A Quote to Live by

Shortly after I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I heard a lot about this couple Jim and Elisabeth. Jim and Elisabeth loved God and people. They were always so willing to give their time to helping others and even moved all the way to Ecuador to help people from the Huaorani tribe that few people were willing to help. There was a quote by Jim that I stumbled upon one day while I was in college and reading a book about Jim and Elisabeth’s life, it was “wherever you are, be all there”  I really liked the quote and scribbled it on the inside of my binder. It was a quote that I wanted to live by but one I tend to forget when my head and my heart are two different places at once. 

  

  You see,  I used to think that to be a part of mission work, to truly draw people to Jesus and encourage them in him and love them as Jesus asks us to love others, I had to leave my own backyard. I believed for myself in particular that what I was doing wouldn’t truly be worthwhile unless it meant uprooting, relocating, making big sacrifices, or being a part of a certain organisation or charity full-time. The thing that God has been teaching me since I moved back to the States though is that I don’t have to uproot my life to be a part of mission work. Mission can include my own backyard. This is something that people had told me before when I expressed my concerns about moving back home to the States but I would avoid it because being “called” to my hometown sounded well…..boring. 

  

  There aren’t new and exciting places. I’m not forced to run to God because I have all my comforts taken away from me. It’s a bit more subtle than bringing tea and food to homeless people every other week, bopping about from school to school in a city to share about leadership and giving up weekend nights to run a Bible Study for teens. It’s not 2 weeks in a country where I don’t know the language or late nights walking around chatting with strangers and helping them out. 

   

  Instead, I’m learning that even though mission looks different in my hometown, it’s still worthwhile. It’s praying before I go to work and praying in my head when I’m at work when I need patience. It’s seeing what is being done around my hometown and stepping into things that are already there that match up the areas of ministry that I’m interested in.

It’s being “all there”. It’s admitting your head and heart will always be two places at once but God has you where you are for a  reason and so you’re going to make the most of it. You’re going to take it one day at a time and make the most of every opportunity before you and give your all, trusting that even though you don’t know what lies ahead, you’re going to focus on what you can see. You’re going to see that it doesn’t have to be “boring”, you can make it interesting. You don’t have to know x,y and z of the next five years, you just need to focus on the now. 

  Can you relate to this? Maybe you’ve returned from mission work in a different country and are re-rooting yourself in a familiar place. Maybe you’re stuck in limbo, worrying about what’s next  as you try to figure out your next steps as you take a GAP year from college or a career break or maybe you find yourself stressed out and worried over the things that haven’t happened yet, you haven’t gotten that job, apartment, house or found that person that you want to have by your side for the rest of your life.

Whatever it is, I want to encourage you with this, “wherever you are, be all there”. Don’t check out because you’re worried about tomorrow. Take it one day at a time. Learn more about what you are passionate about and then just take a step. A step toward that goal, that career, that passion, or whatever it is for you. Just a step. You don’t have to have it all figured out. God’s got you. He knows everything you need. I’d like to leave you with a song that I’ve been encouraged by as I think about all that God has provided in the past 4 months since I’ve moved back home. I hope it can encourage you as well to give thanks and remember not to worry about what lies ahead because He will give you just what you need for today. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Much Love, 

Amy