Friends and Family,
I don't even know where to start. As I look back at the past few years, my heart is welling up with gratitude and wonder, both towards the Lord and towards YOU. I have been given amazing opportunities and experiences I never could have imagined or dreamed up in my own mind. Just as it says in Ephesians 3:20, God truly is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. I remember quoting that verse in my Oral Defense speech about 2 1/2 years ago, and I did not realize how true it was then, but Jesus has confirmed it through my life day by day.
Most of you already know that I did a 6-month Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Belize and South Africa beginning in the fall of 2011. I learned so much about the freedom of living in Christ, was transformed, and continue to be transformed as Jesus changes the way I think, the way I view this world and this life and the souls that surround me.
After the Discipleship Training School, I had the opportunity to intern with a ministry called Models for Christ in New York City. Models for Christ reaches out to the people of the fashion industry to offer hope and comfort in what is often a taxing realm of work. Again, the Lord grew me immensely in the time I spent with Models for Christ, and I am so thankful for that sweet season.
Beginning last fall, I became a student at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. I was really apprehensive about going to school, because I've known my whole life that I wanted to do mission work, and I did not want to leave the field to go to school. It was a hard decision, but over the course of the year, Jesus was with me. He was with me the whole time, and just like He always does, He loved me. And I continued to grow in His love and be transformed by it.
This past Spring, God put it on my heart to attend a leadership school at a YWAM base in Jacksonville, FL. The vision of YWAM Jax Beach is "to inspire, equip, and send people to share the good news of Jesus with those who have never heard." Specifically, YWAM Jax Beach reaches out to those who not only have not heard, but have no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This training has been so helpful to me and I know it has grown my leadership abilities. I know that I cannot keep this hope, peace, joy, and FREEDOM I've found in Jesus a secret. I am going to share it with those who have never heard. So, after one more year at Samford, I will be coming on staff with YWAM Jax Beach for at least 2 years. I am so excited to get to join in the work that they are doing to reach the unreached.
I want to THANK YOU all for the way you have prayed for me, encouraged me, supported me financially, checked up on me, and loved me well. It may sound cliche, but I couldn't have done any of this without you! All the work that I've had the chance to do with YWAM is because you joined me in making it happen. It has been OUR work, in Jesus, not "my missions thing" that "I did." I know this because I have done, experienced, and seen way more than I am capable of or qualified for. I want to encourage you that God IS working and moving NOW, and He is way closer to you than you can imagine.
I love you all so much, and thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the way you loved me!
Remember that we love because He loved us first! How cool, yeah?! So cool. I'm praying right now that the peace of God, WHICH IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE TO US, finds you right now. That you will be filled with joy and hope right now. And be freed by Jesus name, right now.
Blessings,
Hannah Noelle Tichenor
