open up your heart

We can all agree that life is hard. Sometimes life is hard even when it doesn't have to be. 

I'm 22... the prime age (or is it?). Ripe out of college, the possibilities are endless. 

So why are all my friends and I stuck in this rut where we find ourselves eating Chipotle burritos asking each other where the heck we're going. We're living at home, growing bitter attitudes at the fact we are enslaved to our college loans and not feeling good enough for the world. 

The stress is eating away at our souls as we eat away at fattening foods and wallow in the fact that our computers are too slow and we've ripped holes in our clothes. 

I wish I was being dramatic. 

But despite the fact that we are all in this in-between space of life, where we are not yet where we want to be because we don't exactly know where we want to be... we can't let this in-between stage stop us in our tracks. 

Lesson #2: Open up your heart and just let it begin. 

Each day is a new beginning... a new opportunity. Each morning that we awake, it doesn't have to be another day of feeling like a failure or another constant worry of where we'll be in the next few months. 

But our hearts must be open. 

My support team highlight of the week is Olivia Mendizabal. 

 
                  Me, Jasmyn and Olivia in Ecuador

I met Olivia when I studied abroad in Ecuador my Junior year of college. She is one of those people that have taught me what it looks like to have an open heart. 

Olivia has jumped on board my support team this week and I am so thankful for her friendship. Even though I haven't seen her since our departure (I will always have the memory of the two of us being stranded in the airport for hours awaiting our delayed plane!) she has still been able to keep in touch through small acts of kindness. Whether it was supporting me when I interned at TWR last summer, or sending a letter when I was working at camp this past summer, she has encouraged me in everything that I have done. 

I still have a little while before I head off to South Africa. There are many obstacles I have to jump over. Paying off loans and raising support is extremely intimidating. But my heart is open. And it's not only open to this process but it's open to the things that God has for me right now. 

I may be in this weird in-between stage, but that doesn't mean I am unimportant. It may seem like I have a unimportant job and that I should be ashamed of the fact I've moved back home. 

But this is not true. God uses you wherever you are and in this stage of life. As we work toward a future goal, we can still be used. God uses us when we purchase a coffee for the homeless friend we pass every day on the way to work. He uses us to be a light in the workplace. He uses us when we encourage a friend. 

Open up your heart and let it begin. 




If you'd like more information about my ministry vision and financial goals, please send me an email at rpearson@twr.org. 

And hey, look! A cool video about my ministry! Three minutes and learn what I'll be doing when I get to South Africa.