This month I’m learning what sacrifice is.
Up to this point of the race, I didn’t really believe that “sacrificing” was what I was doing this year. Our contacts are always praising us for “sacrificing our year and our families” in order to go to the Nations and proclaim God’s Word. I of course always responded with a polite smile and said something like “thank you, I’m just following the Lord”. But inside I was like…not really. I’m having the time of my life. Living the dream. God could not have called me to anything better!
Then I got to Zambia. Zambia is so beautiful. The people here are some of the most kind people I’ve ever met. The ministry has been amazing and we’ve seen God work in some pretty incredible ways here. But despite all of this, Zambia has been an incredibly hard month. I have been physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausted since the day we arrived. I’ve found myself thinking of home more than I care to admit. I’ve cried myself to sleep, and the one day I had the opportunity to actually speak to my parents, the internet cut out the second my mom answered the phone. I broke down in the middle of a crowded internet cafe. Embarrassing.
I’ve learned this month that it’s not always peaches and cream on the world race. I figured out what they meant when they said we were sacrificing our lives. I want nothing more than to hug my parents, go to my little brother’s football games, decorate pumpkins with my friends, and sweaters! What I would give to have it cold enough for a sweater!!
While I was thinking about these awesome things back home and how much I missed it, God asked me a question. He said “Are all these things better than doing my work? Are the pleasures of home good enough to lead you away from the path I’ve placed you on?”
And my answer is no. As much as I miss my friends, my family and my shower…nothing in the world is good enough to take me away from this. I know with the entirety of my heart that this is where God has placed me for this time. How lucky I am that God called me to a place like Zambia!
I am challenged every single day. I am stretched to limits I didn’t know I had. But God is blessing me and teaching me new lessons every moment of the day.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27
