Has there ever been a point in your life where everything
was almost too good to be true? This
story begins with a point in my life that could have been described as just
that: too good to be true. Many of my
college friends had recently moved back to Omaha. I had a job that I absolutely loved; it used
my gifts and I was surrounded by a community of believers that encouraged me
daily. I was a member of a church that
was totally on fire for God. I was truly
blessed! However, all of those comforts created
in me a false sense of security in my circumstances. It was this recognition of trusting in my
blessings rather than the One who has blessed me that led me to take a step of
faith. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Last summer, the University where I work was going through
some significant structural changes.
These changes made my future (and more specifically the future of my
job) unsure. During this time, I was
browsing on Facebook and this beautiful picture caught my attention.
Because of the uncertainty of the coming year, this opportunity
intrigued me greatly. I had been wanting
to do missions in Europe ever since visiting Germany in 2011, but God had shut
the door every time that I had tried to go overseas. Why would this be any different? But every time I thought about that picture,
I felt as if I was in disobedience for not applying for this crazy opportunity.
As I mentioned earlier, my life at this point was very
comfortable. While my job was somewhat
uncertain, the rest of my life was falling into place. I had a strong friend group, I was getting
plugged into a church that I absolutely adored, and overall, my life was just
incredibly good. Applying for a position
that would take me out of Omaha seemed contradictory to what “made sense,” but
it was for that very reason that I felt called to surrender my comfort and
apply. I was beginning to rely so much
on what “made sense” that if I had refused to apply for this position, I would
have in essence said to God, “I don’t trust You, I only trust what has been
placed before me.” With that
realization, I knew that I had to apply!
So I started the application process, and boy, it was a long
one! But every time I would come to
another form to fill out and I thought about quitting, I kept being reminded
that I had been called by God to take a step of obedient faith and apply. At this point, I was not certain that God was
calling me to go, but simply that He was calling me to fill out the application,
and so I pressed on. I kept moving
forward with the process expecting God to shut the door at any point, but He
kept opening the doors wide. I went
through many Skype calls, a lot of application paperwork, and other such
things. Then, on January 4th
I got the news from my Facebook friend and Missions Coach Tasha: “Jessica, you
have been appointed as a missionary with TEAM!”
It was at this point that everything started becoming
real. It seemed that God was not just
calling me to apply, but He was actually calling me to go to Ireland! And so here I am, taking steps of faith and
waiting for God to show me the next step in His plan for my life. I still have a journey ahead of me before
going to Ireland, I have a lot of missionary orientation and training to go
through, not to mention the biggest obstacle: support raising, but God has
brought me this far and I know that He will continue to provide!
So I would ask of you, would you please pray for me? Pray that I continue to be attentive to God’s
leading, but also pray for those that I would serve in Ireland. Swords Baptist Church is just North of Dublin
and the people there are in great need of the Gospel, especially the youth. Many of the teens are the only Christians in
their entire schools. Please pray that
God would be moving greatly in the hearts and lives of the Irish, and that by His grace I would get to be a part of it.
