No's To Grows

I have been on two mission trips and they were life changing. The moments, the experiences, every memory was and is life changing. They changed my life in a subtle, silent, but powerful, and noticeable way. The mission trips I went on, as we prepared to travel back home, they told us to come back with one story from the whole trip that really meant something to us to share with others, a story that told people what you wanted to share about the mission trip. It is difficult to spend a week in these places and come back with one story to share, obviously if people ask for more, I would gladly tell them, but usually one story is enough for most. Well, here's my one story from my most recent trip... this is a brief summary.

We had these vans we drove around in and on our first day going door to door, which was our second or third day there, we drove to the area we were going to evangelize in. My favorite thing is the people interaction on these trips, getting to actually speak the Word of Life to others, and pray for them, and share the Gospel with them, share Hope. Anyways, as we arrived to this area, we stopped, prayed before getting out of the van, and we witnessed what seemed to be some sketchy business going on, we waited for the cars to drive away and then got out. The second our feet touched that ground, the battle began, not an external battle, but internal. The fear of man crept in, the fear of the unknown, the fear of being unsafe, but also the excitement of sharing Hope, Love, knowing my God knew the unknown, and so we went forward. We walked up this sidewalk and each house we passed on this long sidewalk, I don't know exactly how long this strip of houses was, but it was decently long, every one of those houses had a "no trespassing" or "no soliciting" sign, every house had a small gate, and every house door we attempted to reach, since we were not soliciting the gate... was locked. I was frustrated. I wondered why already we were not getting any people to talk to, I questioned... isn't this what I am here for? To speak to people. But all we got were locks and signs saying no. As we reached the end of the sidewalk, we had to stay near the other mission team that was across the street, and we looked over and as we started retracing our steps, walking back down the long sidewalk, they were close to the beginning of the sidewalk, and had already talked to 3 people! Inside, I was crushed. All this excitement and nothing. As we were walking back to where we started I looked in the distance and saw no one, I was so ready to share the Gospel, I was fired up, but there was no one. As we got closer to where we started, I looked up, sweating (because it was really hot), my hair probably frizzy, and frustrated, I looked up and there... a woman sat in a chair, that was not there before, her name was Natalie. You guys I wish I had time to tell you about her, but for now that's where our story ends.

I say all this because repeatedly my team leader, my team of 3, and I were told no... over. and over. and over again. I remember walking down that long sidewalk and just saying in my mind, God I know you will bring us to the people You want us to talk to. And there... sat Mrs. Natalie and her chair, both which were not there before. She was a woman sent by God, who needed to hear about God. You see God pushed me to the point where all I could do was rely on Him and understand He knows who He wants me to talk to and that this is not easy and was not intended to be. He tells us no because He has something greater. When you hear His 'no,' don't turn to doubt, but rather trust. When He says no, our first reaction is to doubt, because just like a child we don't like to hear no, especially when it goes against our plan. Trust all of His answers whether it's yes, no, or wait, because He has a plan for you and every moment. He uses His no's to grow you and shape you, trust the no. Even if His no is for a moment, or if it's for a lifetime, you need to trust Him no matter what and always. He takes the difficult and uses it for good, the no is difficult to hear, but He will and is using it for good. Be thankful that you have a good good Father, who does tell you no, because what a mess you'd be if all you were told was yes. But no matter the mess, no matter how ugly we act when He tells us no, He still loves us, and He has a plan for it and with it all