those days (or weeks) where it seems like God is really trying to impress something upon you? -Or that (as was the case for me recently) he's hitting you repeatedly over the head with something?That's basically a summary of my week. At Fall Retreat, I again heard people talk about why I should go on a summer project and why it's a rewarding experience and all that jazz. I've been actively looking for quite a while now for a trip to Kenya, preferably with the Global Aid Network. However, their only trip to Kenya next year is during fall semester, and there's no way I can go. That makes me really sad. (There are a couple more posts about Kenya from this blog if you want some background information and don't know the story.)
Anyways, my goal was and I guess still is to go to Kenya this summer. I don't know if this will happen, but I'm trying to look at other possibilities as well. So I decided to look at the Summer Project website when I got back to Tucson after Fall Retreat. My heart is really in what the website calls "serving a community in words and deeds." Basically, my heart is in helping people in physical ways and sharing the love of Christ as I do so. Kenya fits perfectly with that (see picture above of the Kibera slum in Nairobi). But I knew that there was need in other places as well, not just Kenya. So I looked on the Summer Project website and looked specifically at humanitarian aid-type projects. I came across a few promising trips. There's one that's three weeks in Chile doing earthquake relief, another that's inner-city Detroit (my birthplace! well, downtown Detroit is, anyway), and a couple GAiN projects to Ukraine, Siberian Russia, and Western Russia. But no summer trip to Kenya. And surprisingly, I wasn't (and still am not) devastated. I mean, if God wants me to go to Kenya, he'll open the door.But anyways, I'm still not sure what God wants me to do this summer. I feel led to go on a missions trip; that much is certain. See, that's kind of where the "subtle as a hand grenade" part comes in. So I had been praying and thinking about going on a missions trip this summer for a while, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do. Well, me being the silly person that I am, asked God to make it very obvious what I should do. God must have taken me literally. Wednesday night at Cru we talked about the importance of missions in a global context. I was like, "okay, God, I think I get it." Then came the hand grenade the next morning. I was doing my devotional, and no joke, this is what it said.
God wants to use you not only to share the message of the gospel, but also to help others who are in need. Ask him where he wants you to begin doing "good works." But beware: if you ask Him for a ministry, He may give it to you!One week later, I know what I should do- I just don't know where. But I'm trusting Him to show me!
