W E L C O M E !
Welcome to my official blog page with the Center for Global Action (CGA)!
A little about me:
My name is Abby Thornburg, and I did the World Race with Adventures in Missions on my beloved S Squad January 2017 – November 2017!
The World Race, for those that don’t know, is an 11 month missions trip that goes to 11 countries in 11 months to invite people to know who Jesus is, grow in loving others as we live in community with others 24/7, and to partner with ministries and organizations planted in those countries to help make their vision for those communities happen in whatever capacity we can!
This description barely scratches the surface of all the incredible stories of miracles, being chiseled and changed, and learning to behold and trust God more than anything else, but it’ll have to do for now.. (for more awesome stories of what God did last year, see my blog- abbythornburg.theworldrace.org) After all the changing and challenging He did, the kindness and the love He revealed this past year, I can’t help but to say that I am forever changed. What I have seen and experienced has impacted me in a way that I cannot, but am attempting to, verbalize and express. In transitioning back home from this experience, I had SO many questions…
What on earth could be next? Should I just go back home and work? Should I partner with one of these incredible organizations doing the hard labor of loving and serving people in the Name of Jesus day in and day out? How do I continue to do all the things the Lord enabled me by His Spirit to do back home without my supportive team right there with me?
In all this consideration, there was a lot of FEAR and very little TRUSTING God in my heart. In a very uncomfortable 2 or 3 weeks back at home, I was floundering to reconcile who I felt the Lord had molded me into, who people expected me to be, and who I wanted to be. My identity seemed lost, and God had to re-orient me to the fact that it’s always in Him no matter where I am. After this experiencing this GRACE from Him expressed to me by the love of so many of my amazing friends, I began to ask Him about where He wanted me next. If I had learned anything from going on the World Race, which in the past I NEVER could have imagined myself doing, it’s that He may have things bigger and grander than I can dream up myself waiting up ahead. So I did all the research and explored different avenues of more missions abroad, Bible schools, medical missions, nursing jobs in locations where some of my former teammates wanted to move to in the future, etc etc.
And I was OVERWHELMED!
BUT…
I realized that an opportunity a few of my leaders mentioned was worth looking into. It’s called CGA (Center for Global Action), and it is a leadership and discipleship school focused on equipping those that love Jesus to passionately follow Him and lead others into following Him wherever they are.
After asking the Lord for some direction regarding my future steps in general, in regards to CGA I felt Him saying, “Do it!” In the middle of that prayer, my eyes popped open, and I immediately began to question what I heard. “Really, Lord? CGA? HOW on earth can you tell me so quickly to do this program that I haven’t thoroughly researched or worked out a plan for?”
So I put that instance out of my mind, but in considering CGA in the days and weeks to come, I felt this seriously ODD confidence that it’s what I would be doing next–where the Lord wanted me in this next season.
So despite my more “logical” judgement, I applied for the program.
And guess what?
I GOT ACCEPTED! 😀
Which is scary and means that things are happening that I didn’t expect. But I can tell you that I have confidence, coming from a source that can only be God Himself, that I’m doing this thing.
I know God has His own hidden and AWESOME reasons for why He wants me to be at CGA, and those He will reveal later. BUT let me tell you a little more about why I want to be part of this community of Jesus-loving people very soon:
CGA is a place to continue to grow and practice, within very safe and loving community, all that God awakened in me and taught me while on the Race. It’s SO MUCH, people! And I want those seeds to be nurtured and grow to bear fruit like it was meant to as the Lord sowed those seeds in my heart.
CGA is a place where ALL my passions collide. SERIOUSLY. In being an apprentice with CGA I will have classes each week to learn about self-governance, leadership, discipling others, healthy relationships, intimacy with God, and SO many other applicable things. I want to become the type of servant leader like the ones who have invested their lives in me, one who will be a loving but truth and Jesus-following influencer in this world that is SO lost. I will also be involved in specific worship leading track sessions where I will study more of what it means to worship, how to lead others well into this, and how to refine my gifts of worship to give back to the Lord and to serve the Body of Christ. If you know me well at all, you know I LOVE to sing and that worship specifically in the ways of music and creativity are ways I connect very closely with Jesus. On top of these AMAZING opportunities, each apprentice with CGA is required to get a part-time job in the community to pay for practical things like groceries and gas, of course, but more importantly with the intent to be out in the community, loving people we work with, and practicing all we’re learning in the classroom in relationship with those all around us that Jesus sees and loves! Which in my case, I am hopeful will be working as a nurse as I am applying for RN positions in Georgia.
It’s ALL THE THINGS, guys!! 😀
Lastly, CGA is a place to be challenged. In learning more about CGA, I have realized they say it’s not for everyone because it truly IS NOT for everyone. It will be an intensive place to be challenged in what I think and how that affects the way I live my life, whether in good ways or bad. I STRONGLY desire to grow more and more in looking like Jesus and submitting my life to what HE wants because it is better. Oddly enough, I asked for the Lord to give me a word for what this year will be. And He said “breaking.” As I have prayed for Him to elaborate on this, I feel this year will be one of breaking me down so that I trust and treasure Him alone, whatever that looks like. I want to be one who LOVES the God who created me and rescued me and saved me for such PURPOSE in His Kingdom coming to earth and in eternity. I am not putting my trust in CGA, but I am putting my trust in God who can use CGA as a powerful tool in His hands to free me and empower me to live life fully and wonderfully devoted to Him.
ALL THIS VERBOSELY SAID, I have a financial support goal to meet in order to be part of this semester with CGA that will begin in March and go until July.
My goal to meet is a total of $5,950, which covers the cost of housing, program expenses, intensive Bible study, materials, and admin overhead.
I need to build a team of supporters who would like to partner with me financially and/or prayerfully to make this happen!
Would you prayerfully consider giving ANY amount to help make this possible?
If you would like to give, you can simply click the “donate” button above and fill out the necessary information.
If you have ANY questions at all, please feel free to email me at [email protected].
THANK YOU, lovely people, for reading my LONG blog posts and for CARING so much about what the Lord has done in my life and what He continues to do!
All my love,
Abby 🙂
