Lacey Martin
God's Open Door to MissionYear
I am so excited to tell you about a commitment I have made to serve for one year (September 2007 – August 2008) with an organization called Mission Year.
I first heard about Mission Year while I was searching for answers to God’s call on my life. I decided to look up mission agencies on the internet. I saw their website, let it load, and fell in love with their mission statement: “Love God. Love People. Nothing Else Matters.” Immediately, I called my mom in to look at the website, and lets just say, it went from there!
After learning about Mission Year, I began praying that if this was God’s will, no doors would close for me. My parents thought I was crazy—an urban city missionary and I have never lived in a town with more than 5,000 people! After many weeks of praying and tossing around the possibility, I felt that God was leading me to apply, and if I was accepted then I knew that it was His will. I knew that it was a step towards God’s calling for my life, as I graduate college in May and it has always been a dream of mine to care for those that are less fortunate than myself, especially children. After the interview, I was extremely nervous. But, four days later, God calmed my fears, the phone call came, and I joined others to become a part of MissionYear’s 10th year in running.
Now in its tenth year, Mission Year serves in five cities (New Orleans, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Camden, and Chicago). I will serve in a team of five or six and live together in an apartment or house in New Orleans. I will volunteer at a church or non-profit in the area during the day and will learn about social justice from people in the neighborhood in a variety of ways during my off time. I will be living in and with the people, immersing myself in the culture of the people and teaching them the love of God by building relationships with them. As I learn more and more about New Orleans being my city, I will keep you updated!
This is going to be a great learning and service experience for me and I really want you to become a part of my ministry!
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Lacey Martin's Blog
You know my name / Jul 7, 02:20 PM
Summer is my favorite time of the year. I love it. It is warm, it brings happiness, and it brings many family memories. This year, I have a new piece of family: my four roommates and my neighbors. I love them all…
God has brought me to a place where I am very content with Him and his will for my life. I have an upcoming job interview that I really want the job for. It is here in New Orleans for a sports organization that brings structured play to elementary schools. I am really excited about it. In my prayer time, I came to the realization that God knows ME. Psalms 8 is a great reminder that above all else, he loves people!
Psalm 8
1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Detour 180 sings a song called “You Know My Name”… and it hits me hard at home today. I love knowing that if I can just rest in His mighty arms and be enveloped in His love and grace. I need nothing else in this world except him.
Here are the lyrics:
Help me remember the reason I’m alive
And that I was on your mind the day you died
Help me imagine, this is not my home
And some day I’ll be resting by your side
Help me remember the day you won my heart
And you paid my way to freedom with your love
Help me imagine the beauty of this gift
A grace that I am so unworthy of
But you’ll never let me fall away from you
You know my name
You know my story
Still you’ve taken on the world
Just for me
I am amazed that you hear me speaking
You listen close to every word I say
Who am I to be loved this way?
You know my name
If I rise, if I fall
My only hope is this
That you’d be with me everyday
Who am I to be loved this way?
You know my name
You know my story
Still you’ve taken on the world
Just for me
I am amazed that you hear me speaking
You listen close to every word I say
Who am I to be loved this way?
You know my name
You know my name
You know my story
Still you’ve taken on the world
Just for me
I am amazed that you hear me speaking
You listen close to every word I say
Who am I to be loved this way?
You know my name
ISN’T IT GREAT HE LOVES even ME?
Where is your heart?? / Jun 2, 11:13 AM
At our church, CastleRock Community Church, we have been doing a study on money… it is a study that intrigues me… and here are some of my responses to it:
****“For where your treasure is, there also is your heart.” Luke 12:34
Too many people today are consumed with stuff… Blame it on the media, our American culture, or wherever else you want, but I believe that the consumption of “stuff” starts with your heart. I really dislike when there is blame put on the media and culture, because we are really the only one’s who are responsible for our money, not the media… we are the only one’s responsible for our heart, not the media… we make our own choices, not the media… we will stand before God someday… not the media. Where is your top priority? I have come to find lately that it is just not “stuff” that we consume too often… but also time… where do I place most of my time? Is it for Him? He is the owner of all time… and of everything… so do I serve Him in this way?
****“What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way…” (1 Peter 3- The Message)
So many women today have lost sight of what it means to actually be beautiful… beauty isn’t the million shirts in your closet, the time it takes you to do your hair, or the amount of makeup you wear. If it were, then there would never have been a woman from the Bible that was “beautiful”, since much of those things didn’t exist then… but beauty is mentioned with women from the Bible quite frequently. I wish more women today found there value in Jesus Christ and things of Him than they did in materialism. It burdens my heart so much that women today are caught up in “things”— so many things for no reason whatsoever. These things will not buy them anything— in fact, they cost money. “Things” will never make things better— shopping “highs” really only last for a little while… and then you have to go again.
****“The world would be better off if people tried to become better. And people would become better if they stopped trying to become better off. For when everybody tries to become better off, nobody becomes better off. But when everybody tries to become better, everybody is better off.” -Peter Maurin
This quote really touches me. I think that the most important woman in my life is my mom… and she is a woman of simplicity… She is the world’s biggest bargain shopper and an extreme woman of faith… but she doesn’t have many clothes, the hippest new haircut, or expensive jewelry… instead, her treasure is held up in the Lord, given to her children, and in her heart.
****Convict me, Lord, of ways in which I can step back and let you reign in my heart and in my life. Give me a love for You, your people, and things that satisfy your heart rather than things of this world. Thank you so much for the influences that I have had in my life that have taught me about simplicity! Amen.
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Beauty from Pain / Apr 18, 04:17 PM
This morning I sat at the devo table, wondering when I will see the rainbow at the end of this storm I am going through emotionally right now. I find it so interesting that while I am going through an emotional storm, the people here in New Orleans have literally been through a physical storm and are still seeing all the destruction that it caused them. I am sure God placed me here, not by accident, but on purpose. He knew that after I see all this pain, I will forever see the marks that it leaves on my heart… and it will beautiful.
Artist: Superchick
Album: Beauty From Pain
Song: Beauty From Pain
The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night
And then the darkness surrounds me
I know I’m alive
But I feel like I’ve died
And all that’s left is to accept that it’s over
My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made
I try to keep warm but I just grow colder
I feel like I’m slipping away
After all this has passed
I still will remain
After I’ve cried my last
There’ll be beauty from pain
Though it won’t be today
Someday I’ll hope again
And there’ll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain
My whole world is the pain inside me
The best I can do is just get through the day
When life before is only a memory
I wonder why God let me walk through this place
And though I can’t understand why this happened
I know that I will when I look back someday
And see how You’ve brought beauty from ashes
And made me as gold purified through these flames
Here and I am at the end of me (at the end of me)
Trying to hold to what I can’t see
I forgot how to hope
This night’s been so long
I cling to your promise there will be a dawn
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God's Greatest Gift: Children / Apr 17, 01:35 PM
School in New Orleans is not at a good point. I wonder sometimes why teachers act as though they don’t love children. It bothers me so very much that I constantly see teachers yell at kids, aim to tear them down, forget that the reason they have a job is because of the kids. My heart hurts, is torn apart that I constantly see second grade classrooms run like a military institute, that kids all dress the same, act the same, can’t talk or stand, must like up straight. What happened to just being a child? What happened to allowing children the freedom to express themselves? Without expression, kids will never discover themselves. Without positive reinforcement, kids will never show positive attitudes towards other children. Without being able to use their energy, no child is able to restrain their negative energy.
Kids here, and for that matter, everywhere, want so badly to be loved, to be given attention. So, they are— by teachers, faculty, administration, lunch ladies, etc— that truly don’t care if a child feels loved. These kids aren’t given positive attention and yet teachers are amazed at their negative behavior.
Children are God’s greatest gift… and as such, they should be respected, loved, and cared for. Each and every hand shake, high five, or hug sent a teacher’s way is an opportunity to express the love that children deserve. Inside each child that is acting up is a child yearning for love and attention, whether or not they get it at home or not. Why? Because kids are dependent. Creation, everywhere, proves that young need their parents… and in today’s American world, most teachers see children in their classroom more than the child’s parent does at home. Kids aren’t only dependent, but they are human, and each human has a deep longing to be loved and shown expressions of love through different avenues: sight, touch, emotions. Kids are dependent and need to be loved.
Why do so many school personnel think it is ok to stop a child from going to the restroom as he openly cries in front of the class? Why is it ok to scream “STOP SCREAMING!” at a child? Why is there a “do what I say, not as I do” mentality? I do not understand it. I never will, because— quite frankly— I can remember being a child. Because I want to be a positive impact on students lives— quite frankly— I may be the only one that they ever feel loved by.
Show me, God, how to love children in ways I haven’t, God, remove teachers who don’t deserve the blessings of your greatest gift. God, my heart aches to become an effective teacher. Show me the avenue that I need to take to be the best teacher I can be— even now. Open my heart to possibilities unseen by me for next year.
Family Prayers / Apr 10, 10:12 AM
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is
this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep
oneself from being polluted by the world.
I praise God every time I think of my parents, who have a ministry that many overlook. They take in kids who are in need, who need to be loved, and who have no where else to turn. They love on them, raise them to the best of their ability, and then lead them towards a bright future. And, they now have 10!
I have a new sister! My parents decided in a few short days to adopt Nicole Marie, a 14 year old girl who needs there love! Pray for them and the new adjustment and me and my adjusting to not being able to welcome her into the house physically, though I hope to call her on Monday! We now have a family of 12! Hurray!
