From Josie who is on a one-year mission in Macedonia.
Since being accepted to serve in Macedonia for 11 months, I've been blown away by how God has provided for me and prepared me, and how caring people have been!
Soon after being accepted I learned how much support I would have to raise. The total seemed daunting to me, yet God stirred the hearts of people and within two weeks, half of my support was in! It was so humbling to see God Almighty being mindful of me and providing for my needs!
Not only have people in my church encouraged me, but the Elders have affirmed my calling. The personal care that they have provided has been an unbelievable blessing in my life! Just a side note for anyone considering a ministry opportunity: I would strongly encourage you to connect with the spiritual leaders of your church. Involve them early in the process and seek their wisdom – you will be blessed by them!
While I experienced lots of encouragement and support, I also experienced times of loneliness and a roller-coaster of emotions. I am excited to be serving God cross-culturally, yet I am sad to leave my wonderful family and friends and my loving church. I found that other things triggered me emotionally too – like seeing my friends begin dating while I prepared to go overseas.
However, during these months of preparation and change, I praise God for the way He protected my heart from letting fluctuating feelings get in the way of what He was calling me to do. I also see that as I prayerfully worked through those emotions, God met me and used these experiences to grow my faith.
I’m thankful too for the honest conversations with my parents and a close friend that help keep me focused. The same goes for the mission coaches who have walked with me through this whole process. They have used their expertise when I did not know what to do next. They have been a safe place to talk about heart issues and they really want to see me be successful and fruitful on the field. They are so encouraging!
Through this process of applying to serve and preparing to go, God has confirmed His calling on me to serve Him in Macedonia. I am firm about that! Also, through this whole journey I have experienced the goodness of God and care of His people! I am overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness!
I want to encourage anyone reading this – be willing to step out in faith! Do what God is calling you to do and experience first-hand how God and others will journey with you.
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