Degna Horton has served with Connect 2 Ministries for more than seven years, and she has worked extensively with Regency Lighting on many of our construction projects in Haiti. As we recognize Giving Tuesday, we asked Degna to share her thoughts on living life for others.

My connection with C2M began in December 2015. I was employed at Regency Lighting at the time, working as the executive assistant responsible for coordinating social impact initiatives. This was around the time Greg Barshaw shared his vision for building a home and school that would house up to 100 rescued restavek children, and our company decided to get involved. We would take construction teams three times a year to work on building the Regency Home, and I made several trips each year to Haiti until my last trip in 2019. Today, I serve with Connect 2 Ministries however I can, and I cannot wait to be able to travel to Haiti again to rejoin the piece of my heart that I left there and the precious people I love to serve.

I’ve always believed that a country’s richest treasure is its people. The Lord put a love for the nations in my heart from an early age, and going on short-term trips has been one of the greatest and most fulfilling ways to be part of missions. I have had the joy of serving on and leading teams, training and preparing teams to go, and building relationships with people from every walk of life—united by a common goal.

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing people of all ages come to faith in Jesus Christ as He heals, delivers, and transforms lives. It is why we exist—to know Christ and to make Him known. When I see God impact people by using us to meet their practical needs (providing shelter, food, clothing, medicine, medical care, and emotional support) while connecting them with a local, Bible-believing church, I can’t help but be thankful. There is no stopping what God can do to transform a community and a nation as He transforms the lives of people.

It is equally rewarding to see the transformation in the hearts and minds of team members because of what they have experienced while serving. It’s often easy to forget something we hear, but a lot harder to forget something we’ve seen or experienced. These lived-experiences carry memories of what encouraged us and broke our hearts on the mission field, and remembering drives us to take action as the Lord stirs within us the vision to do more.

One of the best pieces of advice I could give is don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back from serving in local, national, or international missions. If you keep feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit on your heart when your church hosts a missionary or features a ministry that serves in other nations, think of it as a personal opportunity. Talk to your pastor or group leader about how you can get involved. There are many ways to help—you can pray, financially support someone else going, donate directly to international missions, or you can “go.” Going on a short-term missions trip will grow you in a unique way. Traveling to another country already fosters personal growth, but international missions will soften your heart. You might see suffering in ways you never imagined, but you will also see God work in ways that only He can.

I have grown in compassion, empathy, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit because of serving others. I have learned better what it really means to love others, and have been blessed in so many other ways as well. Seeing God work through believers’ service, at home and abroad, has increased my faith and grown my desire to see more of Jesus. It’s one of the sweetest things about Christian ministry—that as we freely give, we receive; as we pour out to others, we are filled. To serve and invest in people, and then see them come to faith in Christ is profoundly life-changing and brings indescribable joy.

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