Missions | My Story

My first time undergoing a Short-term Mission trip was a mix of emotions. I felt an overwhelming sense of excitement and joy while at the same time being flooded by waves of dread and fear. This not only was my first ever true mission trip – I had been tasked with planning and implementing the trip as well!

A friend of mine had reached out and said that he typically took a group of college students to an area in Ohio and that year they were not going to be able to put together a team in time to be able to make the trip and asked if I would be able to get a team together to cover the need. In a moment, I granted a hearty, “Of course I can! However, I knew nothing about planning and implementing a mission trip let alone even what a mission trip truly was or how to simply attend one. After the phone call was over, I felt a sudden flood of realization hit me that I had jumped headfirst into the deep side of the pool and I hadn’t even seen water before.

However, despite all of my fears and questions, God had already been laying the groundwork and was actively paving the road ahead. It only took a couple of conversations with people before everything started seamlessly falling into place. As I saw the work that the Lord had been doing to prepare our people for this trip that we were (myself more so than anyone) aware that we would be taking part in I was reminded of all of the times that God had done the same in scripture.

• Noah called to build a boat even because there was going to be a flood (the world had literally never even seen rain).
• Abraham was called to leave his home and travel until God told him to stop, and then years later asked to sacrifice Isaac.
• Jesus time and time again calling of the disciples to follow him and place aside the lives and comforts they knew.

The bible is filled with so many more moments that God called his people to act in faith and trust in him to work out the details. I am glad that I took that initial opportunity to just say yes and then to lean on him to work out all the details. What might God be calling you to today? Is he calling you to attend a short term mission trip or maybe even something larger like making the call to move you to a new place entirely. Maybe it’s something small like sharing your faith with a family member or a neighbor. No matter what he calls you to – He has already done the work of preparing the details. You can trust Him.