Riley Banks-Snyder - Riley unlikely: with simple, childlike faith, amazing things can happen

I f anything has become clear to me over the past seven years, its the link between love and craziness. Its what made me the head of a nonprofit organization by the time I was fourteen and transplanted me halfway around the world before I was twenty-one. You see, love makes you do crazy things. Like becoming a missionary to East Africa when youre in junior high, living away from all things typical teenager for months at a time, and falling in love with children who would become your ownso much so that you change the course of your whole life.

To be honest, Kenya and I were the unlikeliest pair. To someone with both a basic knowledge of Kenya and a basic knowledge of me, the mismatch would be fairly obvious. If it were up to me, I would go unnoticed in every crowd, everywhere, for all eternity, no question. In Kenya, my upbringing, skin color, and nationality make it almost impossible for me ever to blend in. And Im probably one of the shiest people around, with what I consider to be a healthy dislike of public speaking. In rural Kenya, due to my being white, nearly everywhere I go a group gathers and Im asked to make an impromptu speech or presentation. I get agitated every time I have to fly on a plane, so living an ocean away from my family and my hometown would be challenging even for a seasoned traveler. Plus, any familiarity I had with Swahili came from The Lion King, and Im terrible at sleeping under mosquito netting.

Its a little crazy for a twelve-year-old American girl to plan a trip to Africa. Its a little wild for small-town American parents to support the plan wholeheartedly. And its crazy wild to watch a small plan grow into something you wouldnt ever have thought to imagine: overseas trips for seven years running, a full-time nonprofit organization, outreach on two continents, and an improbable future.

Growing up I always dreamed of living in a big white house with a pretty green yard and white picket fence around it, filled with children. But now all I dream of is my beautiful home in Kenya with its tan and brown mud walls. It has a fence with a guard protecting it and a dirt-packed yard filled with dusty and giggling brown-faced Kenyan children, all calling this fair-skinned, brown-haired girl with the huge smile Mama! Mama!

Back when all this started, I never would have guessed that my family and I would be where we are today doing what were doing. But apparently God likes to showcase his wild side. Thankfully, though, in this story God didnt reveal his wildness all at once. Instead, he unfolded things in spurts and pieces. Every small step of the way, he knew precisely how to move the plan forward without scaring me off completely. Sometimes he did that by forming important relationships out of seemingly random meetings. Sometimes he provided resources long before I could have known I would need them. And often he began changing my course long before I understood change was coming.

Possibly the best way to sum up this story is to highlight its unmistakable pattern. Year after year Ive seen needs that seem impossible to meet, and year after year Ive watched God meet them. Plenty of times Ive gotten the sense that hes working things out with a wink and a grin so were sure to appreciate the miracles. And more than once hes turned life as I anticipated it on its head, showing me that he can fill my aching heart in ways beyond my imagining. If I could have glimpsed the plan that God had in store for me and for us and for Kenya, Im not sure I would have believed it. It probably would have seemed too huge, too complicated, and too masterful. I probably would have thought of myself as too young, too quiet, too average, or too inexperienced to be part of it.

So how did my life turn so drastically? Well, I have a long answer to that question. Everything started with a question, and then a trip, and then a stub of a pencil. I dont think I could have described it then, but I know now that God was using Kenyas kids to transform my heart. At the beginning, all I knew was that I wanted to help. I needed to help. And in looking at those children, I saw myself differently: they had what I lacked, and I had what they needed. I wanted to soak up their strength and revel in their contentment. I wanted to appreciate simple joys like they did. And although I had never thought of myself as materially rich, I could see through their eyes that I am.

This is the story of how God took a thirteen-year-old girl and transformed her into a twenty-year-old missionary. Its the story of how he can take seemingly mismatched parts and fit them together brilliantly. Its the story of how he can change our lives and dramatically shift our dreams. All this time, he has been tailor-making me for Kenyas kids, and them for me: a perfect match from an unlikely love story.