Missions Call? You sure?
For those who have short attention spans, this post is about some steps that helped us verify the "Calling" to missions. I took a look at some conclusions we've come to and actions we've taken the past 3 years to get on the road to missions that I think are both practical and spiritual. Here's the gist of them:
1. Finish what you've started.
2. Discover the "Why" behind your mission/calling/creative task/what you want to do.
3. Work and Excel in the skill set, talents, environment, relationships that you've been Sovereignly placed in.
4. Walk through the doors that open for you.
For those with a bit more time on their hands...
So I'm not sure if you are one who is skeptical about God giving a specific call to a person in missions. That verbiage can be pretty polarizing in different places among people who come from different backgrounds or traditions. When I started down the path to missionary aviation over 10 years ago this past August, I asked myself several times along the way whether or not full time mission work was really what God wanted me to do. My first steps were taken because I wanted to serve God with my life. But now, I doubted where I was "supposed" to be. I prayed for a sign. I worried about not being in the will of God. I thought far more about the future than I thought about how I was doing in the present.
This ought not to be.
When I graduated from Moody Aviation in 2012, I had already seen God work many times to provide for me to make it through school. He gave me mechanical abilities in spite of my lack of experience and allowed me to improve them. He healed my eye from a trauma accident and provided me a medical certificate in time for flight school to start. He provided funds for me to complete an expensive flight program. He gave me a group of friends to walk through school with on parallel paths to missions. I considered all of life's events as evidences of God's grace, but I was not content because I did not know the future - where it was all leading to. Guess what: I still do not know where this is all leading.
Proverbs 16:9 "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."
Why do we worry then? Because we live in sin! Living in a fallen world with a sin nature that won't go away until Christ comes back is definitely the reason, but not the main point of this post. So I won't go into that right now.
What I've discovered for myself in the way of calling and wondering what the future holds for me is that God usually lights only the steps to take that are right in front of me.
Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path."
Steps we've taken on the path through the will of God:
1. Finish what you've started. Even after I graduated, I had a couple of Bible classes to complete and Elise had three years of school. We realized that our first vision in married life was to get done with school.
2. Discover the "Why" behind your mission/calling/creative task/what you want to do. The importance of knowing why is lost on most people today. Simon Sinek authored a book called Start With Why. I have not read it, but I have seen him speak. It is incredibly life giving and purpose driving to know why you do what you do. Our mission is primarily spiritual, using airplanes as a tool to accomplish that mission. Because of that, I had to rekindle and submit myself to the Lord to discover my why. This happened providentially in my case:
Elise grew up going to a weekly group Bible study called Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). When we got married, I started going as well, and in my second year of attendance we went through the life of Moses. Moses interceded to God on behalf of the people of Israel, who had stubbornly and habitually walked away from Him. It got to the point where even though God agreed not to destroy the people, He would not continue to remain with them.
Exodus 33:3-4 " 'Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.' And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned..."
He was going to let them go to the Promised Land, but God was going to remove His Presence from His people.
What stuck out to me from this story was that even if I accomplished many things in the name of Jesus, if His Presence didn't go with me, it was I who lost in the end. And then I got to these verses, which has changed my entire relationship with Jesus:
Exodus 33:15-16 "Then he [Moses] said to Him [the LORD], “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” "
My motivation for my life in missions (or anywhere else, for that matter) has changed. I need the Presence of God for my WHY. Because temporal results and outcomes mean nothing in the scope of eternity. I need the Spirit of God to lead me and to walk beside me where I go. Christians need a revival in this area. We need to realize that our lives have a God given, eternal purpose to them. If you don't know why, seek Him first, and results or answers to your questions will become of secondary importance to you in light of His glory and grace. You will be satisfied in Him.
3. Work and Excel in the skill set, talents, environment, relationships that you've been Sovereignly placed in. This is what Mike and Elise are working on right now. We are trying to be available to the people around us. We are working on being faithful to each other, sharpening each other. We are pushing each other to be better in our work. As we begin raising support, God is giving us people to enter into intentional, life-giving relationship. Connections throughout the body of Christ are forming. There is less of a drifting apart, less independent pride, and more joy. It has become a tremendous adventure.
God is near. He is sovereign over our everyday lives, and knows what we are going through. There is a reason that we are located in Spokane, WA. God put us here. If we really believe that His hands are on our lives, why would we be always trying to find a way out of the present circumstances? Could it be that the lesson we need to learn is right in front of our eyes?
4. Walk through the doors that open for you. It can be scary. Faith doesn't see the outcome. But with the Lord walking with you, why are you afraid? We know that the outcome of our faith is Christ, and seeing Him face to face. When considering the calling of God on your life, be at peace. Cast your cares upon Him in this regard, for He cares for you.
2 Cor 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight"
So now that I've said all that, all my questions are answered and I'll probably never have another worry in the world, right? Unless I die today, that probably won't be the case. But God is training me to trust Him with my daily cares. I fail a lot. There are probably a lot more steps to take as we progress through life. But these are just a few of the main points of observation that we have experienced the last couple years.
