{"id":1952,"date":"2010-03-19T16:03:27","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T20:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2010-03-19T16:14:01","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T20:14:01","slug":"melissa-from-faith-to-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/2010\/03\/19\/melissa-from-faith-to-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Melissa: from faith to ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"fampic<\/a>
The Williamson Family reaching the Arimtap people group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\nBorn into a tumultuous family, to addictive parents, Melissa learned early that \u2018home life\u2019 was not like that for other kids. \u00a0 Marijuana grew openly, drug use, verbal and physical abuse were her \u2018teachers\u2019. \u00a0In spite of the lack of attention at home, Melissa excelled in school and was placed in the gifted program. At age eight, her biological father committed suicide but Melissa felt little remorse, since he was rarely part of her life. \u00a0Her home life continued to spin out of control. \u00a0There were many situations she witnessed or experienced, \u00a0that no child should have to see or live. \u00a0By the age of twelve, Melissa was already acting out her frustration and inner turmoil. \u00a0She had no place in her heart for morality, conscience or authority.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By God\u2019s intervention, \u00a0Melissa\u2019s mom got clean and began a new life free from addiction. \u00a0She divorced the addictive step-dad and brought in a new man who was also on the road to recovery. \u00a0But while these \u2018new\u2019 parents were in love and happy, Melissa\u2019s anger boiled over. \u00a0At thirteen, she was out of control to the point that Melissa\u2019s mother found a Christian boarding school for children from broken homes with needs that a family is not able to meet. In the course of the next two years, Melissa was kicked out of boarding school, lived with an Aunt who also couldn\u2019t control her, and placed back in the Christian boarding school.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It was through the love and grace of her dorm parents that Melissa accepted Christ at age 16. \u00a0\u00a0All was changing for the better, but a trip back home with her old friends caused her to relapse into her old patterns and even end up in jail. By 17, Melissa\u2019s mom let her go, and Melissa found herself on her own. \u00a0She began following the Deadheads<\/em> a group of hippies who followed the concert tours of the \u2018Grateful Dead\u2019 rock band. \u00a0Melissa jumped in with both feet. \u00a0Drug use, immoral lifestyle, living from hand to mouth, Melissa eventually, wound up homeless in San Francisco with the realization that the peace she sought could not be found in this lifestyle. \u00a0Miserable, broken and penniless, Melissa called her Mom for bus fare home. \u00a0She boarded the bus with the determination that she wanted to find her way back to God. She mended her relationship with her mother and step-dad. She began to be discipled in Christian community and \u00a0she grew in her faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

A Christian friend introduced Melissa to missionary candidates at an NTM training facility, nearby. \u00a0Melissa was enthralled that these missionaries in training were living a simple, faith filled life with eternal purpose! \u00a0Melissa relates, \u201cIt was at that moment that I knew my life was not my own and that God may want to use me in some kind of full time ministry—fulfilling His desire to make His name known all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

That year, Melissa attended NTBI (NTM Bible Institute). \u00a0Melissa said, \u201c It was the the most enriching two years of my life. I learned so much from God\u2019s love letter to me, His Word. \u00a0He changed me from the inside out. It was an investment that has\/will have eternal results and rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Melissa and her missionary husband live among the Arimtap people group. They are studying the Arimtap language and culture, and hope to soon plant a believing, faithful church among these people.<\/p>\n

From Melissa: <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\u201cThe biggest lesson I have learned on this journey of walking with God by faith, is to be <\/em><\/span>crazy<\/em><\/span> enough to take God at His Word. \u00a0Sometimes it is easy to doubt what God is leading us to do, just based on the mere circumstances. \u00a0But God doesn\u2019t necessarily work or lead us in ways that we can explain or that even seem reasonable. \u00a0I truly believe that , if God says something in His Word to me, i.e, promises to me, then it can be <\/em><\/span>counted <\/em><\/span>on! He is able to do exceedingly more than all we ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) The beauty of the way that God works is that He delights in using me, <\/em><\/span>\u2018Just As I Am\u2019, <\/em><\/span>if I am yeilding myself to Him to use my life as He sees fit. \u00a0With God all things are possible!” (Mathew 19:26)
\n<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macon met the Williamsons while filming the AWAYO video. They work in with people much like the Moi. Share this amazing story with your friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/macon-hare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}