If there is one thing God consistently teaches me every time I am willing to step out of my comfort zone it is that the most growth comes from being uncomfortable and still learning how to thrive.
For example, this month I am teaching kindergarteners. Me, teaching! This morning while in class I went from one minute thinking “hey this isn’t so bad, they are cute and call me teacher or madam and are so sweet and excited when they get correct answers” to the next moment thinking they are little monsters as they scream and run around and don’t listen to a word I say. I know that I am not cut out to be a teacher to little kids and yet at the same time I find worth in knowing that I am able to teach them English in a way that the native Cambodia speakers can’t. God gives us gifts that seem so small (like simply being able to speak English) to be used in ways that actually make a difference.
After teaching in the mornings, I spend the afternoon doing outreach ministry with kids who live in squatter neighborhoods. These communities are basically shacks built up around each other and are very poor. It is very unstable because since they don’t actually own the land they live on, the government can evict them at any time. These kids are desperate for attention and love. Even though we are only there for a couple of hours and just play with them, we are able to share love. I think that is one of the best simple gifts God gives us!
The key is actually learning how to recognize that these are gifts and we can be used by simply saying yes. I feel as though that is a consistent theme for my life. Will I choose to say yes to what God is putting in front of me or will I follow my own will and desire for my life? While I am here, overseas, doing missions, it is easy to think that obviously I am saying yes to Him. And yes, I have said yes to Him by coming on this year long journey, but this is still something that I have to choose everyday.
I have to choose to say yes to doing hard ministry. I have to choose to say yes to having a good attitude about having to sleep on the floor with cockroaches that wander in during the night. I have to choose to say yes to loving people that are hard to love. I have to choose to say yes to constantly being surrounded by people while living in community. I have to choose to say yes to being able to admit my flaws and when I mess up with people. I have to choose to say yes to an unknown future and wait to see what God has in store for us.
Through learning to say yes to God and letting go of my own comforts I am able to grow so much and trust Him in a new way. Being uncomfortable is something that makes you not only appreciate the comforts of security more but it also awakens a new desire to know my Father more and see my faith grow deeper.
“We remember before our God and Father your work work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”
-1 Thessalonians 1:3
