We were asked to write a blog about how I was called to this missions trip. Here is my story…
About two and a half months ago, on March 1st, my pastor preached a sermon entitled, “One.” It was all about how, with Christ, one person could make a difference, one person could step up and be used by God to bring others to Him. For some reason, tha sermon made me uncomfortable. Not in a bad way, but like God was poking me, saying, “Listen to this. This is for you.” I was confused. The next mornig when I got up to do my devotions, I picked up my now devotional book titled, “Hope Lives.” As I was reading, I could feel the same uncomfortable poking as I came to the passage Isiah 58:
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then the author of the book went on to say how God wasn’t calling her to stay home and perfect her quaint Christian life, but to go into the world and share His love with His people! The phrase that jumped out at me was her closine one: ” God is calling his people-ME-to do something different.” I was scared, I was confused, and in denial. “What could you possibly do with me God? I’m only 14. There has to be someone else you can use. I’m too young.” (My dad told me later on that I was pulling a Gideon.) Anyway, over the course of the following three weeks, there were like these little “nudgers” from God. One night, for a research project, I was watching Hotel Rwanda. At the end of the movei, I sat there, horrified and broken at what had been done to those innocent people. When I went to bed that night, my thought kept me awake-“If you feel so strongly for these poeple, why don’t you do something about it?” I realized later that that wasn’t me talking, but God. The next day, I walked into Bible class, and on my teacher’s desk was her coffee mug. I laughed aloud when I read what it said. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Ghandi. That was when I finally realized, “Okay God, I understand. You want me to do this. I don’t know what, or how, or when, but I am willing. ” I prayed about it non stop for the next few days. On the following Tuesday morning, I came into English class. My teacher told us that she had a journal prompt for us. I could have never expected what came next. She began to read an email from her friend Traci, who was on a missions trip in Kenya, entitled, “Losing Another to Poverty.” As she read about one of the little boys dying from a fever, of the hundreds dying of starvation, and of the hearts of those people that were in so much poverty and yet remained hopeful in Christ, I cried. I couldn’t help it. God broke me, and I could barely write my response. I wrote a page and a half about how i felt God calling me and yet didn’t know what to do. My teacher responded back, giving me the websites of a few different organizations. One was adventuresinmissions.com. I logged on, and the first open trip that I came to was Guatemala, Ambassadors, June 30th to July 14th. I read about it, and I felt so much peace that I couldn’t even explain. I brought it up to my Pastor, to my Parents, and to Alex, and all of them encouraged me to go through with it. At first, it just seemed like a far off hope. But now, here I am, waiting until the day I get to leave. God has blessed me and taught me so much through this process, and I will never be able to thank Him enough for all He has given me.
