I’ve given this a lot of thought and I’ve spent the last few days searching for a simple one-word response. I couldn’t find one. I came away with lists and reasons and paragraphs of why I feel called to do this, of why I believe that this is justified. And then, just as quickly as the answers came, they were gone. I was left to sit and ponder, with only God’s voice as my guide. So, if you are looking for a simple answer, I can’t give you one. I can’t give you a one-word response as to why I am spending my summer in Africa and I’m not even sorry about it.
I believe, to my core, that kingdom work is messy. It’s hard and uncomfortable and scary, but oh is it beautiful. It’s life-changing, even in the smallest of ways, and it’s life-giving. It is sadness and happiness rolled into one: death is seen, but life is given. It is heaviness and lightness rolled into one: brokenness is experienced, but fullness is received. I believe that kingdom work is raw and vulnerable and that it wrecks you, but that it restores you at the same time. I know that God will wreck me in Ghana. I’m expecting it. I’m prepared for it. I’m okay with it because I know that He’ll bring restoration.
I am choosing to spend a portion of my summer in Africa because I believe that it is where God is calling me. I don’t know why He is calling me there anymore than you probably know why He is calling me there. I simply know that He told me to. If I’ve learned anything in my short eighteen years of life, it is this: where God guides, He provides. I am so confident that He will satisfy all of my needs before, during, and after this trip. I need not worry about tomorrow’s expectations and deadlines because He has already taken care of them. I need only to fix my eyes on Him and trust the path that He has set before me.
With that being said, I’d like to believe that He is calling me there to love on the orphans. As an adoptee myself, I can only imagine the circumstances that these children are in. I hope I can bring a smile to their faces. I hope I can hear their laughter. I hope I can tell them that they are loved even when they feel like they are not.
Whatever God is directing me towards, I will wholeheartedly run to it. If it’s to show a handful of orphans the love of Jesus Christ, then I will gladly do it. If it’s to love on a single mother who is struggling, then I will gladly do it. If it’s to work on farming sustainability projects in the hot and humid weather of Africa, then I will gladly do it. If it will further His Kingdom, then I will gladly do it. My goal, at the end of the day, is to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. I believe that this is a part of my story, a chapter in which I will “fight the good fight” and I cannot wait to see how God is going to use me to further His Kingdom.
