Saturday, October 12, 2013

God Can Change Your Heart


     When God calls you out of your comfort zone, what is your first reaction?  Or when you “get a word” from your pastor's sermon and you KNOW God is speaking to you directly, what do you do?  I’d love to boast that I immediately jump into the obedience pool but that is generally not the case.  I prefer to “wrestle” with God a bit before I surrender. 

     This summer my family and I had the opportunity to travel to Soddo, Ethiopia, which was a trip 12 years in the making.  When my husband, Mike,  began speaking of doing “medical missions,”  back in the day, my initial reaction was to freak out and think of all the negative outcomes that surely would ensue.  That spiritual battle for me was difficult and I knew that if God really wanted us to go and do something like that, He would have to change my heart.  And that is exactly what He did.  It wasn’t an overnight “transplant” but rather it took a few years of me getting into His Word, seeking Him, and getting to know Him more.  And as you all know, the more you KNOW Him, the more you LOVE Him, and the more you LOVE Him, the more you TRUST Him and are willing to do whatever He asks because after all, He is GOD, our Father,  and He knows best!  

     I remember vividly, the moment of surrender for this particular assignment.  And in my spirit, I said, “Yes, God, I will surrender to medical missions.”  I had no idea when and where He would send us but I had a strong suspicion, it would be Africa. That was back in 2005.  I have found that He often wants us to have a willing spirit before He gives us our exact itinerary.  That way, faith is required.  LOL.  But I settled it with a “Yes” and now we would just wait for the details that would come in His timing.  

     In July 2012, we began to sense Him urging us to get ready.  He lead us straight to World Medical Mission  in Boone, NC, which is a branch of Franklin Graham’s, Samaritan’s Purse.  Their soul purpose is to connect doctors, dentists, and nurses with hospitals all over the world for short term medical mission trips.  They said they needed us in Soddo, Ethiopia, so we traveled there this past summer and worked for 15 days.  From the moment we arrived at the hospital , God’s compassion and kindness was extremely evident.  As Mike did surgery on a backlog of patients with fractures, Molly, Jonathan and I worked at the Hope Learning Center which is a school that teaches English from the Bible.  And God gave us a love for the people like I’ve never experienced.  We miss them and continue to pray about them constantly.  They have asked us to come back and we are inquiring of the Lord as to His will.  

     All I can say is that God KNOWS what He is doing.  We must give Him access to our guarded hearts and let Him change us.  If we don’t, we will miss out on the glorious works He created for us to do. 

     It doesn’t matter where He calls you, go! It’s all a big deal!  If it’s to share Christ with your relative, go!  If it’s to serve your neighbor, go!  If it’s to heal a relationship with someone He’s laid on your heart, go!  If it’s to start that ministry burning in your heart, go!  The point is to go and do what He calls us to do.  For that, we will have no regrets.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”