“All my needs you have supplied, when I was dead you gave me life. How could I not give it away so freely? I’ll follow you into the homes of the broken, I’ll follow you into the world. Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, I’ll follow you into the World. Use my hands, use my feet, to make your kingdom come. To the corners of the earth, until your work is done. Faith without works is dead, and on the cross your blood was shed. How could we not give it away so freely? I will follow you.” – Leeland
It was June 2010 when I stepped off the plane in Costa Rica. Just as my idea of reality was shattered, my relationship with God began to transform. It was the first time I experienced God in such a way that left me speechless. From prayer nights to community, He gave me a little taste of what was to come. Two weeks went by too quickly. I remember sitting under the gazebo where we were staying. The rain was pounding on the roof as my friend and I sat silently, crying and praying. I remember those salty tears and emotions like it was yesterday. Goodbye was the most painful word to utter.
“Our mission field doesn’t end when we leave Costa Rica, it’s just the beginning. America is our current mission field” our Pastor spoke.
Days after we returned home, I was admitted to the hospital. I spent the following two weeks fighting for my life. There were many days I was angry at God for the pain I was in. I was so tired of being sick, tired of the doctors not knowing what was wrong, so done with dying. How foolish of me to be angry at the giver of life. He taught me so much over those two weeks. The most important, valuable thing he taught me, was that he never abandons his child.
I can’t give you a time or date where I felt “called to missions”. But, I do know that during those painful weeks in the hospital, God reminded me that he is always in control, he is always worth praising, and yes, he is worth dying for.
The world is broken my friends. People need the Gospel, and they need HOPE. Christ is our hope in the midst of darkness. As believers, we have the power and authority to bring the hope of GOD to those who have not heard. We are ambassadors called by HIM. We have the choice to respond.
I choose to follow and to go.
