The Mission Trip
This was not the blog I had written to share for my first post. But Saturday morning through my devotion and prayer – God changed my direction. I was praying for guidance and for His direction and to open my heart to the words that He wants me to share through this ministry. Almost immediately the words from the song “Let It Happen” from United Pursuit came rushing in to my mind. “Oh take me back, back to the beginning….” So I am taking you back to the day that the Lord laid the concept of this ministry on my heart.
This past summer my sister had the opportunity to go to Haiti to work with teachers at an orphanage. She had to overcome several challenges to make this trip happen. But she did it! She followed her calling and embraced the gift that God had given her – truly finding her Purpose in this life. She’s just a remarkable person and I am so very proud of her.
But through this whole process of seeing her go to Haiti and then hearing her stories about this life changing event I started to look at my own life. I had given up my “coffee cup Christian” life and couldn’t stop thinking about my Purpose – should I quit my job, should I become my sister’s full-time non-profit administrator, should I too go to Haiti? In my prayers I was asking God to show me my path – whatever it was – I was willing to follow him.
In September one morning as I was driving to work (probably sitting actually on I-485 in the morning traffic) I was still thinking about Haiti – searching my heart and asking God to show me my path. This will now be the second time in recent months that God spoke to me with such a clarity it was if he were sitting in my passenger seat. Tears rolled down my face, just as they are now as I write about this wonderful moment I had with the Almighty. “You are on your Mission Trip, I have put you in this position – this is your Purpose!” I briefly saw a moment of me standing on a stage; a flash to some unknown event. I quickly pulled my journal out of my purse and on September 12, 2018 I wrote in giant letters, “The Biggest Mission Trip of Your Life!”
Later that week I got an email from my Human Resources Business Partner asking me to fill in for another colleague at an event at UNC-Charlotte. They were asking for someone from my company to talk to engineering students about women working in manufacturing. I tell my friends now all the time – nothing is ironic. Absolutely nothing! I am not a fan of public speaking, but how could I even say no – especially after my moment with God just days earlier in my car?
As any good engineer would do, I immediately starting researching and going back and reading all of my flagged pages in books I had read on leadership. But it was frustrating. I just couldn’t get my storyline right. I decided to take a vacation day and just stay home and focus on my speech without distraction. As I sat at my computer and struggled through the science and technical research on leadership it immediately hit me – the best story I could tell was simply my own. So I ditched all my notes and just started writing about my own experiences over the last 21 years. And for each story a scripture filled my head to support it.
Because of the college setting I did not directly quote any scripture but I told stories about my career and the lessons I had learned along the way and I aligned it with Bible teachings. I talked about how after writing my eulogy through a leadership conference that I knew I had my life accounts in the wrong order. Work consumed me and then the rest of my time was all for my family. My faith account didn’t exist. I confessed to these young adults that through thinking about who would actually be at my funeral one day that I seriously needed to get my life in order. My FAITH was the first on the list.
After the speech a young girl came up to me and said she really enjoyed hearing my story and wanted to know what devotion had helped me the most. I was not prepared for this at all. What little faith I had! I took a sticky note from my bag and wrote down Proverbs 31. I can’t say why this came to my head, other than God meant for this young girl to know this scripture.
I think about this young girl often. I wish I had been given more time to talk to her. She is often in my prayers and her name is written in my journal. I hope she makes better choices than I did along the way and that she truly realizes that she is more precious than rubies.
Jesus spent most of his life as a carpenter. God calls us to work – to be a light where ever we are. As you read through the book of Proverbs you see many, many teachings about hard work and avoiding laziness. You too can view your work as a mission trip. In Matthew chapter 28 God calls his disciples to “teach” the commands Jesus gave them. We are all disciples of Christ! In 1 Peter chapter 2:9 God reveals, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”
Regardless of where you are today in your career you too can serve others and be a light to those around you. Put others first, be simple, be humble, be slow to anger and slow to speak, be honest. Work hard but for the glory of God and not for man. This doesn’t mean you have to crusade and talk about the Bible non-stop. You just have to be you, God’s light. People will see the difference – they will see your light.
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the Earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
Love to you all,
Heather
