A Tale of Surrender

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.  

Under the picture was this caption: Significant NEED in Ireland for an interim youth pastor. 

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 4^th 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.