It’s funny to me that Papa uses the most opposite circumtances to show us our life purpose.
I’ve always had a desire for missions…it was my favorite part of my youth group and I was always looking at stories about missionaries online, dreaming of the day when that would be me. As I got closer to graduating high school, though, I began to see those dreams as childish and I hid them away deep in my soul. I tried pursuing a more comfortable lifestyle of minsitry to give myself to, but nothing seemed to fulfill that desire deep within. Well, time came to pass and I joined the Army to try to make some sense of life and just gave up on the idea of missions all together. That desire for missions stayed deep within my soul for a couple of years until Papa decided He wouldn’t let it stay hidden anymore. And of all the places and circumstances in the world to reveal that calling to me…Papa did it in Baghdad, Iraq.
It was May 2007 and I was deployed with my Army unit to Baghdad. The local miltary church groups in the area decided to get together and have a revival for those us of “stuck in the desert”. That point in my deployment was especially frustrating for me because I really missed my family and wanted to be home more than anything, so I thought that going to this revival might get my head outta the Iraq-mode for a day or two. The first night came and went, nothing special. It was the second night that I realized Papa was calling me back to missions. We were singing and since it was a gospel-led service we sang about 15 or 20 songs! lol…no joke! Good stuff though! There came a point when I just began to talk to Papa about these desires He had begun to raise back to the surface. I had only been in Iraq for about 4 months, but in that time, I could only focus on the devestation of the human soul that was occuring in that country. Then, Papa made me realize that this devestation was everywhere in the world in some form and fashion.
I wanted to understand what I could do to make the world better and Papa reminded me of the desire I had hidden away in my heart. Almost immediately, I finally felt purpose for the first time in a long time. Papa told me that when I got back to the United States that next year, He was going to have the first step in the mission journey. There was only one problem: I was stuck in a commitment to the Army that was going to last another three years or so. I honestly did not know what to tell Papa in response. All I could think to say was, “I want to go, but I’m stuck here in the Army and I cannot go as long I am stuck to this commitment”. Papa’s response was this: “You let me take care of that. You just trust me and begin seeking out the wisdom I want you to learn for this journey”. So, I did.
The deployment continued to drag on day by day, and soon enough the day to return home came and went. Honestly, I had forgotten about that experience. I guess in the midst of all that Papa was doing in my life, I forgot about that night because it was just a small piece of what Papa had done in me. Papa didn’t forget though, and three weeks later I found out that because of my knee problems, the Army was going to medically discharge me. It took six months (about right for the Army! lol), but in July 2008 I left the Army for good and started seeking what the next step was. November came around and my friend Amy told me about a mission trip that she was going on called the World Race. When she described it to me, I was hooked to the idea! So, I applied and here I am today.
Oh, and a funny thing about that experience in Iraq was this…it was so vital to me being here today, yet I did not even remember it until about a month ago! Papa works in awesome ways!
