Over 2 years ago I looked at my life and the picture I saw was not what I wanted to see. I stood in the ocean and looked down at my feet and saw the waves coming. They took me out and I tumbled over and over, I lost my balance and every time I tried to stand back up I found myself right where I started. Drenched and choking up salt water. Exaggeration you may think? Yes, in "life" I was doing fine. I had just made it to Australia to start a 6 month mission stint, I had the finances I needed, I had friends and family who cared. Spiritually though, I was a mess. I was exactly what that picture described. Getting nowhere, and every time I tried I would get knocked down again. My relationship with the Lord was not even close to where I wanted it to be. I didn't trust in His plans, or see a future or believe that He had good things to give. Someone very soon after prophesied that my life would begin to change and I would find myself beginning to stand in the midst of the waves that seemed to be taking me down. Did I believe it? No, not really. That prophesy at many times seemed so far away in the years that have followed. At times I felt it drawing nearer, and then the feeling would dissapear. Some point in the middle of the journey though, I looked up just long enough to see that I had drifted out farther away from the shore. Instead of that drowning feeling that I had felt so many times before was gone. There was just current surging beneath me that couldn't hurt me, instead it gave me power. You see, I tend to look at things to practically. I thought I just needed to get out of the waves to be able to stand. I thought I just needed to get stronger so I could brace myself when they came. Never did I think I should go deeper, farther out, find bigger things to trust God with, find more ways to belive that He has a future and good things to give to me, To me, figuring it out on my own seemed to be the answer. (To save you a little time, it's really just easier to trust God from the beginning) I look back on 2016 and I see so many things I was challenged with. Yet I also can say it was one of the best years of my life. Somehow God has given me the strength to go farther out into the sea of His love, where at first glance it might seem overwhelming but then come to realise it is the safest place I can be. I choose to enter into the year of 2017 riding that wave. Trusting in His goodness, His steadfast character and His incredible plans that believe it or not are better than our dreams. He has something in 2017 for me that He started way back when. So c'mon. Won't you ride the wave with me? Photo By: http://www.leblogdelamechante.fr/blog-mode/house-greyjoy/
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Change. As a missionary it's something I'm pretty familar with. It may come every few weeks, months or years. But eventually it will come, and it will not be a suprise.
Tonight I leave Coffs Harbour to return to Brisbane after spending 2 weeks here helping with a local church and serving in the community. To say I've been blessed is an understatement. When I reflect at the end of a ministry time I get to see more of a perspective than I might see in the moment. I look at these two weeks and see families/staff of the church who have given countless hours of their days to serve their community, babies that I've fallen in love with (yes, it doesn't take much), kids who are so hungry for God, a children's pastor who just wants to hang out and show us around because she loves people. I see a reflection of our God's character and atmosphere inside each one of these people. Leaving a place and the people there that have so tremendously blessed you is never easy. I could stay and gain so much wisdom and insight and growth from these pastors. They are so encouraging. Without saying anything the way they carry themselves and bring community has taught me more and given me more of a passion for doing the same in my ministry. So what is it that makes this place and these people so great? Yes, it's them as individuals and the location. Most importantly though, it's the presence of God that dwells inside us. It pushes us to make those connections because there is something beneficial in it for both parties. So yes, I'm sad to leave this place. But when I really think about it, I'm excited at the reminder that God's presence is the same everywhere I go. As I walked down the jetty in a small costal town in Australia I was hit with one rather large question for my mind to consume. This is outreach? Some of my friends were on their way to India, Indonesia and the Philipines and I am in a beach town.
Don't get me wrong, if given the choice I would always choose to stay in Australia. I've always felt a calling to western nations but in the back of my mind I know there was this lingering thought...am I less important, effective, relevant, etc. if I stay here? For a lot of us when we think missions we think roughing it. No electricity, barely any running water, stepping outside into this hot uncomfortable humidity and sweating more than we would care to admit. Maybe there is even some persecution for our beliefs in the nation we are going to, a language barrier included. But this? I looked over the railing of the jetty to crystal blue water, glanced to my right and saw the shoreline drift around the corner off into the horizon. I looked around to see people that speak my own language and don't give too much thought to the fact that I am standing on a jetty worshiping Jesus and...well you get it, I am in paradise. So the question is am I less relevant, important and so on here in a small costal town than I would be in a third-world nation where persecution may or may not be present for my beliefs? The answer to that question is no. Here's why. A while back I heard someone speak on this verse and it made me think a little more of what missions looks like. Acts 1: 8 "But you will recieve power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." This scripture talks about being witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Not just one place, like the one that seems the most mission like, but all places. It's so easy to get into the mindset that missions has to be hard, it has to be giving up what you want. Sometimes it is, yes. God asks us to lay down ourselves and follow Him. But does that always mean missions has to be hard? I'm learning it's as much as a lifestyle as we choose to make it. It means it doesn't have to change when I move from western culture to non-western culture. It doesn't have to change when I speak the language versus when I don't. It doesn't have to change when I'm staring out at the ocean as I'm chatting with someone or inside a refugee camp. Yes one is harder and the other easier. But who says that both can't be who God is? God loves all people in all places. He has something for all people in all moments. He is waiting for His children to come home. What if we get to be the carrier of that good news regardless of the place we are in. That is missions. So are we relevant? I think so. |