Letter to Chloe

 This letter was written to my sister Chloe who had just arrived in Nigeria. This letter is also in response to Francis Chan's book Crazy Love. This book opened my eyes up to Christ's love for each of us, individually, and gave me a new perspective on writing about and receiving God's ultimate message for us.
To find out more about Crazy Love: http://www.crazylovebook.com/index.html


Dear Sister,

YOU ARE IN AFRICA. Africa! Like the place Shakira sings about and the nation Jesus speaks about.

Your life is about to be changed. Your personal forever and ever will be impacted right now, through this experience. I am so glad you’re there. I want you to remember that God intended this trip for a purpose. Think about it, before you were even thought of, He knew that you would be going on this trip. Thus He planned events that would open doors and windows for you to crawl right through. Remember, Ephesians 2:10 says that we were created, “ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Here is your very own assignment from Christ- your chance to be such a beautiful vessel for Him and such a beaming light for others. You are the most beautiful, passionate, curious and eager person I know. I look up to you in so many ways and there are so many things that I cannot wait to see you do in life. One of them is this, to be changed while changing others.

Being in Nigeria even for just a short while so far, you have already seen things that will stay in your mind forever. As they should. This trip is your very own whisper. Something that will stay with you, and silently remind you of why you are alive and why you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Twenty years from now you will still hear this silent melody in your head, refusing to let you forget the beauty of our King and the destruction of poverty. 

You’re going to get nervous. Sometimes, you’re not going to know exactly what to say. Sometimes, you will want to do something, but you’re not going to know exactly how to go about doing it. Sometimes, you’re going to want to cry. Sometimes, you will. But all the time, God is able. God is able, God is able, God is able, God is able. So unbelievable able. To the point where He could literally defeat death. To the point where He could create the entire universe, each and every blade of grass and each and every body of water, and still give a rip about little old you.  To the point where He could provide $1,800 in less than 24 hours for me to go to Haiti, while using you as an instrument that allowed me to get there. God is able. When you feel all of those ‘sometimes’ pop up in your head- remember this:

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, “ I said, “ I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”

But the Lord said to me, “ Do not say, ‘ I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, “ declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” – Jeremiah 1:6-10

“Do not say, ‘ I am only a child’.”  Jeremiah’s fear was mainly being too young, too ignorant, too immature to reach other people. You may or may not struggle with the same fear. It might be the fear of feeling guilty, the fear of being a hypocrite because of your personal sin. This fear is one of my biggest, but I tell you it is one of the most powerful and most dangerous kind of fear there is.  I think we talked about this before, but if every person waited until they felt perfectly confident in their walk with Christ- there would be no pastors today. Christ knows your heart Chloe, He knows your desires and He knows your needs. He knows that sin is the root of destruction and that You have sinned incredibly over the years. But He knows that His mercy for you is more than enough and He wants you to shake that sin and doubt off and get up. Seriously, He wants you to get up. This trip, is you getting up. How exciting! All your sin, all your doubt, all your personal struggles have been taken and put in a bag by your God Almighty. He zipped it up, and threw it out. He left that baggage back in America, back in the garbage disposal near your house. In fact, I saw a garabage man today and his truck seemed pretty full. It’s all gone.

Nigeria is now your clean slate. Here, you can be whoever you want to be- you can be a radical follower of Jesus Christ. You can be a constant speaker of His name. You can talk to those people with God’s words because He will touch your mouth when you ask him to, I promise. Pray for His wisdom to flow off your tongue, so smoothly, so accurately. This is your chance to be on fire for Christ more than you ever have- and to be so open, so vulnerable to any sights He wants you to see, any sounds He wants you to hear, and any people He wants you to meet. He is in love with your heart already, and you have already been such a joy for Him in the way you have lived your life so far. I am just challenging you to go deeper. So deep that He will be made so apparent to you through all of the things you will see on this trip.

Poverty is scary, and sad and constant. Jesus said that there will always be poverty in this world we live. He also says that we must do all that we can to help. He says that, Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" Isaiah 58 :6-7.  You are doing just that. I know that traveling is exciting, being with a group of people is always fun, and living in a different place for a change can be incredible. I know all of these things played a role in you wanting to go to Africa. But I also know that your heart for those less fortunate than you is breaking and that this place is exactly where you needed to go because you needed to do something about these things you see and hear about all the time. You needed to get off your butt and make a change, no matter what size- just make one. That is so beautiful and for that our own Jesus Christ is smiling right now. All He wants is our hearts and because your heart is His, you desire His very own desires. The fact that that is even possible is astounding. I will be praying for you every day that you are gone, so that you will be reminded, encouraged, broken and set on fire.

I love you to the moon and back again, up and right back down again.

  Tess