Two years ago, I stepped onto soil of a country that I never thought I would ever visit. The Lord allowed me to graduate college early and head to the foreign land of Kenya to be with His people. That three months changed my life and before the end of the trip the Lord made it very clear to me that I would be returning to Kenya to do something more for His Kingdom. At that time, I had no idea what that would be, but that I was called to be a voice for the forgotten and to not stand still but do something for a group of people that lost everything in a violent election in 2007, the Internally Displaced People (IDP).

God put a vision on my heart, to see the lives of these IDP's transformed by Him and His love, for them to have jobs and ways of feeding their family, and for them to be self-sustaining. Fortunately, I had three other people who felt called to do the same thing (it's always better to do things together).

The next 8 months the four of us partnered with Adventures In Missions to come up with a plan on how to help these people. During this time the Lord made this vision His own. Our team grew and our plans changed. We had come to the conclusion that if God doesn't step in and take it, that there would be no way that this would happen. We were much too small to be doing something so big. But that's exactly where He wanted us: completely dependent on Him. It was His! During this time the Lord gave us ideas on how to raise the money we needed to accomplish the things that He laid on our hearts. We traveled the US talking about the IDP's and what God wanted to do in this area. We hosted five 5K races and one auction and raised over $40,000 toward our project. And that was completely the Lord because none of us had ever hosted a 5K or auction before! It's crazy how when the Lord wants something done, He will get it done! And the crazy things is He chooses to use us to do it!

Finally after a year and a half I got to return to the country that I love. The IDP's were finally getting help and God was in the midst of it all. I got to be a part of starting a fellowship with the people of Camp Vision and in bringing them together. I got to see what unity in the camp looks like and how the Lord truly was worshiped. The vision was actually happening.  And the dream that the Lord put on my heart was playing out right in front of my eyes. When I look at me and the team, I often can't believe that God would choose to use six twenty-something's who have NO IDEA what they are doing; but that's the cool part, we did nothing, God did it all.

I remember one afternoon it began to rain so hard that I ran into Sarah's tent, an older woman in the camp. Her whole family was squished inside this tiny space to keep from the downpour outside. She had a small fire going to keep us warm. There were chickens roaming the tent and pecking at my feet. The rain was dripping through the sheets of plastic that made up her home, and yet when I looked at her she was just smiling and so content. And as I'm sitting there having no way to communicate with her, I just smiled because as dirty and uncomfortable and crazy as this situation was, it seemed so normal. I was sitting in her shoes for just one moment and was able to experience a part of her life. And I just took in a deep breath and thanked the Lord.

Throughout this entire process the Lord has been teaching me and showing me that Kenya is not my identity, that what I do for the Kingdom doesn't define me. He is the one that defines me and I am called not to be a missionary, but I am called to be a daughter of Christ. At the end of the day, helping the people in Kenya is a good thing but it's not THEE thing. The Lord has been continually taking me into a deeper, more intimate place with Himself, and the things that I do for Him are just an outpour of the love that He has for me.

After coming home from Kenya for Christmas, there were a lot of changes at AIM, with leadership, with the team, and with the project itself. The Lord had shown me the hard realities in living in community and what living in a foreign country entails. And it is definitely not easy. In preparing to return to Kenya, the team met in Georgia for further debrief before we headed out. Leadership decided that we needed to stay longer than expected to process what life in Kenya was like and to deal with and discuss how to move forward in a healthier manner. During this time of processing, I was able to process some of my experiences in Kenya and decided that I was not going to return to Kenya with the team.  The Lord spoke very clearly that it was time for me to step away from AIM. As hard as it was to make this decision, because Kenya is where my heart is, I knew that this was the healthiest decision for me. As I let go of something the Lord put on my heart two years ago I was again reminded to hold loosely to the things God gives you, because they are ALL His. This vision wasn't mine, it was His, and even though I would have loved to see the end of it He gently reminded me that maybe it was my role to be obedient and get it started.

It's always scary to me to not know what's next, but I think that's where God likes to keep me! I know that this next season of my life will be a time of rest and healing and a time to dream again for the Kingdom… and that makes me really excited!

But right now I want to take time to thank YOU. You have been such a blessing to me and not just because you donated to me financially and prayerfully, but because you see that God is working and you believe that He can change lives, and you took action. Without you, the Kenya Initiative would not exist. Without you, the people of Camp Vision would still be forgotten. Without you there would be no water, and businesses would have never been started. You have not only changed my life, but also the lives of 50 families in the camp. You have made a difference in this world! So, thank you for supporting me both financially and prayerfully. Thanks for investing your time and money in the things that God is doing. Thanks for being a change in this world and especially Kenya.

I know that I will be back in Kenya someday, because my heart is there. And I know that God has called me to go wherever He wants me. I hope that whatever is next that you would be a part of! Please be praying for me in my transition. That God would unleash His love unlike ever before. Pray that God would reveal what's next and that I would be patient in the time being.

Thank you for your continued prayer and I appreciate your generosity so much throughout these two years. The team is still heading back to Kenya to continue the projects that we started. Please keep them in your prayers also, and check out their blog: www.kenyainitiative.org. I will keep you posted on what God is doing in my life and what He has for me next. But in the meantime, I really want you to know how much I love you. Please keep in touch!

My new blog that I will be posting on is: http://jennaghizas.tumblr.com/. Please subscribe here to get updates on what's to come!

I am sitting here wondering about how I suppose to sum up the past couple of months in a blog. Where do I begin? If I were to start from the beginning this blog would probably be equivalent to a book's length. So, instead I would like to take the time to honor someone who is VERY dear to my heart. I probably would have not made it through this past season with out her. Most of you know her to be the crazy Asian…Liz Martin! 

Liz was one of the four of us that came back from Kenya completely broken for the Internally Displaced and wanted to do something about it. She wouldn't take no for an answer especially when it came to helping God's people and loving the forgotten. If you know anything about Liz, you know that she is a fire starter! The Lord has given her the gift of making change around the world, even if it's her just stepping into a room, a change will happen, because the Lord is on her side and she knows it.

So, the Lord allowed her to be a part of the birthing process of what is now called the Kenya Initiative. A lot of hard work was put toward this vision.  A lot of time, resources, and energy. But all of that did not go unnoticed, especially from the ONE ABOVE.

When the team left for Kenya in July, both Liz and I were held back for some further training. During that time a decision was made for Liz not to go to Kenya. While that wasn't part of the plan…God quickly reminded me that His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts…even though sometimes I think my ways are better than His.

All I know is that God's plan is always better. Even though I might not understand, He sees the big picture. So, needless to say, the past couple months have been really hard. I don't ever think I have been stretched, broken, refined, like I have in this season. But God has shown me what it means to be someone who truly reflects Christ in everything I do, and to live in the fullness that He has called me to. And Liz has been someone who has helped me learn these things.

There is something about the way Liz lives her life, in which the glory of the Lord radiates off of her. She knows exactly who she is, and she's not ashamed of it. She knows that she has a place in the Kingdom that NO ONE can take away from her. She understands that God's ways are better, even if it means postponing a dream. She understands that God's work needs to be done, and that she is a vital vessel for the job. And most of all, she knows that people matter and that God loves people.

In the past three months God has used Liz to pour into my life, to encourage me, to invest in me, and to truly love me as Christ loves. He has used her to speak words of life, when I couldn't do it myself or when no one else was. The Lord has used her in more ways than I could write on a blog, and because she was willing to be used, I am forever changed.

On October 11, I will be rejoining the team in Kenya! Through these three months, the Lord has been preparing me to go back and reminding me of all the things I have learned and am going to take with me. It hasn't always been easy, but the Lord has been faithful in every step. I know that I might be saying goodbye to a teammate, but I am NOT saying goodbye to a friend, someone who will always have a place in my heart. And I am so thankful for that.

So, thank you Liz. Thank you for being willing to be used. Thank you for all the work you put into this vision that God placed on your heart; it definitely does NOT go unnoticed and the people of Kenya are changed because of it. Thank you for taking the time to invest into my life; I will never be the same. And thank you for showing me what it truly means to be the hands and feet of Christ and love like He loved. God has such huge plans for you and I am confident that people and places will be forever changed because of you!

Love.Love.

Please check out her last Kenya Initiative blog posted HERE.

If you would like to follow what the Lord is doing in her life, follow her new blog! Click HERE.

Sometimes God has different plans.

Sometimes you think you know what's best for yourself, but really you have no idea.

Sometimes He needs to take it all away to remind you that He is still in control and His timing is always right.

As some of you might know already, I did not leave for Kenya on July 7^th . The AIM leadership and I decided to hold me back for a couple more months for some extended training. God gently reminded me that He is out of time and that He wasn't ready to send me quite yet. God is definitely crazy in His ways, and I guess that is why He is God and I am not!

I will be spending the next couple of months back in Gainesville, GA for some more missionary training one-on-one with the headship of this project. During this time I will be focusing on myself and what God has to reveal and uncover about who I am in Him and how I can walk in complete freedom and wholeness to who He has called me to be. I could not be more excited to learn and gain wisdom from such godly leadership. His hand has already been in the entire process… at first it was hard to swallow that I wouldn't be going to Kenya right away, but the Lord has been humbling me day after day that this is exactly where He wants me right now.

God seems to kindly remind me that this vision was His from the very beginning. What if my role for the past 8 months was just to get the vision going, and never to go to Kenya? Would I be ok with that? Would it be ok if it wasn't me who got to bring clean water and employment to the people there? And the Lord gently reminds me over and over that I am merely a vessel. Kenya is NOT MINE, it's His. This vision is NOT MINE, it's His. These are all hard questions that the Lord has placed in front of me to put my life into perspective. Now I know that I WILL be going to Kenya in a short amount of time, but I think that He had to pull it away to get me at a place where I recognized that my mission had almost become an idol. He had to remind me that what I do for Him isn't as important as who I am to Him; and sometimes the Lord has to perform drastic measures to remind us of that.

So when I look at these next couple of months of preparation, I see God opening me up and letting me examine what is truly inside of me; I see Him revealing His ultimate truth over me so that I can stand confidently in His name and KNOW that I am His; I see Him working in the rest of the team and molding them; I see Him refining the areas of me that aren't of Him; I see Him revealing more and more of His vision in Kenya and in the rest of the world; I see Him making our team even stronger than before that we can fight the hard battles and be victorious for His kingdom. That is what I see. And I could not be more excited to be exactly where He wants me, even though sometimes it is really hard to accept.

Kelli, Matt Ruple, Matt Patch, and Logan left on July 7^th for Kenya. They have arrived safely and they are beginning to start some groundwork in the camps and start to build relationships with the people there. Please keep them in your prayers as they are walking onto new soil. Pray that God gives them the eyes to see things that their earthly eyes could never imagine. Pray for wisdom and discernment as they are beginning to invade the enemy's territory. Pray for safety and health, and pray for miracles to happen.

Also, please pray for me in this season… that God would do His thing… and now matter how hard it is, I pray that I would have strength to get through and that I would be reminded of His promises to me throughout this journey.

During the next two months I will still be a full time missionary under AIM. So, thank you to my supporters who have given so generously throughout this vision. I would pray and ask that you would continue supporting me financially even during the brief time here in the states and throughout my time in Kenya. You have no idea how much a part of this vision you are. Thanks so much for your support and prayers and love towards me, the team, and Kenya.

Keep checking back here for more about what God is teaching me through this season and into Kenya! If you would like to see how the team is doing in Kenya, check out the blog here!