Sunday, October 21, 2007

Into All the World

My church is very missions-focused. For several years, many from our congregation have participated in mission trips to Mexico and Malawi and Turkey and the Ukraine and other places in between.

In years past, I've felt led to help primarily through financial support and collecting and helping to organize/pack supplies for various missions projects. However, lately I've been feeling like God is calling me to do something more.

What that more is I still don't know. Today I attended an information meeting at church to learn about upcoming short-term mission trips for 2008. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm meant to actually go on a mission trip next year. Perhaps God is calling me to get my feet wet, so to speak, by doing more "behind-the-scenes" work for the missions teams. Then again, He may send me on one of these planned mission trips next year. It's something that I'm going to continue praying about over the next month, before the deadline for submitting applications for the various mission trips.

At any rate, I am seeking to make myself available to whatever God has in store for me, whether at home or abroad. I'm realizing that, as a single woman with no children, it is very tempting to live selfishly, particularly when it comes to giving up time or money. The problem is that I begin to perceive it as my time, my money, when in reality it belongs to God.

I've been praying that God would make me more sensitive to His leading and that I would obey Him without hesitation, especially in those moments when He's calling me to do something that is not my choosing or that doesn't make sense to me.

While I don't know how God intends to use me for our church mission trips, I do know that Jesus' command for His disciples to go "into all the world" does not just mean traveling halfway around the world. We are not all called to minister in foreign countries, but we are all expected to minister to the world around us, whether at work or in our family or among friends. So I'm trying to remember that the greatest mission field that God sends me to may very well be my own office. That is really life-long missions.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All I know is I'm getting very nervous about going to Honduras. Not for what we'll be doing but I'm very nervous for my health and safety and that's just being selfish.

Donna G said...

I think you would be richly blessed if you decide to go. But that is a decision that only you and God can make.

Michelle Van Loon said...

The restlessness you express is a gift from God. You're asking great questions. It'll be exciting to see how He unwraps the answers in your life.