“It was interesting to see how God took these very weird skillsets: how to carry out operations in difficult places, how to vet people and information to ensure they were not terrorists. Who better to vet whether someone is a terrorist than former counter-terrorism officers? That’s our bread and butter.

Every single one of those skillsets and expertise was required for the evacuation of the persecuted Iraqi Christians, and it was so amazing how God prepared every single thing like a beautiful puzzle piece to come together and help these people gain a new life in a safe place.”

“I was prejudged about my capabilities because of my gender and my personality before anyone even knew what my knowledge or experience of the Arab world was. I’m smiley, outgoing, I enjoy people. So I might not be the picture of what you envision as a counterterrorism officer.

For a long period of time, I assumed they knew better than I did. I didn’t know what I was capable of, and out of respect for my training mentor, I allowed him to define me.

It wasn’t until I got in the room with a terrorist, running my own operation, that I was able to prove to other people and to myself that I was capable. When I walked out of that very first meeting with a terrorist, it was one of those life-altering moments when I realized, “I’m not terrible at this! I’m actually really amazing! All of this time I had been thinking I was subpar and just lucky to be here when in fact I’m actually awesome!”