The Israelites regarded the mustard seed as a weed, once it was found in a garden the gardener would often find herself pulling out her weeds for the rest of the growing season. In Luke 13 Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard tree/shrub and in my life I have been fighting the spread of this weed, trying to protect my nice neat row of carrots. Until now.
For some time I’ve been feeling called by God to pursue missions. I had been feeling the call, but I was not responding. There have been many times over the past six months were I have felt God telling me that I was to go on a short term mission trip this summer. However, I kept ignoring the call because I had my life organized the way I wanted it to be. The next few years were to be dedicated to school and work, once I was out of school if God wanted me to go on a mission trip I would – plain and simple, I had life all figured out. But God had other plans. And He doesn’t give up. He kept calling the idea of short term missions and Kenya to my mind several times, but I was being stubborn and was not listening. I could list several scenarios where God was trying to get my attention but I’ll only give one here.
One such scenario was over this past Christmas break when I got together with Alaina and Holly. While I was with them they were able to talk to their “Kenya family” (James and Vangie Odongo). While they were talking, Holly leaned over to me and said, "So, you're coming to Kenya with me this summer, right?" I just smiled and turned back to the computer. Later on, still during their talk with James, James asked when I was going to come to Kenya. Holly answered quickly with - "this summer." But Alaina told James that we needed to pray about that and that he should get Mama James to pray. Apparently Mama James is a powerful pray-er and when she prays, it happens. As I was leaving Alaina told me that Holly was/is convinced that I'm going to Kenya with her this summer. This was a shock to me. I had not told anyone that I was thinking about pursuing short term missions. So at that moment, I was completely amazed at how God works. It seemed fairly evident that God wanted me to go this summer. But I went back to school, and managed to “forget” about God’s call in my life to pursue short-term missions. But God wasn’t giving up yet.
In January, I went on a retreat with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (the Christian Club on Campus that I’m involved with). During this retreat we studied Luke 13:18-21 which is the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast (18Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches." 20Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."). Our speaker, Dana, talked to us about letting the Kingdom grow, about letting the rest of our garden go, how it will spread and change the entire quality of the garden. The thing that God sows in our garden (our life) is going to be different than what we sow. We have two choices when this happens - we can either fight it or let it take over. She compared our lives and our will for our lives to a garden, and more specifically rows of carrots. We like to have our carrots in nice, neat rows – we don’t like it when they get messed up. But she then talked about the mustard seed, and how God’s will for our lives is like the mustard seed. We can let it take over our garden or we can try to “weed” out the mustard and not let it take root (which is where I got the name for this blog). The following day Dana started talking more about going and sending - "If you are willing, you are the ones' who will be sent out. The Kingdom moves because people are willing to move, to go somewhere. But you have to be willing. When you get invited you go. You don't hesitate. Take advantage of your time now! Take some risks! God has plans to use you! GOD WILL USE YOU! You are about to be scattered, don't be afraid of that. You know more than you think you do, you have more skills than you know! People are ready to receive Jesus!” Everything she was saying was getting me right in the heart. Everything she had to say felt like she was saying it to me personally. I had to take risks, I had been invited to go and now I needed to accept the invitation. She also talked about how when we don’t listen to God’s plan for our lives we are not only missing out on some great plans but we are being disobedient to God. This is when it finally really hit home. By not listening to God and not following the plan He set forth I was being disobedient. And the reason I was being disobedient was because I liked the way my life was going. I liked being in control and knowing what was coming up. I liked having my carrots all lined up. I didn’t like having “weeds” in my garden. But I knew it was time to come to God, and let go of my disobedience. It was time to give my garden over to God and to let him sow what he wanted to sow. And what God has sown in my garden is a desire to go to Kenya this summer and serve him through missions. I knew it was time to let go of my plans and trust in the plans that God has for me. I need to trust that He will provide the means that I need for Kenya – spiritually, physically and financially because He is Jehovah Jireh.
And now for some details - my team will be leaving for Kenya on July 8th and we will be returning on July 29th. We will be serving in a rural village near Kisumu, which is inhabited mainly by the Luo tribe. While we are there we will be serving in different ways – both practical and spiritual. While we are there we will be running a kids day camp (mini VBS), we will be working with the widows, doing prayer ministry, building huts, working with the church, preaching, planting trees, sewing ministry, potentially doing some AIDS prevention/awareness and if enough money is raised, we will start work on the orphanage (land has been bought but no construction has started as of yet). None of these plans are concrete or for sure yet, it all depends on a) what God leads us to do and b) what God provides for.
So if you could partner with me in prayer - for the people we will be ministering with and to, for my team as we prepare, that we will be prepared physically, mentally, spiritually and financially, and also for safety. Your prayers are much appreciated.
