Faithfulness.
A year ago I was approaching graduation, about to leave the
only home I had ever known. Leaving this chapter of my life behind was easy in
light of the knowledge that only a few days after I crossed that stage I would
be back with the people that had become my family the year before in
Malawi. I left for Malawi having
committed to go to college but still very reluctant to be obedient.
I knew that God was leading me to SEU but every part of me
wanted my ticket to say “one way.” How was I supposed to tell these people
goodbye again?
If I had known then what I know now, being obedient to His
leading would have been simple. But that is not how it works. He asks you to go
into the unknown so that He can be made known to you, and so that you can learn
to know yourself in the process.
This is becoming a pattern in my life. God says “go” to a
place with no realm of familiarity so that you can become familiar with Me.
It’s beautiful really, only I don’t always see it that way in the beginning. I
could tell you about nights when all I wanted to do was run in the opposite
direction but those nights did not last forever. In fact, those nights seem
silly now that I see what He is up to.
This past year has changed everything about me.
Relationships, dreams, revelations, dialogue, experience, travel, service,
community…things I’ve learned, things I’m still learning.
My testimony is this, that when He asks you to jump, it’s
more about the free fall then it is about the landing. And it’s about the realization
that finds you half way down when you see He is going to catch you. Its simple,
He is reminding me that He is faithful and the sooner I learn that the more
effective I can be in the nations.