Hi Friends!
I’m Drew. Since we’re all new here, I’d love to use this space to introduce myself, share some of my story, and talk about how Gathering the Girls is intricately intertwined between those two things. Thank you in advance for reading along and joining in this journey with J and I.
Growing up, the Lord blessed me with a loving Christian home. I am the oldest of six children in my crazy family. I have four sisters and a brother, all of whom are my closest friends. My parents are incredibly sacrificial and serve us six kids so well. They each occupy helping professions, teaching and nursing, which is where my passion for my future career (also teaching) stems from. Both of my parents, as well as all of my close family members are believers and I did not realize the magnitude of the gift of childlike faith until I was much older. I accepted Christ when I was in kindergarten, but it wasn’t until I was fourteen that I took true ownership of my faith. I still remember the sweet lady who poured into me that year. Oh, caring, sweet Gina C.
Although my faith was now my own at this point, the chaotic whirlwind of high school hit hard. Middle school bible study with Gina C. was over and I was facing a whole new level of peer pressure. I battled daily with the desire to be popular, to be liked, to be the most athletic, to attract the jock of the baseball team, to be seen as cool, and pretty, and fun. Exhausting list, huh? I am sure I was not alone in chasing after those things, but isolation from good Christian community hindered me from seeing that. I spent my freshman and sophomore year fairly uninvolved in my local church family. I still volunteered in vacation bible school and things like that with my siblings, but I was missing out on the fellowship that flourishes in spaces like youth group. Fear was my roadblock. All of those pressures I was facing at school made me feel like I would have to fight for those things at church too, and frankly, I was too tired and scared to conquer that potential.
However…here comes the plot twist. My outrageously outgoing sister named Lexi quite literally dragged me out of the car on a random Wednesday night and made me go to youth group with her. I will forever be grateful for the life-altering impact of that night. I had been praying for the Lord to bring me good community to surround myself with and He was faithful. The friends I met that night still bless my life abundantly and push me in my walk with Christ.
A lot has happened since that night. I later joined the student leadership for my youth group. The Lord gave me women of all different walks to pour into me through what would be the hardest year of my life to date. I struggled through loss of various kinds, hard decisions for the future, and a developing passion to serve the young women of faith in some compacity. Lots to juggle, let me tell you. But God worked so swiftly and deliberately during my most challenging chapter. He proved His Perfection and Sovereignty to me over and over and over again.
He brought me the sweetest friendship in Julie Anne, who just so happens to share the same passions with me. He led me to go to college out-of-state and has blessed me with a second community there in Wyoming too. He has used the trials of my heart to mold me into the woman I am today. He has stirred in me the calling to serve women and children all over the country and world. He has allowed me to pursue an education that I am overflowingly excited about. He is good. He is moving. And He will continue to move.
So here we are, all up to date. And yes, there are so many more details of my story that delineate His faithfulness, but for time’s sake today, we’ll leave it at that for now. Gathering the Girls is the coalition of an uncontainable passion to serve others and the overriding call to obey the Lord and to follow His lead in my life. It is designed to be a place where women can disciple women who disciple women. Does that make sense? We want to create a platform for women to help each other live out the life we are all called to as women of the faith. It is a community that moves past the small talk and dives headfirst into doing things with great love.
Let me further explain this passion I keep mentioning. Short version: My heart breaks for those who think they are Christian just because they live in America and try to be a "good person". I hate the fact that so many of the people around me are simply missing the point altogether. I have never felt a greater sense of urgency than when discussing the folks who are caught up in their American dream and forget their call to be Kingdom minded instead (me so very included). It scares me that people think they are going to heaven for not being as bad as so-and-so. I feel for the girls I walk past everyday who are trapped in living up to the world's expectations of them. I know the discomfort of feeling like the only way I can be a faithful Christian is to fly to Africa, when I know in my heart that I am needed here too. You see, missional living is a concept that took me years to understand. I thought it meant going really far away no matter what. I remember sitting down at my desk after a conference called "Mission Possible" my senior year of high school and thinking to myself, "what will happen to all those I care about in Bakersfield who don't know Christ if I leave for twenty something years to plant a church?" I was stuck between trying to fully surrender to God's calling on my life and trying to make my heart break more for those in foreign countries than it was breaking for those in desperate need of Jesus here in the U.S. I didn't realize until more recently that my full surrender looked different than I expected it.
This surrender scares me. Putting myself out there for girls I don't know yet. Jumping all into encouraging the young women around me and starting a tiny business on Etsy. It is all so big and out of my comfort zone. Organizing this platform with Julie is one of the most thrilling and stomach churning thing. However, it's in His hands. He will use this in any way He wants.
Please, please know that I am in no way wiser, higher, or better equipped for this role than anyone else. It is simple really. As a Christian woman, I am called to live missionally every single day of my life and to utilize every bit of breath that I am given to bring glory to our Father in Heaven. That is what we’re doing here. This is Kingdom work. This is the way I can use my passions and my talents to serve our Lord and I literally am bursting with joy that you are joining in that journey with us. We hope that this little community is one that pushes us deeper into our relationship with Him and one that encourages the women around us to do the same. I pray that this would be a safe place for vulnerability and accountability. I pray that we would graciously recognize the Lord working through this platform, even if it impacts only one soul. I pray that we would spur each other on to be women so on fire for Christ that it is stunningly apparent to the world who we are and Whom we serve.
Thank you for being here. I hope that we can encourage each other to live out this walk together. We need each other, ladies. We need this kind of community and fellowship. We are each struggling in our own ways, but because of that we can hang on and stand up for each other. We all play a role of utmost value in this ministry. It can go very far with just J and I, so please feel the weight of our gratitude. Thank you for taking part in the work that is being done. Thank you for joining in during the humble beginning of this ministry. I can’t wait to grow with you guys. I can't wait to see God work. And I can't wait to press into this thing called missional living together.
Your sister,
Drew
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