God Doesn't Really Need Me To Go

I had this thought this weekend....God doesn't really need me to go to Africa.....It's true.  


When I was first asked to go, I didn't hesitate to say yes.  I recognized the opportunity to go and see the work of Children's Cup in Swaziland.  I couldn't wait to see the kids they reach and teach.  I still can't.  I can't wait to hug them with love.  


But God doesn't really need me...to go.  It's not about feeling needed.  


It was in Sunday's message that I understood.  Yes, this is an opportunity but I also have a responsibility to go.  I can't pass that up.  I do missions, that is an area where God has called and planted His desires for His needs in my heart.  So it's like I can't NOT go.


I don't really bring any special skills to the team.  I can't fix the broken, I can't bring prosperity, I can't heal the sick, I can't.  But I can love, I can hug, I can serve them where needed, I can paint, I swing a hammer, I can sit and hold a precious heart in my lap.  Those things I CAN do.  


God does want my willing heart to be, to go, to give.  I believe that is His mission.  I can obey His call to go.  I can share my love of my Savior with them.  I can tell of how he has worked in my life with the broken things.  I can give them hope.  I can.

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Beautiful Feet!

This past couple of weeks I have been reading Romans. Paul has a way with words and I found this nugget of power that I just had to share. Romans 10: 14 - 15 -

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Are you bringing God's good news to people in your life?
Have you told them about the love and forgiveness of Jesus?
How will they know unless you tell them? 

Will you utilize the gift of your beautiful feet?

Are you willing to shod your feet with the Gospel so that others can know Him?  When we see our part in sharing the gospel and how God equips us to go by using the gifts we have, it takes the fear out of the going.  Think about their beautiful feet...the feet of those who still need to hear, those that are still waiting to receive what your beautiful feet have to bring.  Everyone has a story and I encourage you to share yours with the very next set of feet you meet.

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My Why!

So what does the picture of that bear have to do with my reasons for going to Swaziland?  Absolutely nothing....but it made you come over here and read my post now didn't it?  


My reasons for going are numerous but really nothing says it better than the chorus of the song by Josh Wilson "I Refuse" ...


Check this out...




I refuse.
'Cause I don't want to live like I don't care.
I don't want to say another empty prayer.
I refuse to
Sit around and wait for someone else
To do what God has called me to do myself.
I could choose
Not to move but I refuse.

I can hear the least of these
Crying out so desperately,
And I know we are the hands and feet
Of you, oh God.
So, if you say move,
Then it's time for me to follow through,
And do what I was made to do.
Show them who you are.

I refuse to just stand by and not help those who need it.  I refuse to not hear the weary and the lost.  I refuse to not invest in people who need to see you more clearly.  It's time to get radical.  

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Prayer Circles

When preparing for  a mission trip, I start praying the day I know that I am supposed to go. My list of prayers covers a variety of topics from safe travel, to providing enough funding, to bringing the right team together, to being used by God. There are so many details that need to be in place before one steps foot out the door.

The one of the biggest prayer circles I present before the Father is to accomplish His work in my heart. I don't want to wait until I get to the destination for Him get my heart ready. I am hungry to know what's on His heart concerning the days ahead.  

When asked, I knew immediately that God wanted me to go. As I was talking with another team member who had been struggling with the reasons for going, he again asked the question.. "Why should I be going?" I kept reassuring him of all the reasons to go, but it wasn't until God reminded him of a previous mission trip experience in the Dominican Republic, that actually helped him feel assured of the mission call. There was a tender moment a year ago when God opened his eyes to the distractions of his life at home, only to reveal the "rich" life of those he had traveled to serve. The American dream is quickly cast aside when it collides with wide-spread poverty, and buried with the disadvantaged.  That was life-changing for him, as it was for most of the team members.

God prepares you as you pray to prepare. 


He will always bring us   


to seeing their needs 


to His broken heart 


to loving them as His people.


It's there that we can see God's purpose in serving.   


Purpose.  Once we see His heart...how can we say no?

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The Broken Road

When preparing for a mission, if you seek God, He will prepare you for what is ahead.  Sometimes though I don't know that anything could really prepare me for what His real is.


I have been reading some blogs lately of missionaries on the ground in Swaziland.  There have been heart wrenching stories that have come out of that small country.  It makes me pause.  It makes me broken.


I pray for the broken lives there and for those who need mending.  I ask myself, "How can I make a difference in just a few days?"    

I believe what Ps. 147:3 says, "God heals the brokenhearted and bids up their wounds."

So I cling to the promise that He knows.  He sees.  He heals.  He mends.  He loves deeply.  In my own broken world, it's hard to imagine theirs.  I am glad I serve a God who cares about the "whys".  

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This is the team shirt for our mission to Swaziland.  The words in the center mean a lot to me.


Be.  
Be who God called you to be.  You are special, unique and He has given you gifts to share with others.


Go.
Jesus met people with compassion right where they were and showed them the truth.  He went with a heart loaded with mercy and grace.  If we don't go, sharing the same, who will?


Love.
The reason for our being, the reason for our going is in this last word - love.  Love speaks volumes when words fail.  Love speaks of mercy.  Love communicates grace.  Love heals.  Love hugs.  Love bridges the gaps.  Love is enough.


When I think of the mission ahead, I pray for God to load my heart with love for those who need to receive.  Love motivates me to be, Love propels me to go, Love moves my heart to give.


My thoughts travel to Africa everyday.

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Something I Can't Get Past...

I can't get past this story.  But God can.  He is bigger than the pain and the scars leftover from such a violent act.  I am thankful that we have a God who cares, and knows.  And the end of the day, and at the end of this story, God is still God.  And that is enough.

Of course this story brings up the age old question of, why God?  Why did you allow this young precious girl be violated in such a way?  Because evil exists.  Everywhere, it's not just confined to Africa.  What I do know that in the middle of her pain God was there to meet her with the hug and touch through this missionary couple.  Grace and mercy were given.  In situations like this, when words fail, a touch of comfort is what is needed.  

Where is God in the middle of these type of situations?   I believe that God weeps too when his children are hurting.  I watched a the movie Tears of the Sun this past weekend.  It was on our "recommended" list of resources in preparation for this mission trip to Swaziland.  Here's your disclaimer.  I know that it is rated R.  I don't watch rated R movies...ever.  The violence is too much, I can't absorb it, and it doesn't entertain me.  This movie was very violent, and horrific.  The good guys win in the end, but there is a lot of blood shed.  I wouldn't recommend it at all unless you really like bloody fighting scenes riddled with profanity.  I now have those hurtful images in my mind of such horrible acts of violence.  I can't get past those either. 

Why does God allow bad things to happen, even to the innocent?  I don't know.  But I know that God loves and I know that my response to those who commit acts of violence is one that should be of love.  Without conditions, without judgments just like what Christ has offered to me.  That kind of love is something I can't get past either.  I hope I never do.    

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