Ashley's Testimony

Tonight, I feel privileged to share the amazing testimony of my long enduring friend Ashley.  Ashley is currently serving on a medical mission as a junior doctor in Honduras. She graduated from Imperial College, London last year but rather than getting a job as a General Practitioner in her hometown, she packed her bags and scrubs and traveled across the world to Honduras. Ashley is one of my greatest role models, so having spoken to her on skype a few weeks ago I received permission to share her testimony on here.

I met Ashley in 2007, and we became really good friends through our church group. She was bubbly, popular and extra beautiful but had never had a boyfriend before. A year later she met Darryl who also attended our church group. Ashley always dreamed of going to Honduras, the country of her  birth and it was truly the Lord who put that passion in heart. However, Darryl came a long. I'm not sure if God was in the situation or not but Ashley began to change. She still dreamt of working in the medical field in Honduras but somehow with Darryl in the picture her focus changed, she now was working on bringing Darryl with her to Honduras and if that didn't work she resovled to  stay in England and get married to him. Whatever happened Darryl had to come first.
So many of us christian women can relate to this scenario.  As time went on Ashley stopped thinking about Honduras and began thinking about her and Darryl tying the knot after medical school. Ashley was changing. Darryl was changing too. He began to become manipulative and just emotionally cold to her. Nonetheless, Ashley was trying to make it work and she was prepared to look past Darryl's faults.  Even when he began to compare her with other girls she still held on to him. I know, ridiculous, right? Yet, how many of us have behaved just the way Ashley was behaving? We've given up so much for something that God wasn't in and if it wasn't for God's grace we would have suffered dearly for it.
What I love about Ashley however, was her sincere desire to serve the Lord. Even when she couldn't see that this guy was not what God had in mind for her and that she was off His time schedule, Ashley still pursued God.
Well, you can guess what happened next. Darryl and Ashley broke up and it was Ashley who had to bear the pain of it all. What made it harder for Ashley was that she had to continually see Darryl every week at church group and at church. On top of that Darryl found a new love soon after. It was torture for her and it didn't help that her graduation was months away and she didn't have a clue what she was to do after medical school.  A confused and heartbroken Ashley did what she knew best. She turned to the Word. In her lowest state, when she felt that she wasn't good enough, pretty enough, slim enough and worthy enough, she fell down at the feet of Jesus. Wow! I remember her crying and praying to God to just heal her hear and give her a new direction.  God did just that.
The word "Honduras" echoed back in her spirit.  This young, budding doctor picked herself up, shook off the dust, said goodbye to her heartache and got back on track with God's calling.
She is now settled in Honduras assisting the mission base with basic vaccination for the needy and most importantly spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ashley may have lost her bearing when she met Darryl and some may have said she "screwed up" big time but in the end God had the last laugh. I think we can all learn a lot from Ashley's testimony. No matter, the mistakes you make in life, if you are pure and sincere in your heart, God will surely come through for you.
Ashley is so much more stronger, more spirit filled and more determined and I believe that her heartbreak with Darryl prepared her for the long days ahead in Honduras. I'm so proud of her and I can't wait for our future skype dates!