Exit Comfort Zone
I went on a mission trip last week and I’ll be honest - it took me a while to get excited about this trip. Even though I’ve been on mission trips before, I’m not someone who feels super called to do missions (probably because I’m selfish) and I was nervous about some of the things we’d be doing.
This whole trip was a big step outside my comfort zone. Yet I gave God an inch with my very hesitant “yes” and he took me way more than a mile. Here are a few things I brought home with me:
1. Almost everything in my life is centered around ministry (work, friends, church life, etc), yet I am rarely outside my comfort zone. My goals in life often involve being the most comfortable, being the most successful and having the most fun. And for what?
2. Not much here truly matters. It’s not revelatory that poverty exists. But seeing need up close does matter. One day there will be accountability for what I did with my wealth of money, time and ability.
3. God will meet you in your fears. I was super nervous about home visits (literally going door to door talking to total strangers who don’t speak my language about God). I also felt weird about being a privileged American - like who am I to say or do anything? I’ve not earned the right nor can I understand what life in poverty in the DR is like. Instead I was welcomed into homes with kindness and grace and there was a tangible sense of the Holy Spirit upon every conversation.
4. I got to help lead a young adult bible study on the very night my bible study usually meets and if you know me, you know discipling young adults is my favorite thing in the world. And if getting to do it in another country, with a language barrier, and experiencing richness of holy conversation is not God’s abundant love for me, I truly don’t know what is.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Haley
Haley is the Brand & Marketing Manager for The JOY FM.