MY STORY

 It all began in 2016…

when I came on a mission trip. When I had first heard that my youth group at the time was doing a trip to New York City, I was so excited about the opportunity to serve the people of NYC. At this time of my life I was about to enter Senior Year and had so many dreams and plans for what life would look like post-graduation.

Then my whole entire life changed.

From the moment I first stepped foot in NYC I knew that there was something about it that I was drawn to. About 3 days into the trip I felt God tell me that coming to NYC would be my next step in my life and the rest is History!

*Pics below from 2016 trip!

 The Leadership Program Years…

were some of the best and most refining years of my life. The Leadership Program is a 10 month internship-like experience designed to raise, equip, and send people from all over the world to serve God and lead well. When I first heard about the program on my trip in 2016, I just knew it was what would be next for me.

I ended up meeting some of my best friends during this program and honestly, I am not sure where I would be if I had never gone to be apart of it. This program literally changed my life.

In my first year in the program…

I felt as if God had taken every lie I had believed about him and destroyed it. It wasn’t until my first year when I realized how shallow my understanding of the Gospel really was. Before coming to the LP I had really been struggling with depression and purpose. I even struggled with thought of suicide and really was in a hopeless place. In my first year I really feel as if I was reintroduced to Jesus and things really haven’t been the same since. The love and relationship I experienced with Him that year really did change everything; my identity, my purpose, my calling - all of that began to be wrapped up in who HE was. I am forever thankful for the deepening that happened during this time of my life.

In my second year…

things really did change a lot. I was starting to be handed a lot more responsibility and weight which is exciting, but also really hard. The growing pains of leadership is something I think I will feel for the rest of my life. If my first year was my breaking, then my second year was my building.

It was in this season of my life where God took what I had walked through the year before and started building upon that. I experinced a lot of harvest from things I had sacrificed my first year but with harvest comes a lot of work. No farmer ever goes out to harvest their crop without dread of the work.

During my second year I would experience freedom and responsibility in a new way. Around Christmas of this year I had began asking myself the question, “So what happens next?” as I knew my time in the LP was coming to a close. As I went home, I began to pray about what was next for me and God quickly revealed that I would be asked to stay on staff soon. This definitely freaked me out and although I felt ready, I also felt scared.

So months went by and I kept what the Lord had spoken to me between us until one day (at an Easter event), our Executive Pastor at the time looked at me and in the most casual way said “Oh by the way! If this isn’t obvious, we would like for you to stay on staff.”

And here we are! 6 years after my internship and I am now the Program Director for our Dream Center NYC!

*Some memories while in the LP (and yes, I had a man bun haha)

 The last 6 years…

have been the hardest years of my entire life. Yet sometimes, the most beautiful things are found by enduring Romans 5:3-4 it says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,”

These last 6 years since the internship have been exactly that. For those who don’t know, NYC is not necessarily the easiest place to do ministry. With political tensions, moral debates, and a whole lot of people hurt by the Church - Jesus isn’t always the most welcome topic. Now pile a pandemic on top of that and you can only imagine what it was like.

There have only been a handful of times (thank God) that I have actually thought about quitting this thing and the first time I ever really almost walked away, was when the pandemic hit. The city was desolate, fear ripped through our streets, and I was stuck asking myself “What can I possibly offer to this city during this?”

I remember one evening specifically that I really heard the Lord speak. It was the weekend the city shut down and that same weekend, I had lost a close friend of mine. She passed unexpectedly and the timing made it so much harder. Some of our students at the time and the staff came together to remember and honor the life of the friend we had lost (this was before we were educated about social distancing haha). I remember hearing the Lord so kindly tell me “Izaiha, if you decide to leave, I will love you just the same. But if you decide to stay, I promise this season will be a catalyst for your love for me and this city.”

That has really stuck with me since because it was so true… and also way less enjoyable than I anticipated. I think when you hear something like that it is so easy to romanticize that idea but we often forget that love is not just convenient- love CHOOSES to endure.

*Pictured below: The last few years on staff.

 And so, I will continue to choose…

to love this city. Some days it is easy, others it is really tough; but I actually think that love is supposed to look that way.

I really don’t know what these next few years will look like but whatever the future holds, I am ready, because I know that I am not alone. I have God, I have you, and I know that whatever this next year holds will be an adventure to remember.

Here’s to year eight.