances are. That the baby will be written in the book of life and have a great name glorifying god and his kingdom. That they have taken such faith to be this far not aborting them.

Romans 12:21- Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good

Im coming to an understanding of how holly the process of a women baring a child  and god knitting together a brand new creation that he creates so intricately and intentionally. Its beautiful how he gives us the chance to create a new life with a spouse he places in our path. Do we stray off the path sometimes and have consequences for our actions when it wasn't gods plan? Yes! But the most BEAUTIFUL part about god is that he restores! he RESTORES, all we have to do is ask for forgiveness, and receive his mercy and grace! FOR by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of god! Ephesians 2:8. So wherever you are at in life, it is never to late! Their is nothing god can't and won't forgive, restore, and heal! ALELUAH !!!! Thank you JESUS!!!! 

Romans 8:15-
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "abba, father "The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god, and if children, then heirs- heirs of god and joint heirs with christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.

P.S. I only need 300 more dollars for my world race deadline coming in 4 days !!!!! PRAISE GOD! thank you for all of your support and prayers god is moving so powerful through these nations and I'm so excited to keep moving forward !!!!

So this is very exciting! i have been praying for a new holy spirit encounter since month one and the other week jesus literally showed up in my tent! After a long day of ministry I went to take a nap in my tent for awhile. It was a beautiful day , around eighty , perfect breeze and  clouds. I fell asleep praying and about an hour later I woke up suddenly, opened my eyes and saw a visions of the father son and holy spirit! I heard god in such a strong way I have never experienced. He said, Andrea I am here, I am here and I here everything you say. It took my breath away, I tried to sit up but all I could do was just lay their in disbelief dumb. I laid their for about five min just looking up at the sky through my tent and then instantly I fell back into a deep sleep. When I woke up again I didn't know what to think, nothing has ever hit me so powerful or real in my entire life. One of my favorite things about god is that he is radical!!!!!! And that he answers prayers!!!! He was conforming me in my prayers and intercession because I was starting to feel helpless and discouraged lately in ministry. I will always remember this encounter when I become discouraged or start to loose faith. Some of you are reading this and saying, I was dreaming it was all a dream, or that I'm plain crazy. But I just want you to know that god is listening to you! every word you think and speak out of your mouth he is listening! WOW GOD IS SO GOOD! I encourage you to pray for an encounter, to give him a chance and experience god in a new powerful way!

Nicaragua!

Here we are month three in Casa Mateo Nicaragua ! Our contact is Moma Bonnie from Pennsylvania, she moved here about a year ago and now is living here and running her ministry full time. She has always had a heart for Nicaragua and let me tell you, she is one of the most incredible women I have ever met. She shared her testimony with us and I was doing everything to hold in my tears. She has taken in many young men that have been neglected, abused, and basically rejected from their homes. She has taken in three boys permanently, Elvis, Jonathan,Carlos but is also a mother to many other young children. For many years she did mission work in America also taking in street boys from gangs and addicted to drugs and alcohol. Many men that god has restored from these addictions and giving their lives to god. 

During this month we will be working with orphans, door to door evangelism, and many women all ages that have been and are neglected, and sexually abused. The other day we had a bible study with a group of women from the village and they explained at a very young age women are very abused in all situations. Young girls here dress up as boys and chop off all their hair because of the price you may pay living as a young women. After being abused for many years the women don't want to come across attractive so this is their second option. After time they become very confused about their gender and start to mentally believe they are men. These women just need to be loved on! I love listening to them, hugging them, crying with them, and building beautiful relationships that can heal much pain they carry daily. 

Please pray for the people of Nicaragua, they are so beautiful filled with so much personality. Pray for generational curses that linger here in this area and wichcraft that many people practice. Thank you for staying updated on my blogs I love all of you :) internet is not easy to find and not very good but I will update as much as possible!

P.S. I have 13 days to raise 2140 dollars or I will be sent home so please pray for finances and consider supporting this minsitry the lord has sent me on! :)

Hello everyone! God is working like crazy here in Honduras. I am growing in christ in a million different directions and one of the most beautiful things I have encountered while here is a mothers heart. I have never been crazy about children but as I've been traveling God has really been rooting me deeper and deeper in his love , especially for his children! As you know here at Zion's gate there are many street boys that Tony has taken in and that also roam the property daily. One little boy that has wrecked my heart is Fernando.You would never gues six months ago this little boy smoking pot living on the streets. I don't feel like my words could ever describe how much I really love this little twelve year old boy. It is different from a sisterly love or a neighborly love, and even though this may sound crazy, I feel like I am Fernando's mother. I naturally check on him throughout the day to see what he is doing. He comes and finds me when he is tired to sit in my lap. He makes sure I get a hug and kiss every morning at breakfast. Whenever he gets a treat he makes sure to find me to give me a bite. Little things that make my day and grow me closer and closer to him. Fernando loves to make up songs with me on the big tree swing even though he knows little english but he is a very bright kid and picks up words fast.He has the brightest smile and loves to jump off giant curbs on his bike. On Sundays he often goes back to Los Pinos where he used to live to visit his mother that lives at the garbage dump. When he stays with her it is up to Fernando to dig through the dumpsters to find food until Tony comes to pick him up on Monday. The beautiful part is that he chooses to go see his mother still, even knowing that sometimes she won't be there and he has to stay overnight by himself.

Even though he has a loving family and food to fill his stomach, he still wants to spend time with his mother and search for her. What a gift the way God has rooted His children to their mothers heart even if they can't provide for their children or show them affection we often take for granted and the way we naturally miss our parents and look for approval in them even if we try to cut them out of our lives. We can't cut them out because it is so natural to love them despite any situation. 

Honestly if God told me to stay and adopt Fernando, I would in a heart beat. I would give up everything, live here and give him the best life I could. But I know it is not God's plan to stop yet and there are many children out their waiting for me to hold them and love on them. But I know one day God will give me many children that I will get to keep forever, children that melt my heart the way Fernando does and so naturally feel like they were always mine.  Children that God has already ordained to be mine and are just waiting for me! Waiting for me on the streets, waiting for me in a dumpster, waiting for me in an orphanage! It makes me so excited, SO EXCITED, and its a little weird for me because I never thought I would feel this way about children. I praise God that I have the most amazing life filled with adventure, unexpected things that come up everyday that blow my mind, how I have no idea in the end where my life is going next, and all the genuine love that I'm surrounded with daily that I wouldn't trade for the world! PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD!!! Thank you God that we are able to provide for our children food, clothing, schooling, but most important love. That we know how to hug them, kiss them, speak life to them and encourage them because we were given that through our parents. That is such a gift from you and only you, and just so you know mom I would choose spending time with you over any juicy cheeseburger in the world :) Thanks mom for teaching me how to love !

PS im sorry that I never have pictures on my blog it will not allow me to put them up! 

Well here I am month two! I am currently staying with my entire squad (all forty three of us) in beautiful Honduras! Working with just my six sisters this past month to a giant squad of forty three people is very hectic, but extremely exciting and stretching. We are working with a man named Tony with the ministry he founded, Zion's Gate. A fellow Christian, Tony is a man from the United States that was living a normal, ordinary life with a great job. He shared some of his testimony with us explaining how before Honduras, he had some of the nicest things with the nicest cars, the owner of his own business, living the american dream fully to its potential. He explained to us how he always had this empty feeling inside of him, always in content in his spirit, no matter what girlfriend he had or his beautiful new cars. Long story short his church decided to take a short mission trip to Honduras, so he agreed , okay I'm going to do this.

Tonys life radically changed from this experience. Honduras is filled with street kids that have no home, no place to go, filled with drugs, violence,gangs and much poverty. And when I say kids Im saying anywhere from five years old up to their twenties. Tony quit his job, gave up everything, and moved here to Honduras where he currently lives with his wife and six boys he has taken off the streets through these past years from a dangerous village called Los Pinos. Herman, Fernando, Carlos, Luis, Ronny, Ariel with many other boys that roam the property and is a place for safety and a chance at a healthy life. These boys all have an amazing testimony  you could not imagine and they have come so far! Many of them are enrolled in a private christen school and radically changing from street kids addicted to paint thinner not knowing anything different to beautiful loving boys growing in the lord and radically transforming. Through this ministry we go to different villages and play music , soccer, and many games with the youth. Introducing a lot of love and teaching them about the lord. We do a lot of construction on peoples homes that are in desperate need of repairs, as well as visiting orphanages and hospitals with a lot of prayer. We are teaching Music and English at schools, as well as visiting INFA where police take street kids that are causing trouble or overpowering the area and enprisen them for a couple months and then release them to the exact same life. This was an opportunity opened to Tony for the first time ever known here for them to allow us to come in and get to know these kids. I feel so stretched here and growing crazy trust in the lord. At times it can get overwhelming seeing all the poverty and little kids walking the streets high and in search for food.

Their are days I just break down and cry because I want to do something MORE! But god has shown me to trust, that prayer is more powerful than anything I could offer. Andrea, go where I have called you, love them and show them who I am and who I have called them to be. This life is so short, so temporary do not get discouraged I am here. Feed them and cloth them when you can, and remember that you can do nothing on your own strength, nothing. God is so good and he has blessed us so much, so so so much. So tonight please tuck your kids into bed and tell them how much you love them, eat dinner as a family, pray as a family, give thanks to the lord because we are so blessed! No matter what your going through, or what has happend in your life, you are so very blessed by god.

Romans 9:33> Behold, I lay in zion a stumbling stone,and rock of offense,

                             And whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.

Growing up I never had a great relationship with my dad. I remember being little and cringing when he placed me in his lap. I didn't hate him, but being around him rose a huge fear in me. I have come to realize a lot of my problems and relationships I've dealt with in life stems from this relationship with my dad and overtime I developed a mind set of, "I don't need you." In high school, I didn't like his rules, my curfew was too early, we fought about a lot of things, and my mindset was, "As soon as I'm 18 I'm out of here." So instead of building a relationship with him I ran away. I confided in my friends dads and tried to replace him. I played the game of, "I'll show you!" And if I met people that are not accepting of who I was I would do the same thing - instant wall; "I don't need you." Simple, no tears, no thoughts of why, just plain, I don't need you. Goodbye, don't care, I have what I need to get by.

I have come on a walk with God to a deeper level of learning to really love people. As I met more and more christians, certain people stick out to me like a blinking light. These people radiate with love, they laugh at everyone, accept everyone, get along with everyone, even despite of other beliefs and how they may react to certain things. They genuinely care about you even if they hardly know you. They come across as so pure and content in everyday life. I've been praying, "God how do I love like that? I love you, I love myself, but why do I still struggle with certain people. Why do I battle in the inside of my mind even when I'm kind on the outside?" Don't get me wrong, this is not about wanting people to like me more, this is not about wanting to be accepted by the world. For me, this is wanting the heart of God. I want to see people the way He does, no matter how they treat me, no matter who they are or what they have done. In the second commandment it says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." I want to give off that undiluted light, that unexplainable glow of Christ.

Just recently, I had a huge awakening that I never really forgave my dad. This nasty spirit of rebellion thats leads to pride, building up a wall against the body of Christ. 

You can't love others if you don't love yourself. 

You can't love yourself if you don't know your identity in God, and finding your identity in Christ is something everyone must continually walk out and search for throughout your life. Just when you think your all cleaned up, God goes deeper and deeper and it can get painful. I am ready to let this nasty spirit of condemnation out of my heart for the good G-d has in store because I can't move forward until its gone. I can't love God and not love my earthly father that was specifically ordained just for me. 

While I was praying about this God gave me his heart for my father and I started to weep. My dad is the hardest worker I have ever known and he will pull the shirt of his back for anyone in need he meets. He got married very young and gave up everything to raise and support nine kids. He started a business from scratch and never gave up even when money was scarce. He has always provided us with everything we have ever needed. He has fought for me my entire life and I never accepted it, because I was either to scared, angry, or unthankful. When I see him again, I want to start a relationship, I want to get to know him. I want to take him out to eat, spend time with him, tell him how much I love him and how much he means to me. I want him to be proud of me. I want him to walk me down the isle when I get married. I want to thank him for still loving me and supporting me even though I have not honored and respected him. And because he still loves me as his daughter, despite of everything in the past I know he has the heart of God and loves God because that is how Christ loves His people. 

I am done wasting a beautiful life, full of gifts and refuse to place walls of pride up. As young girls we think our dads are out to get us, not wanting us to be happy or have a good time. We think they don't understand and have no idea what their talking about. Fast to think that they see us as not good enough, but I promise you even when we don't understand, they are trying to protect us and keep us safe from the ugliness of the world. 

So dads, I encourage you to love on your daughters through communication, kindness, and patience. 

Girls, I encourage you to obey and honor your fathers because its one of the highest ways to honor God. To come to an understanding that they have the best interest in mind and they will fight for you no matter what until the day you die. Thats something you can't find anywhere, replace with someone else, or act like it never happened. This is your family, your everything, your support system, who you are and where you came from. 

This is a piece of the body of Christ. 

Dad, I love you so much! I am so proud of you and I pray for you every day. Thank you for loving me and I can't wait to see you when I get home :)