Today’s post is a guest post by Angela. You can look forward to seeing a post from her once a month.
Sometimes God sends us reminders in seemingly random ways. I was talking with a neighbor and he asked about the mission trip I’m going on this summer. I was sharing with him how I was excited to be going on another mission trip, as well as my qualms about it. Our church goes on a missions trip every summer. (If you want to know more about what we will be doing or how to support my trip click here). I haven’t been since before kids and honestly hesitated to commit to go this year. The logistics of childcare and the cost of the trip were overwhelming to me.
I am fortunate to have many people in my life willing to help but I feel like 2 weeks worth of childcare is a lot to ask. Being away from my kids for so long is also a bit terrifying to me. And I REALLY hate fundraising for myself. I can do it all day for another person or organization but for some reason I find it incredibly awkward and avoid it at all costs. I realized (with some encouragement) these are all silly reasons not to go on a missions trip so I signed up.
As I was sharing this with my neighbor he said “yeah but when you have that call you’ve just got to do it”. He’s so right. He probably doesn’t realize this but those words had a huge impact on me and were exactly the reminder I needed. It reminded me of Jonah- he had what seemed to him like a valid excuse why he shouldn’t follow God’s call to Nineveh. He avoided it so hard he ended up in the belly of a whale!
It is so easy to come up with reasons to avoid or delay something God has called us to do. We’re busy or feel like we aren’t qualified. Something comes up that we believe is more important. We feel like we don’t have the resources to do it. We’re not sure where to start. We need to wait for life to settle down first. We feel like we need to be worthy. The list can go on and on. But that isn’t the point. Thankfully our God is exponentially bigger than all of our excuses. We don’t serve a God who expects us to be perfect and have a totally clear schedule to serve him.
Recently in a service someone had a word for Nick that was simply “it’s time to start.” Sometimes we spend too much time planning or getting things just right or worrying about the “what ifs”. God’s calling is urgent and irrevocable. We’ve got to stop saying someday and just trust Him. When we don’t follow God’s call we’re missing out on the amazing things He has for us. God want to use each and every one of us to quite literally change the world for His glory.
We need to spend less time focusing on all the reasons we can’t or need to delay. Because those reasons will ALWAYS be there. But when we take a step in faith, God is able to move in miraculous ways. Let’s stop letting the excuses and barriers prevent us from following God’s call and just get started. Like my neighbor reminded me, we’ve just got to do it.
So what is God telling you to do that you’ve been putting off? Maybe its something as simple as starting to go to church. Maybe you need to reach out to someone in need. Maybe you need to forgive and repair a relationship. Maybe its job-related. Maybe there’s something you need to let go of. Whatever it is, just do it.