Written by Ally Turner, Missionary to Oakdale, California
Giving up your dreams to follow God’s will I was pretty set on what I wanted to do for my career. I wanted to help people. Specifically I wanted to be a sexual abuse counselor because of the many lives I have seen damaged by it. Shed light on the issues that aren’t really comfortable to talk about. I was on my way to furthering my education in that field but I didn’t pass my last class to get my degree.
I was heartbroken but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from finding a way to help. The fire inside burned ever so brightly. The war in Ukraine broke out the beginning of 2022 and many missionaries from the Oakdale base felt led to serve there for a couple months. This left few missionaries at the base overwhelmed with work and falling into depression. Around this time, I was hanging around the A Jesus Mission base in Oakdale. I attended the home church they put on every Tuesday night and felt led to help them out because of the very few missionaries they had on hand.
There was a creeping feeling that The Lord was preparing me to move onto the base but I wasn’t quite ready to face that yet. I enjoyed hanging out with the people from the Oakdale base and helping time to time but I knew it would be a life of sacrifice if I moved in and that was something I didn’t want to do. I had my own plans, college was security and comfort.
Eventually June 2022 came around and I finally asked the Lord, “What do you want to do with my life?” He just clearly and simply told me to move onto the base. August 2022 came around and I moved onto the base. Even though I moved onto the base, I was still selfishly wanting to do things my way and letting the fear of man speak over me. I didn’t want to be a missionary with no project to do and I wanted to get involved with a ministry called Without Permission that helped with people that were sex trafficked. It was something I was passionate about and I went through all the training to help with this ministry. Something didn’t feel right in my spirit. I came to the Lord again and asked, “Lord, how can I be a part of your plan? Do you even want me to do this?” The Lord told me that no, he had more for me to do at the base.
Fast forward to May 2024 as I’m writing this. We are now in our last round of fundraising for Kingdom Coffee, a non-profit coffee shop that gives back to missions. Helps prevent slavery in Pakistan, provide aid in Ukraine, orphans in Africa, etc. I still and always will have a heart for those sexually abused but the Lord had other plans for me. His ways and plans are better then mine. It doesn’t matter if its a coffee shop or a therapist office, is it God’s will for your life?
I think it would be shallow to think this story is about what cooler job occupation Ally has. This is about The Lord living through you and what HE wants to do with it. I don’t want my dreams to be my idol that I bow down to, only Jesus is worthy of that!
Yes, of course I’m excited for Kingdom Coffee and working at a coffee shop that gives back and goes beyond what I could have thought for myself to be involved with. Most importantly though, I’m excited to see people want to live for Jesus. To live a life abundant in Him rather then settle for what we think is ideal.
For more information and to support Ally, click here.