A
tear ran down my cheek as I heard my dad clear his throat.
I
felt the eyes of the congregation on me as I stood towards the back of the
stage watching my father try to regain composure.
I
never had seen him so emotionally moved before now.
After
clearing his throat, he looked up and continued. “I believe that God sends and calls His best, and with
Bethany I can assure you he is doing just that.”
Tears
ran down my cheeks as I saw them spill from my fathers. I never knew how hard my departure
would be on him. I always knew him
as the tough one; my mom was more of the kind to cry in movies and sorts.
I
felt so loved in that moment. And
I sensed that maybe my dad had not made that statement for them, but for me.
I
laid in my bed last night, contemplating the world race and all that went with
it. My fears, nervousness,
anxiousness, excitement…I closed my eyes to calm the butterflies in my stomach.
And
I thought back to that Sunday a few weeks ago when I spoke at a Church in
Tarpon Springs and my dad stood at the pulpit with tears in his eyes. He probably wouldn’t be too fond of me
proclaiming it to the whole World Wide Web. So we will let this be our little secret.
I
started thinking about what he said…”God sends His best.”
I
looked up towards the ceiling, as I often do, and stared as if into the face of
God in pure amazement.
Then
it finally hit me. Not the
ceiling, but what God was telling me.
“Bethany,
I send my best“
Wait….what?
“I
send MY
best“
At
that moment, a tear slid down my face.
The same tears came now hearing my heavenly daddy say those words
just like my earthly daddy had done only weeks before.
I
shut my eyes in pure amazement.
Was God really telling me that I was His best?
I
who was messed up, screwed up, imperfect, impatient, and sometimes just hard
to deal with was His best?
This
concept was hard to grasp.
Especially
since I had been so consumed by my own fears about leaving on the World Race
just minutes before.
Now
I began to ask myself…
What if God really
did choose me to go on the World Race?
Yes,
I have told everyone that God called me to go on the World Race. But I think now was the very moment
that I started believing it.
God
could have chosen anyone He wanted to go on this trip. But He chose me.
I
could cower at the thought and proclaim myself unworthy, which would be
rightly so.
Or
I could take this as God’s simple way of saying, “Bethany, I love you.”
He
chose me for this race. He
entrusted me to share truth with 11 countries. Yes, He could have chosen anyone to use, but He chose me!
If that doesn’t tell
of a Father’s love for His daughter, I don’t know what does.
Jeremiah 1:4-9
Then the word of the Lord
came to me, saying:
” Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you;
Before you were born I
sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to
the nations.”
Then said I:
” Ah, Lord God!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I
am a youth.”
But the Lord said to me:
” Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to
whom I send you,
And whatever I command you,
you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their
faces,
For I am with you to deliver
you,” says the Lord.
Then the Lord put forth His
hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me:
” Behold, I have put My words
in your mouth.
See, I have this day set you
over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”
