Anna Faith Fuller: Hello, this is Anna Faith, and welcome to episode 51 of Faith Talks. Well, today I have the exciting privilege to do another interview here on Faith Talks. And I think it’s been a little while since we’ve done interviews. And I don’t know about you, but I feel like interviews have been some of my favorite podcasts that I’ve heard and just been able to be a part of here on Faith Talks. And I think it’s just so encouraging and challenging to hear of other women of faith in their journeys and just taking steps of faith, even when there’s trials and difficulties. So today we have just a unique challenge for us today of a young woman of faith who is very special to me, my sister, Terry. or Terry Laina. And we’re just going to hear her journey of how God’s lettered so clearly to what his will is for her life and just some different challenges that she’s been through. And just be encouraged, especially you young listeners, to see what God can do for your life and also just get a vision for what he wants to do. God wants to do big things in your life. And so I’m so excited to share Terry’s story and journey with you today. So Terry, can you share with us a little background about yourself, just who you are, some small things that you love so our listeners can get to know you?

Terrilaina Gillmore: Yes. Well, it’s a privilege to be here with you all today. I’ve heard a lot about Faith Talks, and my sister’s done it for a long time now, so it’s a privilege to be here. I grew up in Wisconsin, Menominee Falls near Milwaukee and I’m number seven of nine kids. My dad, he is the missions pastor at our church and he’s just traveled all around the world and I absolutely love when we get to go with him. I’ve been to Cameroon, to Papua New Guinea, to Fiji, to many other places so that is such a privilege. I also absolutely love music. I grew up playing viola and piano. Just recently I took a trip to Europe and we visited Leipzig and Prague and Vienna, which was an absolutely amazing experience. We performed for many people over there and just sing their love for classical music and our ability to minister to them in a unique way was such an amazing experience. I also just love anything adventurous and crazy. I love roller coasters and just yesterday we went out on a boat and did some crazy stuff with like tubes and kneeboarding, which was crazy. But I

Anna Faith Fuller: absolutely love being adventurous and doing crazy things. All right. Go ahead and share with us how your journey of faith began, starting with salvation and just growing in your walk of faith as a young

Terrilaina Gillmore: adult. So as a young girl, I grew up in a Christian home and I heard gospel truths all the time. And do remember something very clearly and that is I remember recognizing that I deserve to go to hell because of my sin and I believe it was a Wednesday night a preacher preached on hell and that became so clear to me and that night I went home to my mom and I told her I knew I deserved to go to hell and there was nothing that I could do to get myself to heaven so she opened God’s word and clearly showed me from the Bible how I could be saved and I remember praying and right after that I was so excited, just filled with joy. I remember running up the stairs and I wanted to tell my whole family that I had just gotten saved. And since that time, I really, really desired to get in God’s word. I remember maybe I was eight or nine years old, just opening my Bible and praying, God, I want to know you. And I remember the first verse that the Lord spoke to me through. It was in Psalm 24. And it’s such a special verse to me that has clean hands and a pure heart. who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity nor sworn deceitfully. And then it goes on to say how he is blessed. And I remember just wanting to have a pure heart and to have clean hands before the Lord and wanting to get to know him.

Anna Faith Fuller: Can you share a little bit of how God has started working in your heart as a young teen girl to serve the Lord and just how he has grown your love for missions and ministry as you’ve traveled?

Terrilaina Gillmore: Yeah, so all of us children as young kids were given a country by our parents to pray for. and mine wasn’t actually a country it was a people group um orphans all around the world and as a young kid I really can’t remember a time when I haven’t wanted to do something in the future with ministry to orphans and my dad he really opened my eyes to the need for that because third world countries there’s just so many neglected children and so I remember praying for them as a young child. And when I was around 10 years old, my dad asked me if I wanted to go with him on a mission trip to Cameroon, which was honestly a lifelong dream at that point. I had always wanted to travel with him because he traveled all the time. And so I got to go as a 10 year old and we went out to the villages in the bush. We didn’t have any electricity, any easy access to things. And I loved it with all my heart. It was so much fun. And I got to see God work. We were able to plant two churches in around, I think, two or three weeks. And just being a young kid and seeing that, it just changed my whole world. Seeing how differently people live there compared to my world and recognizing that most people don’t see the world from my perspective. Most cultures are so different from ours. And as a young person, And taking all of that in, it changed so much of how I saw things. But most importantly, it gave me such a heart for people around the world, which I’m so thankful for to this day.

Anna Faith Fuller: That’s really neat. And then just continue to share how God has continued to lead you since high school and just to specific ministry that you believe God’s leading you to, and then just sharing your journey of faith and all that.

Terrilaina Gillmore: Yes, so since I had the heart for nursing around, I think it was seventh grade or eighth grade, my dad came to me and he said, you know, if you want to go into the ministry of orphans, it’s probably wise if you have some nursing training. And at that point, I had never really considered that. I don’t absolutely love working with like blood and stuff like that. But I began to pray about it and I really sensed the Lord’s hand in it. And I really did love caring for people. And I had some opportunities since then to care good for an older lady, to babysit some. But most recently, I was able to go on a trip to Ghana. And there is a clinic a little ways out from the place where we’re staying. And it worked out for me to go stay there for a couple of days just to see what hands-on medical missions works and how it runs and everything. So I went out there by myself, which was so exciting yet daunting for me with nobody else. I didn’t really have any internet access. And I just went out there to be with the people and to learn to see how it goes. And I have to say, it was not at all comfortable, but it was so fulfilling. And even working with the people there, seeing how broken they are, many of them are coming in all the time with malaria or with just big cuts. They use machetes all the time, which are just long knives. And they’re always cutting themselves. So people are coming in with big gashes and just seeing their need for help and being able to just be there for them. It was so exciting. And I really sensed a deepening work in my heart during that time that this is what God made me for. He made me for the mission field in particular, but for that medical side of really offering physical care, just like Jesus did, to broken people.

Anna Faith Fuller: I know you had shared with me earlier just some difficulties and how God just has clearly led you into nursing. Go ahead and just share a couple of those with us as well.

Terrilaina Gillmore: Yeah, so our family took a trip to Papua New Guinea around two years ago now. And when we were there, we were there for six months. So it was a lot different than just a missions trip. We got to learn how to live with the people, more of what missions is, not just visiting someplace and then leaving, just sticking it out, which was a whole new experience for all of us. But towards the end of the trip, we went to an island. And shortly before that, we had gone out to Australia because of some visa issues. And we were just walking along a path. And I had kind of a freak accident. I tripped and fell and I completely like tore off the side of my left toe. And I was super bummed about it because the place we were going to next is one of the most humid and hot places in the world. and it’s very hard for things to heal. And this is exactly what I didn’t need. And it was a huge, a huge gash in the side of my toe. So before I left, I got some medical stuff from Australia. And then as soon as we got into PNG, we got some more stuff that we would need to take out to the island that wouldn’t be there. So we get out to the island and the people see me wrapping my toe all the time. And so they slowly start coming to me asking me, you know, what are you doing? Why do you have that on your foot? And I explained, like, if I uncover this, it will get infected. Well, unfortunately, mine had already gotten infected, but we got some medicine to take with us. And I began explaining to the people, you know, how you care for infection and how you something heals. And they started coming to me with all of their cuts and wounds. And so I began just slowly helping all of them. And I remember there was one time when I was very sick, I had a fever and my toe was super infected and the people would come to our door and I would say to the Lord I can’t do this I’m so weak I feel so disgusting I just can’t do this and I would walk out there and God would give me his grace to care for them I wouldn’t feel sick or anything I would care for the people and then as soon as I walked right back into the house everything came back and that was so amazing to see God’s grace is sufficient for your need but you have to take the step of faith You have to walk out there and God will meet you in your need. And I did that the whole time for about five weeks on the island. And that was the moment where I knew God had called me into nursing. He made it so clear and he met my need in meeting other people’s needs, which was such a privilege to experience. Wow, I’m so weak. I’m such a weak vessel. But God can use me to meet people’s needs.

Anna Faith Fuller: Well, that’s really neat. Thank you for sharing that. I think it’s, you know, the verse in the Bible that talks about how God works everything together for good. And even just something small like that, maybe seemingly, even though it was a big painful thing for you at the time. But just how God just used that to show you exactly what his will is for your life. So that’s really neat. What encouragement would you give teen girls about knowing God, who he is, and how he can clearly lead them, just as he has so clearly led you?

Terrilaina Gillmore: Yes, the biggest thing I would say in my own journey is learning to get in God’s word. And I’ve seen so many mature Christians that I look up to and think to myself, I can never get there, or how do I become like that? That’s just so far beyond me. And I realized even just, I’m so young now, but I’ve already seen how when I get into God’s word, it transforms me and it changes me. And there are so many voices in this world fighting for your attention, whether it be social media or just the media in general, friends. We can connect to anything on our phones. There’s just so many things that take away our attention from God’s word. But when we don’t get in God’s word, those other voices fill our minds and we abrupt the opportunity that God has to speak to us clearly. And when you silence those voices, I would even, you know, encourage you to ask the Lord, what is taking away from me hearing your voice? Is it some of these things? Even in my own life recently, I’ve really, God’s really been convicting me about that. Just shutting out all those voices so that he can speak clearly to me. And I’ve already seen so much from doing that. And I’ve already been able to hear God’s voice through his word so much clearer. And I also would just tell you, you know, the world is not a neutral place. If you just sit and you don’t do anything, the world is going to come in. It’s fighting for you. And the devil is fighting for you as well. And if you don’t get yourself grounded in God’s word and recognize I must make clear decisions, those other things are going to take away your life from you and fill it with something that you would never want. And I would just plead with you. I’m so young right now even, and I feel this battle in my soul and in my spirit continually. But God so desperately wants to use you, and he wants to use you in your weakness. He delights in doing that. It says, you know, in 2 Corinthians, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And we feel so weak, but God is so mighty, and his glory is manifested through us because of our weakness. and I would just encourage you, you know, God has a huge plan for you. I’m just getting a taste, even seeing his direction through nursing and being in nursing school now. It’s not easy at all. I don’t enjoy it most of the time, but it’s so fulfilling knowing I’m in the center of God’s will. And don’t look for the easy road. Look for the fulfilling road, which is obviously what God wants for you.

Anna Faith Fuller: Well, thank you so much for sharing, Terry. And I think it is just a special blessing for us to hear a young girl, a young woman who is just clearly following the Lord and what he has created her for. And, you know, girls, God has made you for a specific reason. And he wants to use you to be a voice, to be a light in this dark world. And if you have, if you’ve trusted in the Lord, if you have salvation, if you’re, if you’re in a church and a family that walks with the Lord, and if you know God, you have such a special gift to give to those people around you. And there’s so many people walking in darkness. And I just appreciated Terry’s challenge there at the end, just to know God, know his word, know truth, and just know exactly what he’s leading you to do. And God will speak to you. So ask him if you’re confused right now and if you’re wondering what God has for you for your future, I would encourage you to sit down and get along with God and open his word and plead for him to make it very clear for your future and what he has for you. And also just realizing that this world and its voices, they’re speaking so loudly to you. But don’t let the world get in and cloud your mind, cloud truth from your soul and from what God wants to do in your life right now. And I just encourage you to be the light that God wants you to be as he makes his will completely clear for you. And so thank you so much, Terry, for sharing all those things with us and just sharing your journey of faith. And I just encourage you listeners to just take the step that God is leading you from hearing this journey of faith in your specific walk, that you would just take that step and know God and his perfect will for your life. And if there’s something that maybe is a trial for you right now, just know that God works everything together for good. And he’s going to use this trial to completely show you what he wants you to do. And you are a special gift that God’s brought into this world to be a light to those around you. This world is so dark and we need more young people to truly know God’s will for the life and then to do it. so I just encourage you that you can be a big blessing and God wants to use you in such a such a bigger way than you even know so don’t stop don’t quit don’t let the world get in and just keep pressing on as God continues to use you to be the light that you ought to be and I encourage you as you just go about your walk of faith remember that faith doesn’t just talk faith walks

Terrilaina Gillmore: thanks for joining us for this episode of the Degeneration podcast If this challenge stirred your heart, then you might want to join us this coming October for our annual Thee Generation Youth Summit. You can compete in exciting four-way competitions and hear how your life can turn the world upside down.