Ukrainian Tales pt. 2 Made for Ukraine

Ok, so some of you might have heard me say, " It's amazing how God has been preparing me for this trip my entire life." You might think to yourself, "Self, how on earth could that be?" Well, that is the exact thing I'd like to share with you today.


I began to make these realizations even before camp. We were given a packet of information on the slovak culture. As I read there were bits and pieces that seemed to be God saying, "See? This is why I made you the way you are."

One of the readings was by a woman who did a study on the people of the slovak culture but really, it was as if she was talking about me.
"The best avenue to reach the mind and will of slovak people is through their heart, their emotions. Storytelling, poetry, drama, art — these are some of the vehicles that speak most clearly in this culture. Visual art, especially, seems to be the expression of their aesthetic values. In whatever manner it is presented, truth should touch their emotions in order to be deeply received."
"…God seems to have equipped the slovak people with enormous interpersonal sensitivity. They know when someone sincerely cares about them. They sense it intuitively. Love covers a multitude of sins —and an ocean of language barriers and cultural blunders. Kindness, genuine caring, listening with respect —this is the language of love in slovak regions."

My word! Replace "slovak people" with "Carli Lewis" and these statements still hold true. I found this to be stunning and beautiful because what this meant was that I just simply had to be myself, be who God created me to be.

You might be thinking at this point, "that's cool" or "how nice". But the really cool thing is that God didn't just make me and then ship me off to Ukraine. No, he prepared me for the settings and situations I would encounter. As you may already know, Going into an alien surrounding can prevent peaceful sleeping for the first few nights. But lo and behold that the sanatorium halls and rooms were much like that of my Aunt's house where I used to visit for a week out of the summer. The warm wooden floors, soft toned and patterned wall paper, and the tall long draping curtains took me back to my childhood and I slept peacefully each night. I even dreamed!

Another way God prepared me was that he specifically placed me on a trajectory for this trip. It was a series of submitting my will to God's, trusting that he had this whole thing mapped out. Let's start where I am and work my way back. Two years ago Chris Goree mentioned going to an english camp in Ukraine. God pulled on my heart and I knew I was supposed to go. But I needed to wait two years before going, so I submitted to the circumstances and hoped for the best. I would not have been told about it if I hadn't been involved in InterVarsity or knew Chris Goree. Before classes started my first year at the University I decided to take the plunge and sign up for InterVarsity. There were many other ministries I could have gotten involved with, and I had a lot of friends in a different campus group, but they weren't where I was needed. And as far as meeting Chris Goree goes, I wouldn't have met him if he hadn't known my sister and she hadn't introduced us. And My sister would not have introduced us if I had not chosen to go to OU. I had a full ride scholarship to NOC (a community college near my home). But after praying about it I knew God was telling me to go to OU. But I didn't have the money to attend there. So I told God that if I went, he would have to provide the funding. And he has, every semester he has. And I'm not even sure that I would have given OU a second glance if I hadn't gone on a tour with my older sister in 7th grade.
I know this all seems like a lot but this doesn't even cover the fine details of how I've been led up to this point. I challenge you to take 5 min and think of the things that have led you to where you are today.


It's so mind blowing when you go through an experience and realize that God had intended such things for you all along. So as I sit at this laptop with a hot cup of tea to dip my graham crackers in, thinking about all that has past and all that has been, I know that I can live with confidence. The confidence of knowing that God works all things for my good, and that I can trust him to take me on the adventure of a life time.