Lillian remembers having a deep desire for community and fellowship at a young age. Although she attended church with her great grandmother or neighbors on a sporadic basis, the desire for her immediate family to attend together was always near to her heart.
After moving to a new city, Lillian was able to regularly attend church with one of her middle school teachers. She started attending the youth group and, at summer camp, she truly heard the gospel for the first time.
Trusting in the power of her new faith, Lillian began a pursuit of perfection. But it wasn't long until she found herself acting as moral police, correcting others and putting on her own disguise of excellence.
While her life appeared to be ideal from an outside perspective, Lillian's world began to crack. Her great grandmother unexpectedly passed away and she was torn with grief and emotion. Reluctantly, she went to camp two days later where God revealed a specific calling on her life to go to the nations. For the first time, Lillian felt fully embraced and known by God.
The mask of perfection began falling away, but her journey was far from over.
In college, a snow-tubing accident left Lillian temporarily paralyzed. During her recovery, she endured physical restrictions on her body and struggled with depression, anxiety and fear. She withdrew from school and moved home ... only to realize that fear had taken over.
Months later, as she was listening to the lyrics of a song, she came to a realization. "The Healer shall set you free, you're free to dance." Lillian knew she was free from fear.
After graduating from college, Lillian moved to the University of Hawaii where she began meeting and sharing her faith with a group of Asian doctoral students. Her heart hurt for these students; they so desperately wanted to follow Jesus, but had great difficulty overcoming their cultural and familial barriers.
She returned to Austin for what she thought would be a few weeks, but has turned into five years. While waiting for clarity in her next steps, God showed her that she couldn't continue casually waiting. Instead, he taught her that she should begin actively living the lifestyle he had called her to right here and now.
During this time, Lillian had a recurring dream that she was carrying a basket. In this dream, God wanted to give her a gift but he knew that she couldn't carry both his gift and her basket. One night, she saw into the basket. Inside was everything she treasured in life: her job, dreams, family and friends. As Lillian held this basket close to her heart, God told her that she had to be willing to lay it down.
Reluctantly, she put the basket and its contents down. She quit her job without knowing what was next. It was after that moment of faithful obedience that God began to open doors.
As she shared with others what God was doing in her life, she was presented with a chance to move to Southeast Asia in order to share the gospel with people who have never heard the good news of Jesus. With pure joy, she embraced the opportunity.
After experiencing true community here in Austin, she believes that her role on the team in Southeast Asia will be to bring unity to a body of believers that serves others, while showing the unreached what biblical community can look like. Lillian will also serve through relationship building, community development, team administration and storytelling.
Lillian has a great love for children and hopes to develop a relationship with a local orphanage. As the church grows, she hopes God will use her to help families teach their children about Jesus.
This time, Lillian knows God is getting the attention, and she gets the honor of being a part of his story.
