Your mind is a powerful thing. It has so much power over you. It can influence every decision you make but it is not always in your best interest to listen to it. There are 3 things that usually influence your mind: your past experiences and knowledge, God and the devil. Your mind is where you battle with yourself over every little decision whether it is what to eat, wear, how to be friends with, if you have time to do devotions before bed, how you are going to react to facing a challenge, etc. It’s been said that somethings your heart and your mind are at odds and it can cause conflict inside of you over a decision or dream you have or made, but I think you’re heart and mind are usually in agreement it is you that is probably not being completely honest with yourself about what you want that is causing the conflict. The devil is a convincing and conniving enemy. He is one that likes to steer you towards the world’s wishes and away from God’s. He plays on your fears and insecurities.
Right now with the Covid virus going around and influencing how people in power make decisions in their countries, there is some uncertainty surrounding the mission trip I am going on. Whether countries will let us in if you aren’t fully vaccinated and what countries we will actually get to go to. Because of this the number of countries has been reduced from 11 to 6. There are positives to this change too. In those 6 countries we will get to stay for roughly 2 months. It will give us more time to build relationships with people and to better serve the community. It also gives us a longer time to immerse ourselves in the culture around us and to fully experience the places we are in. We have a better chance at reaching and meeting people if we do stay longer in the country. We will better become part of the community there which will make it easier to serve those around us. With these changes there are challenges and concerns too.
The devil is hard at work trying to play on my worry and fear and make it easier to say no to going, but the Bible says in Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go, and Deuteronomy 31:6,8 Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. I chose to trust in God and his path for me no matter how scary this decision is to keep pursuing this dream. To grow in your faith you have to face challenges and I know God will never give me a challenge I can not conquer. He is the mountain I can take refuge on. No matter what the devil tries to use to convince me this is not where I am supposed to be or do I will stand strong in my decision because I have Jesus at my side fighting for me too. I choose to stand on faith that I can better serve others and Jesus through this experience. The world is so desperate to know Jesus and I can’t wait to share his abounding love with them. That alone outweighs any worry or fear I might have leading up to this trip. I pull my strength from God and he gives me what I need to live each day to further his Glory.
-G
