This God life

It’s hard to believe it’s been just shy of two years ago that God used a conversation with a friend of mine to call me to missions. And it’s hard to wrap my head around in four weeks, I will graduate from the Pharmacy Technology Program with an associates degree, beginning a new phase of life. I’ve been a bit anxious these past few months, not knowing what life will look like after school. God did not give me any directions beyond providing the means to go to school and pursue mission work. I will be doing short term mission trips so the question is: “what do I do between trips?”

In the past few weeks, God has been speaking to me about my anxieties. I have been focusing on the between – what I will be doing between missions. And I lost focus of the why. Why I am doing missions. As in Jesus’s letter to the church of Ephesus in The second chapter of Revelations, I lost my first love. I lost my focus. I became so consumed with trying to figure out life between missions that I lost the focus of the reason why. I am called to missions because I want to show others the love of Jesus. Traveling on missions is a good thing, but if I lose sight of the why, it is for naught. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul writes “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The Message translation states “I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back”. It goes on to say, “so let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.”

This brings me to the title of this blog. In Mark 11, Jesus tells his disciples to “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.” (Verses 22-24). I love The Message translation of this scripture. “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: just say ‘Go jump in the lake’ – no shuffling or shilly-shallying- and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything”. Wow! God’s everything!

What’s your God-life? What is God calling you to step out in complete faith, for Jesus, not looking back? Mine is to go on mission for Jesus. To show others his love. Embracing this God-life, really embracing it. Not fretting about what I will do between trips, not trying to arrange opportunities but fully relying on God. Asking and believing, not doubting in my heart (easier said than done for me). Not losing sight of my first love – why I go on mission – love for Jesus. And not looking back at previous successes but keeping my eyes on the prize – following Jesus.

And what do we gain by living this God life? Paradise. The presence of God. Where God is, that’s paradise. And that’s where I desire to be. At the center of His will. Following Him. Believing without doubt. Living the God-life.