Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/489073
I FROM NURSING DREAM TO MINISTRY TEAM How God repaved Omee Thao's best-laid plans with an even greater journey. OMEE THAO WORKS FULL TIME AT DENVER SEMINARY AND IS ALSO WORKING TOWARD A MASTER OF ARTS IN LEADERSHIP. SHE AND HER HUSBAND, DR. LANTZIA C. THAO, LIVE IN THORNTON, COLORADO WITH THEIR FOUR CHILDREN. OMEE IS PASSIONATE ABOUT SERVING ALONGSIDE HER HUSBAND AND HIS MINISTRIES TO MORE THAN 100 HMONG CHURCHES ALL OVER THE US. SHE CURRENTLY SERVES AS DISTRICT DIRECTOR FOR WOMEN'S MINISTRIES OF THE HMONG DISTRICT. HOLY INTERRUPTION In Proverbs 16:9, Solomon says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." My life is no exception. I was born in one of the most remote areas of Laos to a recently converted Christian family. Since I was a girl, my parents determined that I would go into nursing. However, this dream was shattered by the fall of Laos into Communism in 1975. My family journeyed many days by foot to a refugee camp in Thailand, where we stayed for four years before departing to the freezing land of Appleton, Wisconsin. There, I was given a new opportunity to pursue my nursing dream at Carroll College (now Carroll University). Yet prior to enrolling there, I received a divine desire to become a pastor's wife while I served the Lord as a Sunday school teacher, a Sunday school staff member, and a youth leadership team member. It went against the Hmong tradition for a girl to initiate the dating process, so I could only pray, dream, and wait for a miracle. Who would have known that my future husband would be a student at Denver Seminary? We met at our annual youth camp in the summer of 1988 and married a year later. My nursing dream, once again, was put on hold as I moved to Colorado to be with my husband during his last year of seminary studies. When I walked on the old campus for the first time, I fell in love with the people there. Everyone was warm- hearted and welcoming. I was struck by how different the environment was from my secular college atmosphere. After my husband's graduation, God took us to pastor churches in Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Over those 16 years, God opened many doors for me to serve the women's ministries of the Hmong District and the Christian and Missionary Alliance. But I slowly realized I was ill-equipped for those ministries. In 2007 my husband was asked to be the director of church ministries at the Hmong District in Thornton, Colorado, where I came into contact with Denver Seminary for the second time, now at the new campus. Through God's grace, I was offered a job at the Seminary, and a new dream began to form. I am now taking classes, following God on a new journey to prepare myself for the greater things He has in store, especially leadership in women's ministry. Everything in my life has happened according to God's gracious plan. I praise Him for finding favor in an unworthy girl like me. It was His plan to move me out of nursing to serve with my awesome pastor-husband and to enroll at Denver Seminary for the great privilege of serving Him worldwide. My course may have been planned from an early age, but God is the one who truly determined my steps. 6 SPRING 2015 rmnunes/iStock