Have you ever been presented with an opportunity to do something that you really don’t want to do, but know that it’s what the Lord is calling you to do? This happens to me quite regularly. Here’s a story of that exact situation and the way the Lord used it.
This past Sunday, my teammate from last year Corbyn (who is also Alumni Team Leading) ran into our host Lukas from the last time we were in Battambang at a cafe. He mentioned that 9 of the students we had taught in January and February were graduating on Monday morning and invited us to attend the ceremony.
The next morning, Corbyn and I were trying to decide if we were going to go, because we both had our own agendas and things we had planned for the day. Throughout the whole conversation, I heard the Lord telling me to go, but I didn’t feel like it. After some discussion, we realized that in the Lord’s divine timing, He decided to bring us back to Battambang, Cambodia at the exact time that some of our students were graduating. So we got ready, called Mr. Sam the tuk tuk man, and headed off for a Cambodian graduation.
The students had no idea that we were coming and were so excited to see us. From the second we pulled up in the tuk tuk, they were screaming our names and grinning from cheek to cheek. They told us how much they missed us and how much they love us. During the ceremony, some of the underclassmen came and sat with us, telling us that just being with us made them so happy. The Lord worked through us to show love to His children.
You see, the time that we have on this earth doesn’t belong to us. The Lord has given us this time and we are called to use it in order to further the Kingdom. We are called to die to ourselves, and that means giving up our own desires so that we can love people the way Jesus loves them. Furthering the Kingdom can come in lots of different forms. It can be calling that relative that hurt you deeply and extending grace and forgiveness. It can be bringing your 1st period teacher a coffee. It can be buying a meal for a homeless person and sitting with them while they eat. Or sometimes it can be going to a Cambodian graduation.
So if the Lord is calling you to do something you really don’t want to do because you have your own agenda, remember that His ways are higher than ours. Go love God’s children. Even when you don’t want to.
