Did you ever imagine that I would be preaching? Yeah, neither did I. I had no idea that I was even qualified much less called to do such a thing. But, let me tell you…I’ve done it.
When I was younger I dreamed of talking in front of a giant crowd of people. I dreamed of teaching them things (sort of like a Ted Talk), teaching them stories of my life. Telling stories of how my parents have impacted my life. I dreamed of one day telling them about the darkness I have felt and how I have somehow overcome it. Little did I know that God had these exact plans for me.
That’s how God works guys. You ask him for something and he gives it to you. But, just like a good father he knows what is best for you and how he should give you what you are asking for.
So, here I am. In month 3 of being in Africa preaching and teaching. Preaching and teaching his African people and his children. This is not how I would have imagined it. But now, I see why he has done it this way. God has used the darkness that I have experienced and has used it and is continuing to use it to bring light to people all over Africa. Isn’t that amazing?! God is so cool. God is the only reason why I have been able to preach. Literally, I sit down, I read my bible, and ask God for what HE wants the people to hear. And every single time God has been so faithful and he tells me everything I need to say. It’s truly a work of art.
Here’s a funny story. Yesterday, I was supposed to lead children’s ministry. I was going to lead and teach the children something while their parents were listening to my teammate preach. So, because this was going to be my first time leading the children’s ministry I wanted to be prepared. I was nervous because I literally had nothing. I kept trying to come up with something. I spent the entire afternoon trying to come up with a lesson. I had nothing. I literally found no material to teach. (Unbelievable, I know.)
Now, I felt God telling me that I wasn’t going to teach the children. But I just had to be prepared. I kept searching for something. I felt so uneasy the entire time. All I had to do was pick a story in the bible, teach it to the kiddos and teach them a life lesson off of the story that they could benefit from and understand. I literally would touch my bible and pray out loud : ” Lord pleeeease tell me what it is you need these babies to hear!” Nothing. I flipped and flipped through my bible so many times. I was becoming annoyed. This had never happened before. God had been so faithful to me all the other times I asked for material. What was happening?!
I was so annoyed that I heard nothing, that I gave up. I stopped searching through my bible for a story. I decided that I was going to “wing it”. I did it for speeches during school and got A’s, I’m sure I can wing teaches a story to toddlers. Right?
Looking back now, this is very funny. At this point I was giving up and gave up the search. But the funny thing is that God already knew I was going to do that. Literally, after getting finished ready for bed I was about to call it a day. And then, my team leader Mady comes in to our room and says she has to take two of my teammates to the doctor and that I would more than likely be speaking in front of the congregation instead. This is funny because it gave me the answer a lot clearer that God was giving me. He was giving me nothing, because I was never going to teach children. I would be teaching to adults, not toddlers. Well, there it is. I can DO hear God speaking to me. I even hear his silence.
I kept feeling uneasy when I couldn’t find a story to teach the children because I wasn’t trusting that. I wasn’t trusting what God was telling me. I wasn’t accepting his silence as an answer, I wasn’t accepting that I was not going to be able to prepare. I forgot that a lot of times God asks us not to worry about a thing to simply sit back and trust his plans for us. I literally spent my entire afternoon worrying and stressing because I wanted to control and prepare what I was going to teach the children. God was telling me to rest in his peace instead. So I laid down and went to bed.
The next morning we were on our way to the church and you know what I taught? Wisdom. Isn’t God funny? I had a sermon written down in my journal, from the other night that I had to preach in front of a smaller church. God told me literally 2 minutes before I had to start speaking, “teach wisdom”.
So, considering that the night before I learned to listen to him, I taught on wisdom. The entire congregation kept saying “Amen!” and shouting “Alleluia!” Both beautiful words of affirmation for a preacher. God was speaking to them through me! At one pint they even clapped! I couldn’t help but smile. I couldn’t help but smile because God was literally using me, he put me in front of a large crowd and was using the darkness in my life to bring light to others. He was speaking through me to people who didn’t even speak English!? ( Yes, I had an interpreter. His name was Marious.) But, I was on the other side of the world teaching people about the word of God. God made my dream come true. I asked and I received. It was such a beautiful experience. The pastor got up after me and began asking questions to his congregation. He asked, and called out a few members on what they learned from my sermon. Literally almost everyone got up and spoke what they learned about wisdom. It was such a humbling feeling. What an honor it was to glorify God. Every time someone spoke they reaffirmed that I in fact heard God speaking to me and that I was being obedient.
This is what it means to be the change you want to see in the world. The change I want to see in the world is spiritual. We can clean the oceans over and over again, but the people who make our oceans dirty and put trash in them are not clean themselves. We cannot make earth a better place if we don’t make the people of Earth better first. I am stoked to see how God is going to continue to use me to be this change and how he will impact those around me.
So! Here it is: https://marilynvillagomez.theworldrace.org/post/are-you-wise-though . This is word for word what I taught that day, the lord asked me to post it online immediately after I finished writing it. I hope that the Lord speaks to you also.
