Prior to leaving for the World Race, Cody and I felt the Lord calling us to radical abandonment. He placed a burning in our spirits to sell all our possessions to follow Him. So not only did we leave our lives behind: our jobs, family and friends, and church leadership positions, we sold all our possessions. We sold our car, furniture and appliances, entertainment systems, kitchen and bathroom stuff… we even sold our pet turtle, Goliath. We literally sold all we could. But the biggest sacrifice was selling my beautiful diamond engagement ring.
We felt at peace about this decision. Not to say it was easy, but we chose obedience over comfort. Once we heard the Lord, we didn’t feel we had much of a choice but to “let go and let God.” We chose obedience over control.
We knew it would probably become a great testimony to our supporters, but didn’t give much thought as to how it might affect other people. We figured were simply doing what God would want any of His children to do when they hear His voice. Honestly, we didn’t consider the outcome of following Him in such a radical way. We just knew it was a sacrifice to Him and He could utilize it however He wanted. The fruit of our obedience was seen as nothing more than growing closer to God.
We had no idea that would change. . .
India and Nepal provided our first opportunities to share our testimony. These 2 countries have given us a glimpse of what power our testimony holds and the way God desires to use it to minister.
The evening Cody first shared our story in India resulted in a mass of people asking our translator if the testimony was true. (Even our hosting pastor was shocked.) They couldn’t believe that rich, white Americans would sell everything to travel the world and come to India to share the gospel. Because we didn’t understand Telegu, people showed their appreciation through long hugs and kisses on the cheeks. After that night, we heard Pastor mentioning our names often in his Telegu messages. He even told us if we moved to India, he would build a room off his house and take care of us. It was awesome to see people so moved by the story God had given us.
In Nepal, our testimony became a powerful tool for evangelism. We would open a conversation by sharing our story. Then a teammate would continue with the gospel. We learned that the reason this strategy was effective was because people would hear that we were once rich and made ourselves poor to share the story of our God around the world. It would make them wonder how important our God must be to sell everything to tell others about Him. The testimony was able to open the hearts of our audience to the gospel.
Our Nepalese hosts were also encouraged by our story. The evening I shared at church, a young woman told me she wants to be just like me. . . I felt honored! A few days later, a teenage boy shared with me that our testimony encouraged him to share his new found Savior with his ultra-Buddhist family. Lastly, a Nepalese friend about to be married said he desired to have a marriage like ours’. Wow!
God took our obedience and produced far greater than we could imagine. Obedience produced a blessing and encouragement. Obedience produced effective evangelism. Lastly, obedience produced an example.
What about you? In what way is the Lord asking you to walk in obedience? No matter how big or seemingly simple it is, I encourage you to step out in faith. Remember that obedience is the greatest sacrifice we can offer God.
God bless you!!
