I have amazing friends!

As I write this, my friends Kayla Beth Moore, Cara Hedges, Megan McSwain, Ah-reum Han, Pam Gray, Katie Hayes, and a handful of other Carson-Newman students are heading to Kolkata, India to spend about 10 days working with Freeset, an organization that works to free women from the sex industry by offering them legit jobs making free-trade bags to sell worldwide. It's a chance for these women to start over with freedom they were told would never come. My friends will also get to visit the places that Mother Teresa and William Carey worked, including Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying. Their lives are going to be impacted by the people they see and interact with, and in this moment, they have the chance to be Jesus' hands, feet, and heart in a distant land.

I echo Paul's sentiments in Colossians 2:5 when he said, "For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ."

I'm thankful to God that my friends will get to experience this life-altering and eye-opening trip, and I'm thankful for friends whose light of Jesus shines warmly and brightly.

Will you join me in prayer for them today?