Jesus has called me. It hasn’t been a slow process, or a necessarily “easy” one. But the more time i’ve had to process the more i’ve realized that no where does Jesus say “I’m going to give you a lot of time to contemplate life choices, and it’s going to be really super easy to follow my calling for you.” That scripture doesn’t exist, because it doesn’t happen, at least not to me. I relate most to Peter in a lot of different ways, but the way that Jesus called him seems most familiar to me. (Also, I really dig that Peter’s fiesty)
“While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” – Matthew 4:18-20
Come with me, will you? Let’s venture back to how and when The Lord called me.
I went to stay with my spiritual brother and His family up in washington on December 28th, 2013 and I was there until the 31st. When I went I made it a point to be open to whatever The Lord was calling me to. I wanted to hear my fathers voice. I wanted my daddy to talk to me. And when you cry out to your daddy, he will comfort you and he will talk to you. I encountered Jesus in a very real way that weekend. He used my brother and his family to speak truth over me for a solid 4 days. I came home wanting more of God and thirsting for His presence. I returned home on New years Eve and was semi-forced to go to a party by my brother. I was terrified. I even parked on the street with my sister and tried to see who was going to be at this party on Facebook and let me tell you, we were ready to retreat. No one would have even missed us. But we didn’t retreat. We walked into that house shaking in our boots. What I thought was going to be a typical christian party turned into a crazy worship night where the Holy Spirit made himself known in my heart. I was being touched by God left and right.. and I had no idea what to do about it. I knew there was something stirring in my heart, but I had no idea what it was, or how to act on it. The next morning I had to open at work (which means waking up at 3 am to be at work by 4 am), so after work I went straight to sleep. And I slept until around 4:30. During that extremely prolonged nap, I had a oddly vivid dream. I was at an orphanage surrounded by little brown children. There was laughter, there was dancing, there was smiling and rejoicing and there was an abundance of love. I woke up and felt The Lord say “Apply for the world race”. So that’s what I did. I rolled over, freaked out for a second, opened my laptop and applied.
In a matter of 5 days my life was already radically different. I was different. Before the 28th the idea of expecting to hear from God was a little foreign. It was normal to not feel anything or hear anything from God for prolonged amounts of time. I didn’t ever realize that I just needed to talk to Him first. I just needed to desire Him. Seems simple, yeah? Well it was. I just had to want my daddy. Before He called me to follow him all around the world, He pursued me. He pursued my heart, my emotions, my stories, he broke down walls that i’ve been building up for years, leaving a bare heart that he promises to protect. He pursued me until all I wanted was him. After all that, it was seemingly easy to hear his calling. It felt similar to how He called Peter and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Jesus has called me to follow him around the nations. He’s made my heart beat for orphans and widows, for prostitutes and their pimps, for people simply lost in the world, for people who have never heard the name Jesus. He has set my heart on fire, and the fire isn’t containable. I’m so overly joyed for the adventure that is to come.
Starting in September I will be going to Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Albania. I could more than anything else use your prayers! Please pray for my heart, for the people in these nations and for my family and friends who are my biggest fans on this wild ride! I would also ask that you prayerfully consider supporting me financially. You can give online through my blog (There is a little button on the left side of my blog that says a little something along the lines of “support me”) or through mailing in checks, both of those options are tax-deductible. Or if you don’t want to hassle with all that, you can give me a check or cash and I can get it in! The full amount I have to raise is 16,254.35 ( I know.. that last .35 cents is going to be killlller ;).)
A more informational blog will be coming soon, so stay tuned, folks:)
I pray you are blessed and encouraged by our Heavenly Father,
Ariah Lynn Leemrey Limed
