I got served!

I love to talk about Africa.  I love to think about Africa.  It annoys people but it is my passion (right after my God, my husband, and my children).  I am often asked by people who know I've been to Africa about my experience.  I am very open and honest about all of my experiences, both good and bad.  So often people will reply "I could never do that!".   But what really drives me crazy is when I get the I-could-never-do-that-so-I-won't-be-doing-anything response.  I think it annoys me because I was once that person.  I went to a bible college where missions was the main push.  It felt as if you weren't worth much if you weren't in the missions program.  I was terrified of even thinking about leaving the good ol' USofA for any reason, much less to tell people about Jesus.  I decided that I wasn't called to missions and that was that!
Now recently, I've come to realize I had a very limited view of missions.  The only definition of missions I had was that missions was where a person sacrificed their life at home and went overseas to serve for a lifetime reaching the unreached.  Now that I've been blessed to have gone on several missions trips, I see a totally different definition of missions.  Missions is everywhere and it isn't always about serving the unreached.  Let me explain.  When my husband or I go overseas, our life at home does not stop.  We desperately need missionaries in our own lives to help serve us as we serve others.  If it wasn't for wonderful friends who step up each time with meals, phone calls to keep us sane, and even childcare, we would never be able to serve overseas.  It's these "local missionaries" that make overseas missions possible.
After my last trip to Africa, we had a meeting at the church where people could come and ask questions about our trip and we shared our experiences.  At the end of the meeting, a very sweet old lady said, "What can I do to serve? I can't go to Africa!"  My response was "Good! You can serve here.  You can lift my family up so that we can go!"  She was very excited to have a roll in reaching the unreached on an island in Africa where the name of Jesus isn't often known.
So I say all of that to say this: SERVE!  Serve in what ever way you can.  It is very important to know what you can do and what you can't.  Not everyone can physically handle the environment in Sierra Leone.  I came home from my last trip with giant blisters and missing several toenails.  It was rough!  But I survived and even thrived through the difficulties because I knew I was serving my Lord and I knew my husband had support back at home.  We had friends who kept tabs on how things were going and encouraged him the whole time.  I have fallen short on this kind of service, too.  Its easy for me to feel as if I have an excuse not to serve at home when I'm recovering from missions trips.  But I don't!  So today, commit to making a sacrifice for someone else.  When I die, I want to know I was uncomfortable in life more than I was comfortable.  I want to know that I sacrificed and gave instead of slinking down in my couch and eating a bag of chips while others were struggling to serve God.  Keep me accountable.  When I stumble, remind me of my own words but be ready to be held accountable also.  We are called to give our lives to God, not to slave for our lives so that we don't know difficulty. I'll let the Bible sum it up:

Galations 5:13

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. 

But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, 

use your freedom to serve one another in love.

1 Peter 4:10

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. 

Use them well to serve one another.