I have come to realize more and more that the greatest disease and the greatest suffering is to be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, to be shunned by everybody, to be just nobody (to no one).
Mother Teresa of Calcutta

This is kinda a lot of verses but don't stop reading em due to overwhelmedness... haha.
"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matt. 9:37
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matt. 9:12
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matt. 6:33
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth..... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven..... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt. 6:19
"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Matt. 19:29
"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you. John 6:27
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matt. 10:37
"To lose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke... to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked to clothe him... If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed..." Isaiah 58:6 - 10

These are just some of those verses that I have always kinda either made up excuses for or representational meanings... maybe God just wants me to be "willing" to go wherever he leads me and take risks in His name... not actually do it! Surely He will leave me in my comfort... Well lately the Lord has been showing me that He does mean these things and I am called to act... to go and do... to obey Him even though it be expensive... thats the point. We all have such heaven geared purposes and callings if we will just be actually willing to do what His word says... To risk our lives, to lose them for Him in order to find them, to be harvesters, to leave whatever He calls us to trusting in His faithfulness and goodness, to be unafraid, to work for what doesn't spoil, store our treasures in heaven instead of earth where it ultimately counts for nothing and will all pass away... No more excuses! :) True joy, satisfaction, security, identity, peace...etc. comes only from doing the will of the Lord and not our own... though it will be hard! We will have trouble, persecution, and sorrows... and be attacked... but we will not be alone or empty! It will not be safe, and comfortable... but who wants to live that way and have everything we think that we "want" and live an empty, restless, "safe" life? I now love these verses! They are exciting! That there is soo much more than all the crap we see everyday in this life... ironically Matthew was my favorite book of the Bible when I was younger which is where many of the above verses came from! God works... even when we don't see it or think He is. My heart has been opened up and changed in the past few months... to the real me that God desires for me to grow into... learning to be a leader for Him, which is something I would have never felt comfortable doing! Teaching, leading, speaking in front of people are not things that I enjoyed! I find God calling me into these types of positions and teaching me to stretch and grow in that uncomfortable situation. I also would have never seen myself living in another country and doing more extensive permanent missions work... but now I definitely can! Running or working in an orphanage sounds about like heaven to me now. I love doing things that I never thought I would/could! Because it is sooo God moving and not myself. Through recent situations God has placed in my life I have grown into a girl who wants to risk it all for my God... what purpose is there in not? What purpose does being too afraid have? I am now more afraid of being too afraid to do what God is calling me to and not doing it, because I don't trust Him enough, than I am of any risks and difficult situations! I am thankful to my Lord for showing me so much through people in my life, by showing me how I am seen in their eyes... thats better than what I saw in me. The things God values about me - the things that really matter... that there is a beautiful heart in there somewhere that someone could value.

"You said, ask and you will receive whatever you need.
You said, pray and I'll hear from heaven and I'll heal your land
You said, Your glory will fill the earth, like water the seas
You said, lift up your eyes. The harvest is here, the Kingdom is near

You said, ask and I'll give the nations to You
O Lord, that's the CRY of my heart
Distant Shores and the islands will see
Your Light as it rises on us"

To Donate to My Mission Trip

You can donate to my mission trip by clicking on the above. Please remember to specify that your donation is for Hannah Bates under “add special instructions to the merchant". Oh and also I still need $1,700.00 due to money I have saved and my family has donated. Unless... well my truck is having serious problems too! haha jk dog jk... (something my brother/sister and I say... haha)

Going to Africa!

I'm excited to announce that I'm going to Africa this holiday season to visit orphans in their distress....