How I Was Called To The Mission Field

I was asked to write a blog about how I was called to this mission trip.  Here is my story…

I’ve always had a thing for missions. Whether it was going on a trip or listening to someone talk about their own missions experience, I just couldn’t seem to get enough. So it might not seem like a big step to get from there to Community Life, but actually it’s quite the opposite. 

My senior year was one of many changes. I, of course, had to answer the question, “What are you doing after you graduate?” I had no idea whatsoever. Well that’s not completely true. During junior year I had actually thought about it quite a bit. And what kept coming to mind was doing something with missions. For a while I had seriously considered getting a degree to teach math, and then I would enter countries as a math teacher but also be spreading the great news of God. Well my junior year soon turned into my senior year, and I had to seriously decide what I wanted to do. When I thought about this whole missionary idea my realistic side soon took over, and I told myself that was just a fantasy and I needed to get on with my real life. So I applied to the University of Illinois, got accepted, and decided to go there-with no major in mind. Once I graduated from high school, I had this feeling that I should really be taking a year off. I didn’t know what I would do in that year, but I really felt like that was what God was asking of me. Well me being who I am, decided not to listen to that whisper and rather listen to the yelling of society. Society told me that the norm was to go to college, get a degree, get a great job, and make a lot of money. So that’s the road that I took. Every time I heard this small whisper inside me that I needed to be doing something else, I quickly smothered it. College was where I was going. It was going to be the “best years of my life”. I mean that’s what everyone had always said, so it had to be true, right? So I spent my freshman year at the University of Illinois. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time. I grew a millions times closer to my older sister, met a new best friend-Pam, and my eyes were opened to the world. It was really a year of growing. But the entire year, I just really felt like something was missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew something was not exactly right. Yet once I again I still kept pushing that feeling away. I mean I as at school being a college student. What else was I really supposed to be doing? Then this past summer, I was a jr. faculty at church camp. Every morning we had a devotions time set aside to talk to God. I remember sitting in this shelter one morning, and I was overwhelmed with this calmness and I just knew right there that school was not where I needed to be. I can’t describe it, but I knew God was telling me something. This was the end of June. I spent the next two months praying constantly that God would put something in front of me if he didn’t want me to go back to school in the fall. Well my “sign” or whatever I was waiting for never came. Or I just didn’t see. Either way I missed it.  So with my lack of a sign, I headed back to school to start my sophomore year. One day I was sitting at my computer, and I decided to look through around at the website. And that’s when I ran across the Community Life program. I grew more and more excited as I read through what the program was. From the moment I got off the website, Community Life was constantly on my mind. I prayed and thought about it nonstop for about a week.  Then I talked it over with my parents and decided to go for it. I didn’t want to look back in 10 years and regret never going for it. So I applied, got accepted, and now I’m part of Community Life.

I have no idea what God has in store for me for the next year, but I know it’s going to be amazing! Whether I’m getting people on the mission field or going to be on the mission field myself, I know that God will be in everything I’m doing. In a year I don’t know where I’ll be or what God will want me to do, but I do know that right now this is where God wants me to be. For the first time in my life, I’m listening to God and trying to be what He wants me to be. And I can already tell that it’s making me a new person, one who I can’t wait to become. This next year will be one of growing, learning, and becoming a real woman of Christ.

This is just the beginning of a new chapter in my life. A chapter that I can’t wait to start writing and having you read. Thanks for coming along for the journey!