Often times the very thing you have been running from for years is the very thing you should be running to.Like most stories, I have to go backward before I can go forward. Let me take you through a quick timeline of my career choices:
1st Grade: God, I'll be a vet! But I will not be a teacher.
2nd Grade: God, I'll be a kid doctor! But I will not be a teacher.
3rd-6th Grade: God, I'll be a singer/songwriter! But I will not be a teacher.
7th-College: God I'll be a writer! But I will not be a teacher.
I made a habit of saying "No" to something God very well may have been asking me to say "Yes" to. That is, until October of 2014. As I sat in training at Rafiki Foundation Headquarters in Florida, I was overcome with the realization that I had no right to say "No" to anything. If I had truly laid myself down at the foot of the cross, then any direction the Lord even whispered me toward I could only run full force in Faith and Obedience to the call. It was with this on my heart that I began to open up to a possibility I had always denied and blocked out of my mind.
"Lord, I'll do whatever it is you ask of me. Stay in Africa forever, or never go back. Live in the biggest city in the US or the most desolate town. God, I'll even teach if that's what you're calling me to. If you can use anything Lord, you can use me."Well, time went as time does - it passes. Plans were sketched, planned, and finalized for my trip to Tanzania and I was informed that I would be helping to lead the summer G.A.M.E.S. program with the 60 kids living in the loving environment of the Rafiki compound. My excitement was through the roof as I stepped out of the tiny customs room of the Kilimanjaro airport, and into the inky blackness of my first Tanzania night. I couldn't see anything of my surroundings on that first drive through the city the darkness was so complete, but there was an electricity in the air - a tangible vibration running through my fingertips strait to my pounding heart. I was there!
The lovely couple, permanent missionaries at Rafiki Tanzania, who picked me up from the airport were probably thinking they had picked up some kind of caffeine hyped Chatty-Cathy instead of the level headed temp they had asked for. My excitement couldn't be contained. But let me tell you, it could be sliced through - which is exactly what happened when Sara began telling me about my job for the next month,
"We'll get you settled into the guest house tonight, and tomorrow you'll follow me around the school so you can get an idea of how I run the classroom."I was floored. FLOORED I TELL YOU! What as this "run of the classroom" bit about? I asked Sara if there had heard her correctly, was I going to be teaching?
Of course I was.
Instantly my chatter stopped. My heart skipped a beat in complete fear before picking up a new wobbly rhythm. Then, in a flash, I remembered the previous October and my words to God. All I could do was shake my head and laugh along with God at this little turn in the road. Over the next three weeks I would grow in confidence, patience, and love in the hands of my 19 third grade students. I have plenty of stories of the ways they taught me, but those are for another time. For now, friend, let me encourage you - if you're running from anything, stop, turn around, kneel down and ask God to use you in any way He sees fit. He has promised that He already equipped us for whatever task He puts before us (Ephesians 2:10).
And if your surrender brings you anything like the 19 Tanzanian Blessings I was daily given, then it will be beyond worth it.
In Him,
Bekah S.
No comments:
Post a Comment