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| Elizabeth: (07/21/06)
Now I am a college student, struggling to find where I fit in, but it seems as though I have the opposite problem as most of my friends who are interested in missions. While by and large they definitely feel called to missions, they don't have a specific place in mind. I, on the other hand, can't really say for sure that I'm called to missions and yet I have a very specific region of the world that has been burning on my heart for several years ever since -- and it may sound a little strange and it certainly is not typical for me -- I suddenly started to feel painfully sad when I was looking at the picture of someone from this part of the world who had died without knowing Jesus. From then on it was like I was filled with this zealous anger to prevent that from ever happening again. I have people from this area who I pray for every day -- most of whom I don't even know. I learned their language. I've even been told that I look like this nationality! But so far I am still waiting to hear God's voice and it seems as though he's silent. I don't feel him saying a resounding yes to anything right now (whether missions or any of the other fields I am considering based on what my gifts are)! This period of my life is frustrating. Do I just have to wait it out, or is there a way to tell what I'm supposed to do?
Elizabeth
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| Jack: Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing so fully an intimate part of your thoughts and life. I wish we could sit down and talk for several hours about your three passions! As I review the description of your concern for the people of the “specific region of the world” that has been on your heart, and most concretely, the people who live there, I find it strange that you are still “waiting to hear God’s voice”! It would be helpful to know how you are expecting Him to speak to you. It would seem to me that He has spoken to you – loud and clear – already! I would encourage you to do the following: 1) Put this place and its people before the Lord and ask Him specifically to confirm your call to serve Him there. 2) Think carefully about all the other alternatives you might have if you didn’t go there as a missionary. Write them down, and consider them realistically. Do you find you have a stronger call to do one (or more) of these activities than sharing the Gospel with the people you have mentioned? 3) If not, I would encourage you to begin preparation for service there. Tell the Lord that if you are moving ahead of Him to make it clear to you. If not, ask Him to continue to increase your joy in your planning and preparation if He really desires this for you. 4) Expect all kinds of difficulties – but bring all these before Him as well. 5) Share your experience with a mature friend, such as your pastor or some older missionary that you may know. Review with them what you have been doing, and ask for their observations and counsel. It would be good to include your parents in this process as well. Personally, what you have mentioned would seem to me to have all the earmarks of a specific missionary call! May the Lord continue to guide you. Jack |
Because my three main passions in life even since I was a child have always been salvation, foreign countries, and praise songs, the idea of missions has always been (secretly) in the back of my mind.
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