Discovering Missions for the first time
Let’s begin with how my journey first started with missions! About three years ago I had a life changing encounter with God that really did a 360 in my life! Later that year the Lord started speaking to me about missions I was very surprised because my understanding of missions at the time was that missionaries were very special and unique people that were called from a very young age and they knew thats what they were supposed to do most of their life. I did not have missions on my radar at all! But the Lord kept speaking and confirming missions over my life. My heart began to expand so much for something I previously had no grid for! So I gave Jesus my yes, I told him whatever it looks like, I would go anywhere!
Some of you may be wondering, What is “Missions”?
I think you can live missionally anywhere, if you are a nurse or a mom, or a overseas missionary somewhere. Wherever God has you, is your missions field, and when we go into these places intentionally to love those around us, that’s missions!
I think you can live missionally anywhere, if you are a nurse or a mom, or a overseas missionary somewhere. Wherever God has you, is your missions field, and when we go into these places intentionally to love those around us, that’s missions!
What is the “great commission”?
So a few months after I gave Jesus my yes I had another encounter with him where he confirmed the call of my life for missions and spoke to me a verse I had never heard before, some call it the great commission. In this verse Jesus had already died and rose from the grave and he appeared to his disciples to leave them with a few last words, “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
After this moment I found a plane ticket and gave away most of my belongings except for what could fit in two suitcases and one week later left to take my first step into missions and served with YWAM (youth with a mission) I learned so much! And after six months with them I returned home wondering what was next?
The process
So I returned home and received an email from a family I got connected with the year before. They said they are pioneering a new family healing ministry and were wondering if I would pray about coming to serve with them. I prayed and said yes but shortly after was hit with so much fear! ” I’ve never pioneered anything. Would I be lonely? How would I pay for it? What if I can’t raise all the money? I don’t think I can do this.” And lots of other fears and thoughts racing through my mind. So I told them maybe in the future but not right now. I took a lot of time to process and pray with God and months later got to the point where I surrendered and said not my will but yours be done you have my yes. So again I gave them my yes, and bam! Overwhelming fear hit my heart yet again! ” I won’t be able to afford this. Who will support me? Just get a normal job. People won’t understand. What if I’m lonely, what if I fail? It’s unknown. I have no idea what I’m stepping into! What if it’s horrible! A missionary in the US? I said I would go anywhere but I thought that meant Iraq not the US. Will people even understand that? I can’t do this!” I was spun into so much confusion “should I go or not go?” I didn’t know what to do! I decided to go for a trial run! So I went for a week to check it out! In the Bible there’s a time where God is calling the Israelites into the Promised Land, but they decide to send 10 spies to check out the land and make sure its good! Some came back with a good report but most came back and said it’s a scary place there are giants there and we feel like grasshoppers! This passage kept coming to mind as I drove to this foreign place to check it out. On my way there I heard the Lord say “we’ve never been this way before” I thought that’s odd. One, I had never heard Him speak that clearly before, and two, what does that even mean? So I traveled on. When I got there I sought the Lord but honestly was just so overwhelmed with confusion and fear! I felt like a grasshopper! I came back feeling like this place was too dark, I felt intimated by it, It was too big for me. Later I found out that in Joshua, as they entered into the Promised Land the Lord spoke to him saying “… When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.” Joshua 3:3-4.
So I returned home and received an email from a family I got connected with the year before. They said they are pioneering a new family healing ministry and were wondering if I would pray about coming to serve with them. I prayed and said yes but shortly after was hit with so much fear! ” I’ve never pioneered anything. Would I be lonely? How would I pay for it? What if I can’t raise all the money? I don’t think I can do this.” And lots of other fears and thoughts racing through my mind. So I told them maybe in the future but not right now. I took a lot of time to process and pray with God and months later got to the point where I surrendered and said not my will but yours be done you have my yes. So again I gave them my yes, and bam! Overwhelming fear hit my heart yet again! ” I won’t be able to afford this. Who will support me? Just get a normal job. People won’t understand. What if I’m lonely, what if I fail? It’s unknown. I have no idea what I’m stepping into! What if it’s horrible! A missionary in the US? I said I would go anywhere but I thought that meant Iraq not the US. Will people even understand that? I can’t do this!” I was spun into so much confusion “should I go or not go?” I didn’t know what to do! I decided to go for a trial run! So I went for a week to check it out! In the Bible there’s a time where God is calling the Israelites into the Promised Land, but they decide to send 10 spies to check out the land and make sure its good! Some came back with a good report but most came back and said it’s a scary place there are giants there and we feel like grasshoppers! This passage kept coming to mind as I drove to this foreign place to check it out. On my way there I heard the Lord say “we’ve never been this way before” I thought that’s odd. One, I had never heard Him speak that clearly before, and two, what does that even mean? So I traveled on. When I got there I sought the Lord but honestly was just so overwhelmed with confusion and fear! I felt like a grasshopper! I came back feeling like this place was too dark, I felt intimated by it, It was too big for me. Later I found out that in Joshua, as they entered into the Promised Land the Lord spoke to him saying “… When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.” Joshua 3:3-4.
Joshua was stepping into something with God where he also had never been before. But I really wrestled with God and wondered if I had even heard him at all. I went a few other weeks to help out at the ministry but told them I wouldn’t be coming, but could help them here and there. Let me tell you! These people are so gracious and we’re so compassionate through this whole process, praying with me and allowing space to figure things out. The next 5 months were brutal, so much confusion, chaos and fear struck my heart and mind. I was desperate for help. I went to so many people seeking prayer. Finally at the very end of 2021 I said “God I can’t do this anymore! I can’t go into 2022 the same way”. I was at an all time low. So for the next seven days I prayed and fasted and sought God like never before. During this time I came to realize that He alone is the only one who could save me. On the evening of the seventh day was when breakthrough came! He tore through everything and set me free from all my fears, He confirmed so much and gave me the courage to say yes and follow Him into the unknown! After that everything changed, my joy came back seven fold! And He was so close! He kept confirming and confirming that He is with me and that this is where He is calling me! There are days where fear starts to creep in but through this process He is teaching me to cling to Him as my help and my refuge. Days have now turned into brief moments of fear which then are covered by the assurance that He is so much bigger than everything I’m afraid of! The foundation of trust in our relationship was very fragile and a bit torn, but through this process I feel Him strengthening it, as I learn to trust Him in uncomfortable places! So now here we are after a long winter of distress heading into the new thing God has and Spring!! That was my process, now here is what I’ll be stepping into! https://www.family-refresh.com
Families restored
The mission of this place is inspired from Malachi 4:6 “…and He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the Hearts of the children to their fathers.”
The mission of this place is inspired from Malachi 4:6 “…and He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the Hearts of the children to their fathers.”
Our heart is see families that have been hurting, have experienced trauma and are have trouble connecting and loving one another, to be united again and healed! A family will come for anywhere from a weekend to 3 weeks. We do marriage counseling, counseling for each child, inner healing, talking through areas where they have experienced heartbreak, pain and hurt and experiencing healing in those areas. Prayer, deliverance, and many other things to serve the family and see them healed and restored! When I went to help out for a few different weeks I was able to work with this one family and I worked with the children. I was praying and working through trauma that had happened in the one young girl’s life. She shared some really hard experiences and abuse that she had gone through. Our hearts are to make them feel safe and loved that they would feel safe enough to talk about things they maybe have never talked about before. As she shared and experienced the pain of what had happened, sometimes it’s good to just express that pain and let yourself feel those emotions, we show compassion for the things that have been lost or stolen from that person’s life, then we bring Jesus into the moments of pain and allow Him to heal and comfort these areas of the heart and speak into them. They experience His love, His kindness and His redemption. We also walk them through forgiving those who have hurt them if they decide to do so, so that they can experience even more freedom. This is one example of the many ways God touches people in this process, sometimes the Holy Spirit has His own plan. One time that same girl was sitting on the couch saying she felt God was angry at her, because she struggled with suicidal thoughts and injured herself because of it. She had really hurt her ankle and thought it wasn’t going to heal and this was her punishment. They asked if they could pray for her ankle. They were praying and a man from our team heard the Lord say, “Watch what I’m about to do”. All the sudden his two year old sprung from where he was sitting, leaped onto her leg and ankle and said “no pain” instantly she was healed!! And could walk normally!! We definitely have things planned for the families that come but most of the life changing encounters happen when God just shows up and the Holy spirit moves. Our heart is to leave space for Him to do whatever He wants to do and be open to how He wants to move! So this is our heart!! I’ll be serving there for at least 6 months working mainly with the children, but I might be there longer. We will see what God has in store! I’m so, so excited to see what God’s going to do in these families’ lives!! But I can’t do this alone. I am looking for people who would be willing to partner with me and what God is doing! I am in need of monthly support and prayer partners! I don’t get paid to work here. We are all missionaries and raise our own support! By supporting me you are making it possible for me to serve there and to work with these kids!! If you are interested in financially giving there is a link to that on this page or if you are interested in being a prayer partner and praying for these families and me while I’m there please email me at kencgnedy@gmail.com. Thank you for considering supporting me! Every bit helps!! Thank you so much!!
Psalm 147:3 He heals the broken hearted And binds up their wounds
