Recently a church asked me about my "call" to missions. This is how I responded to them... and decided to share with you....
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At the age of 14, I began to feel like God was calling me
towards missions. “Feel” is a word that is hard to explain… what did it mean to
feel as if God was calling me? I am unsure. What I actually think is that God
was calling me to Himself.
I went through high school loving the Lord, but serving Him
little. I was concerned with good things, even though I knew that “good things”
was not a ticket into heaven. I was a people-pleaser to the max, and concerned
with having a “good-girl” image. While I was involved in my church, ministry
groups and other things… I now see that I was serving myself, not the Lord.
When arriving to college I set out to survive the college
life without going too crazy, and that was all. To my surprise, God had bigger
plans. I began attending a Gospel-preaching, God-centered church that spoke
truth into my life. I began to understand that life was not about me but about
Him. I began to understand that I was called to serve Him and not for my own
glory, but for His. I began to understand that while I had called myself a
Christian for years, I had never fully understood the importance of a personal
relationship with Him.
God was grabbing my heart and revealing more and more of who
He was. Naturally, as I began to love Him more, I began to serve Him more – and
now for the right reasons: His glory not mine.
In the midst of this, I began seeing people from my church
family sent all into all parts of the world. Young families with little
children, older families at the age of retirement, single people right out of
college. They were all joyfully leaving their comfortable American lives to
faithfully go to the ends of the earth to share the gospel. Not only was I
seeing it happen, I was being taught why it was important. Not only important,
but also commanded. Matthew 28:16-20 says, “Then the eleven disciples went to
Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him,
they worshiped Him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age.” I now realized that the last words Jesus spoke on earth, also applied to
me. He had commanded me to make disciples and promised to be with me while I
did.
I knew that not all people were called overseas. I knew that
I could effectively make disciples on my campus, in my family, or in the
grocery store down the street… but was I willing to go? If God called me to a
foreign place, would I go? Theologian John Piper once said, “so, you have three
possibilities in world missions. You can be a goer, a sender, or disobedient.”
Which of these would I choose to be, because I would be one of them.
At the completion of another semester of college, my grades
were somehow entered into the system incorrectly. As I viewed them, great
disappointment filled me and in frustration I said, “I want to quit school and
move to Africa.” The only reason I said Africa was because it sounded far away.
Surprisingly a friend of mine responded, “my church is going on a short-term
mission trip to Africa in December, want to go?” That same day I was cleaning
my room and found a DVD. A pastor had given it to me five years before, who
said, “I just felt like I should give this to you. I think you should watch it
and pray about it.” I hadn’t seen this DVD since then and I certainly had not
watched it or prayed about it. It was a DVD about mission in Africa.
I knew then that God was telling me to go, and I chose to
joyfully go. That short three week trip was hard yet eye opening. Soon after I
was once again asked to go on a short-term trip to Africa and this time to Uganda.
I said “I will think about it” and did not really think much about it, assuming
my answer would be no.
Just a few short days later I was at a church service
listening to a message about love. The pastor read 1 John 3:18 which says, “Dear
children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth
by our actions.” The pastor then said, “Aren’t you glad that God did not just
tell you He loved you but sent His only son to earth to die for you, to show
you? Are you going to just say you love the starving children in Africa, or are
you going to go show them you love them?” It was just meant to be an
attention-grabber example, but it grabbed my heart and my eyes swelled with
tears. Once again, God made it clear. I knew then that God was telling me to
go, and I chose to joyfully go.
I can tell you story after story of similar ways I knew God
was calling me. I went on many short-term trips until now when I find myself
living in Uganda, Africa serving its starving children and seeking ways to tell
them about the love and hope of Christ.
God made it very clear to me that I was called to go, but it
wasn’t until I began listening to His voice that I heard it. God made it very
clear to me that I was called to go, but it wasn’t until I understood His great
commission and my responsibility to make disciples. God made it very clear to
me that I was called to go, but not until I was living a life that strived to
glorify Him and not myself.
I may one day live in Africa forever or maybe in a little
town in North Carolina… but regardless of where I am, I choose to be willing to
joyfully go wherever He calls me.
xoxo,
Jordan
