Fullness of Christ

Frederick Beuchner writes, 

"The place God calls us to be is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

I leave in a little over a week to fly to the opposite side of the world to one of the most unevangelized places in the world to spread some Truth about the gospel, possibly even talk about it for the very first time in someone's life. 

I don't know what to say but that my eyes have already been opened through our various mission trainings, getting to commune with students who have gone before, and ultimately having the Lord working on my heart in preparation for what is to come. I have a deep desire to just speak love and tenderness into the darkness of people's lives. I can't wait to find out what makes them really joyful and relate that back to the Maker who loves them. Or tell them they are valued and that God transforms us and makes us completely new, even in the midst of our lowest valleys. I cannot wait to tell someone they don't have to do it all alone & that when it feels overwhelming all they have to do is be still and know God is there with them, not to fear. I want to witness change & beauty & redemption.

I may not be going to a place where people are starving or impoverished but I am going to Asia, where people are hungry for something they might not even know will sustain them, an everlasting God. I want to see a mouth say for the very first time that they believe what I am sharing with them and that they are made glad in this news. 

I pray that God will transform lives overseas this summer but also that He will renew mine. I want my life to look radically different after serving Him in this context. I pray that the anxious excitement that is bubbling up inside of me about this trip will only be the beginning of what is still in store. 

I want to feel deep gladness made complete in a hungry place & I hope that in the process we will leave it a little less empty.