My name is Lauren Stuck. I was born in Ecuador where I spent the first 17 years of my life. People don'ttend to believe me when they see how white my skin is and ask
me why I don't have an accent! Usually my response is, "Yes I know I am very pale but I promise I can speak Spanish." Ecuador will l always be a part of me. I never want to take my child hood for granted. The jungle was my play ground and every day was an adventure. My love for mountains, different culture, fruit, swimming in rivers and eating strange food all come from my Ecuadorian
experience. Growing up in Ecuador also conditioned my heart for what God has called me to do now.
I was exposed to poverty at a very young age and grew up very aware of it. And I grew up with a sense of the lost and that they needed Christ. I saw the power that God has to bring about peace and redemption to g
roups of people who used to war against each other and murder each other.That kind of reconciliation can o
nly come through Christ.
I must say that my family is amazing. They are a huge part of who I am today. I have parents who love Je
sus in such a refreshing and sacrificial way. They have served as missionaries for 25 years! I am so blessed by the
example that they set. I am inspired by the love they have for Christ and the love that they have for each other and those around them. Their wisdom and servant hearts teach me every day. I am also very blessed to have two wonderful brothers who are ridiculously awesome. My older brother Jonathan is one of the kindest people you will ever meet and is wonderfully hilarious. He inspires me in many ways and will be serving in Thailand as a missionary with his wife Juliet. She is the sister I never had and is a wonderful part of our family. And because of them I get to be an aunt to the most adorable little girls. My younger brother is the most creative 17 year old I have every met and some day when he is a movie director will support me. 🙂 But he is very amazing and talented and very thoughtful. He will be famous some day for sure.
So a little bit more abut my life. In Middle school I was swept out by a rip tide when I was swimming in the ocean. After a long struggle and an exhausting battle I gave up and I couldn't swim anymore. It was in that moment that I thought about my life and wondered what I had really done to make a lasting impact. And God filled me with peace and told me that it was not my time yet. It is because of that experience that I know God has a purpose for my life. He kept me alive for a reason and I don't want to take that for granted. That is when my faith became my own and what I look back to all the time.
After graduation from high school God took me to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. No offense to Arkansas or "Arkansasians" but that was the last place I wanted to go. But God has a sense of humor and that is where I ended up. The next four years of my life involved John Brown University and an exciting semester in Ireland. Through out college God completely broke me. Over the first two years He tore me down piece by piece through a very painful process. It was a very necessary refining time and I don't regret it at all. God is faithful and over next two years he began a building process and I began to learn what it means to be defined by Christ and to find value in him.
Over the past couple of years God has given me a passion for justice. But not simply justice because that does not always require love. He has taught me about "Shalom" which is not just providing for someone's needs but going above and beyond. And that means treating everyone with that kind of love. That is what he does for us. That is what I want to see happen for the women and the men in the sex industry. I want to help them get out of it but
more than that I want them to know Christ and experience restoration in its fullest.
Now I am a college graduate and am about to embark on a two year adventure in Cambodia. I have a feeling that God is going to break me some more and yet remain every so faithful. I am so excited to learn what it means to completely rely on God and be used in my weakness and my human flesh. All I can do is be obedient so I can be used!
And that is a little bit about me! Kind of turned into a small novel but only a small hint of my life! And there is still lots to come!!
