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the sake of knowledge; that is Curiosity. There are those who seek
knowledge to be known by others; that is Vanity. There are those who
seek knowledge in order to serve; that is Love. I have been
challenged recently by my use of the word love. It is not a new
conundrum by any means. But as I have thought more deeply about
the question of why I want to be a counselor I hear echoes of others in
my head saying, Andrea, you love people. What do they mean by
that? What do I mean by that when Ive said it myself? Were we both
really saying that I, Andrea, merely enjoy people, or that I prefer
spending time with people to motor biking, candlestick making, or
studying politics? Or is it that I love people in the sense that my love is
an action towards others, not merely a feeling? Do I love like Jesus
loves? Do I give people what they need and not just what they want?
If you were to ask me when I started walking with Jesus, I think it was
that sophomore year of high school when God had stripped parts of my
identity away, convicted me, and taught me who He was through the
retreats and bible classes at my Catholic high school. Through high
school I learned suffering through discipline in my schoolwork and on
the field and the fruit that came through it. I learned self-control from
turning away from partying and being able to choose integrity over
popularity.
My senior year I was asked to lead the freshman bible study for
Campus Outreach. This was a leadership role that I was not
comfortable in doing and God grew and stretched me a ton in learning
how to be confident to lead and pursue relationships with the girls but
most of all how to plan our short hour together weekly.
During that same spring, a few of the girls in our community were
asked to serve a non-profit called Living Bread by living with an elderly
woman. The reason being that Living Bread is a ministry that serves
women with eating disorders and this particular woman needed to go
away for a few months to be admitted to a recovery center yet she
lived with and cared for an elderly woman. So while the young woman
was away we lived with and cared for the elderly woman.
I have done extensive work with Living Bread close to the time when
Ella Walker Henderson, an alumni of Richmont, first started the
ministry. I have been her marketing committee and have done most of
her marketing work.
As I became close with Ella Walker through doing work for her with
Living Bread I heard about her venture in starting a healing prayer
team at our church. I was one of the first to start going through the
training program to become equipped to be on the team. In the past
two years I have been trained and for the past 6 months I have served
as one of the primary members on the prayer team at our church.
That fall, I was given the privilege to travel with our pastor and other
Greenville church leaders on two-week journey, being taught Ray
Vander Laan in Israel on the Old and New Testament. Along with
growing in knowledge of Jesus, the Scriptures, and the historical Jewish
context, it was through this trip that God gave me a huge gift by
introducing me to Joel Tassie. Joel was one of the church leaders on the
trip and asked me to be a part of his family. For the past year he and
his wife have been the parents to me that I never had. They have
taught me everything from how to have a budget to how to build
boundaries. Joel and his wife have been Jesus to me. They have shown
me what true love looks like by giving people what they need and not
what they want.