Some of you may know that I’ve been praying and thinking about going to a Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Africa in January. I would be working in a care centre for children with/or affected by AIDS and HIV for 6 months.
For a while I was really feeling sure about it, then I started thinking logically (how am I going to pay for it, what will I do with all my stuff while I’m gone, how will I pay off my debt before I go) – needless to say, I felt overwhelmed and thought perhaps I shouldn’t go. I continued praying and asking for God to ‘PUSH’ me in whichever direction He needed me to go, and to really put it upon my heart so that I would be sure.
This weekend I went to the Women of Faith – Contagious Joy Conference, in Calgary, with a girlfriend, Wendy. It was AMAZING!!! So cool; they had about 8 speakers in to talk on topics close to every women’s heart, and each speaker relayed their trials, struggles, and gave us their testimony. They also had some great music; Avalon, Carried Away, and a worship team. It was so inspirational. Then, they showed us their World Vision video.
It just so happened that this particular video was on the African battle against AIDS and HIV. I watched the video; tears streaming down my face, my heart feeling heavier by the moment, to say the very least, I was affected. I felt like God was shouting ‘OK Andrea, here’s your sign’ and all I could think was ‘I have to go. I have to go.’ After the video was finished, I stepped outside for a couple minutes to pray, breath, and compose myself. I went back in, and really enjoyed the rest of the evening – but I couldn’t get the video or the feeling that I needed to find some way to get to Africa out of my mind.
As Wendy and I were driving home, both of us were very quiet. Wendy is one of my very close friends, so she had been privy to all of the thoughts I had about going to Africa. On the way to the conference, just 4 hours earlier, I had explained to her, in depth, all the reasons why I didn’t think I could or should be going. After a few minutes of driving in silence, she asked me something, I don’t even remember what her exact words were, but the basic just of it was, “So, what did you think of the World Vision video? Do you think maybe that’s the sign you needed?”
So, I’m asking each of you to pray for me; that I would see God’s path for me clearly, and be able to follow His will for me.
5 comments:
Don't worry cuz. If this is where God wants you, he will show you the way to get there and provide all you need. You will know for sure when you need to. Just keep praying and seeking God's will.
~Praying for you~ =)
-Julie-Anne
In 2000, we left Vancouver Canada for the ultra religious whitely prejudiced Three Hills. God is stretching us...
Back "home", God made it quite clear that He wanted us to move, away. My wife, PJ, swore she would NEVER return to Three Hills after she left in '84. Here we are.
I left aging family, life long friends, EVERYTHING I knew and held dear to go where God pointed.
I don't love it here. I consider it a mission field for my family. We have made beautiful friends, God has provided our sustainence and He has used us to shake the Religeous foundations of the Pharisees in town...nothing wasted (quite like authentic Cantonese cooking...chuck it all in, waste nothing. YUMMY)
Long story longer, God will let you know clearly, what He intends for you. The tricky bit, is that YOU may have to make the first move!
FAITH my girl, thats the tricky bit in all of this. Any twit can easily go where God has so clearly pointed and layed out the trail. Imagine, the King of the universe revealing the route...you be stupid NOT to go!
Anyhoo, don't waste too much time looking for "signs".Satan can throw a few of those around too you know.
Are you willing to follow Jesus without knowing where it is you are going?
Are you prepared to give up EVERYTHING?
What are your Spiritual gifts and talents?
Where may those gifts/talents (ultimately, God's tools) be best used?
IS it any clearer now?
Hey Spoke!
I was recently chatting with a friend about this and he was telling me to be careful too. It seems that at the same time as we feel God pushing/asking us to do something, that is when Satan will attack us with all the reasons we shouldn't do it - he knows that we are more vulnerable then. The spiritual warfare that surrounds each of us without our knowledge (for the most part) is astounding.
However, I have now made the choice to hear the positives. If I risk it all and work my tush off to get to where He wants me, I will succeed. I trust that He will lead me to where He needs me. Currently, I feel like that place is Africa, but He could lead me somewhere else; or Africa might be the beginning of something even bigger.
You asked about my gifts and talents; the tools that He has blessed me with so that I may glorify Him. As I mentioned, I went to the Women of Faith Conference last weekend and one of the speakers, Max Lucado, talked to us about how to decipher which things, in your life, God MADE you to do. I suppose, I already knew in my heart, but it was nice to hear the justification from someone else. I was made to Love – children in particular. I can work with children, even the ‘challenging’ ones, for hours/days/weeks on end, and I walk away feeling refreshed; it is not ‘work’ to me. There have been a lot of things, most of which I would rather not explain, that have happened in my life that have all guided me to this realization.
The bottom line though, is that God gave me the talent of being able to love the children that no one else does (except for Him) and I’m ready to embrace that gift.
Thanks! It IS clearer now.
'Let the little children come..."
Good for you girl!!
Side note, in your town, ALL recyclables will soon be collected beside the community centre.
As for now, cardboard/milk jugs collected at the dump.
newspapers etc behind the realtor's office on Main.
Weird how I know huh?
Spoke I had no idea we had a recycling program at all. Thanks for letting us know. We alway lugged it to Airdrie or Calgary.
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