This is the final sequel of my first mission’s trip experience. As a recap from the previous post, I talked about how this trip came about, why I decided to go, and the preparation time. I talked about the trip and my experiences as a missionary. In this final part, you will read about what I’ve realized from the missionary trip, how this has changed me and what to look forward to.

Click Mission Trip Part-1 or Mission Trip Part-2 in case you missed either ones.

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Regarding my testimony I shared with the mothers on my previous post (part 2), I was doing it for the first time ever. During this missionary journey, my Pastor made me realized one important thing. He told me that, now as God has closed that chapter of my life, I need to use my testimony as a source of blessing for others by sharing it and not to use it as a source of pain. That’s when I started to realized that my trip to Mexico was orchestrated by God. It was not only to heal me from what I’ve been through in my youth years, but to make me understand the purpose of my past as well. Most of my family members, especially my siblings have little to no knowledge of the details of my ordeals growing up and I’m sure reading about my life journey here will be shocking to them as I open up more to the world in these blogs.

Growing up, I have been broken many times therefore internalized a lot and crying was my communication skill. I Thank God because I am not that person anymore. But God through His grace and mercy gave me a new life that got crystallized during this trip.

As Paul said: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” ¹ This is exactly how I felt and what I came to realize during this missionary trip. My old life was gone, and I was now living in a new life God has given me.

So let me talk to you right now: You might be going through trials, brokenness of any sort, disappointments, anger, and more but here is what Psalms 34:18 says about the brokenhearted – “The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in Spirit”. So, if you are broken, the Lord is talking to you saying, He is ever present and near you than you can imagine. Just call upon Him and He will answer. God says “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you don’t know” ² So, I challenge you right now, mostly those with broken heart to call upon Him and surrender; cast your care upon Him and see if He will not answer you. For we serve a

mighty God who keeps His promise(s). So I challenge you to blindly trust Him and you will Testify, Amen!

“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved‘” ³. Alleluia! You see, how Jesus said to call upon His name and you will be saved?. It’s not me saying it but Jesus. So, don’t hold yourself up because of your past for there is no sins, no sicknesses, no trials that will stop Him for saving, loving or wanting to answer you if you call upon Him. By calling upon His name, we are acknowledging that He is the Lord of our lives and we need Him. This is a form of humility. Isaiah 1:18 says: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet [red], they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson [pink], they shall become like wool [fabric/cashmere].” Thank You Jesus!

Today, I want you to know that it doesn’t matter what sins you have committed as I wrote earlier. It will never stop God from:

1. Loving you [He created you in His image] – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
2. Saving and Choosing you [if you repent unless you blasphemed the Holy Spirit] –“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants [desires] all people [desires all men] to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4) “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.” (John 15:16)
3. Transforming you [to change your story (life) if you allow Him to mold you] – “Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:4-5)

But the first thing you’ll have to do, is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior; then call Him by His name and all will be given to you. God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name ⁴. When you use the name of Jesus, use it with confidence, for at the mention of the name of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow ⁴. But, I wonder if you really know His name! For, pronouncing (uttering) His name and actually knowing Him are not the same. Because I may be uttering some words but don’t mean [believe in] them in my heart. Therefore, spending time with Him through scriptures, prayers, meditation, and serving; it will position you to know Him and enable you to activate a response from Him.

My next question to you is this: Do you know Him? For opening your mouth and calling Jesus’ name alone will not be enough. It’s not because Jesus said everyone who calls upon His name shall be saved that you will call Him any how with no faith and thinking it will do it. No, that’s not how it works; you need to call Him with faith. So don’t be surprised if you call and you get no answer. He sees our hearts and can’t be fool. For calling God [Jesus] name with no deep [close] connection is clueless. First, get that deep connection which brings trust and leads to faith in God.

Timothy said: “if we are faithful, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” ^5.1 Amen! This verse is so clear and speaks for itself. God’s Word is a promise to us and we serve a faithful God who cannot deny Himself as we were created in His image. Therefore, when you call, He will answer for He will do what He said he will do in your life. Because He is a God that doesn’t lie and is the same yesterday, today and forever. He doesn’t change but we do. Alleluia!

In order for that close connection with Jesus to work, it will require you to do your part: You need to invest to harvest! When you look closely to those who are intimate with God, you will see that they invested in the things of God. I want you to understand that this might not happen in one day but it could be a day to day process or years of prayers depending on the dedication (faith), meditations, and sacrifices you are putting in. Which will create a bond (intimate relationship) between you and God. But, are you ready to invest on the things of God to gain that intimate relationship with Him?

Keep in mind that you are where you at for a reason, doing what you are doing or going through what you are going through for a purpose. Therefore, do not take it lightly for it is to link tomorrow as soon as you get out of it to help those that will be going through similar thing. God is taking us out of what we are going through to connect [link] to others and communicate with them the good news and how God worked on us. That way, they will easily relate and be willing to “follow Him [Jesus]” ^5.2 for you are a living testimony and the closes Jesus they will be seeing. Alleluia, Amen!

 

As my story goes, I know now that I went through what I went through to link [connect] today which was my tomorrow with you. Like I am doing now, sharing with you my testimony, it’s something we all have to do to help those who are going through similar things. For everyone has his or her own testimony to share and draw others closer to [follow] God. Your inadequacy for instance is a blessing you can use to relate to others. What is your story?

 

I thought my trials were punishments from God but this trip not only educated me on God’s purpose for my life, it freed and healed me. Amen! It made me understand that I am a connector. Giving me a sense of purpose of my being in this earth, to touch and bless others with my experiences. Also, to give hope to those going through what I went through on how to overcome and be freed from it. To be a living testimony to them and the closes Jesus they will see by exhibiting Christ-like characters.

So, I am going to ask you this: Are you a connector? Are you a Dis-connector? – Or are you just a simple unplugged cable laying down on the face of this earth? What are you doing? Who are you? And where are you going? Take a moment and answer these truthfully then redirect [re-adjust] your life as needed. I realized that our mission to reach out to others [discipleship] is our primary goal once we give our life to Christ. All missionaries are disciples but unfortunately not all disciples do the mission [work] of God as required. Jesus saved us so we can go out and help others to be saved. This is the main mission that any Believer of Christ must have and live by.

Which brings me to this: Are you a dormant disciple or an active one? You see, you don’t need to go to Mexico to be a missionary or practice your discipleship. You can reach out to your local town, visit shelter(s), homeless, the sick, orphanage; you can reach out to people even at the airport, your home, work, school, and more. Don’t limit your blessings by withholding helping others.

 

Even though, this missionary trip preparation’s period was a crucial moment as I look back now, I felt at the end of my trip that I wasn’t prepared enough to do more for those kids and people I encountered as I wanted to. I would not trade that preparation time for nothing nor encourage anyone who is planning to go on a mission trip to miss that step. Contrary to what I thought, the mission trip preparation time cleansed and spiritually prepared me for Mexico.

During our last day, there was this orphan boy (see picture on the left with smiley face) as soon as he saw me, clung onto me the whole time and called me mama at one point. Seeing the joy and hope on their faces every time they see us coming at the park was priceless. These made me feel alive and a gave me a sense of purpose. These are the feelings you can’t fully describe but it only makes you more passionate, to see more, and to do more for them.

To grow your faith, I encourage you to experience it. Go out there and be the disciple that God has called you to be. For it will not only bless others as you give but you will be blessed in the process as I was. I came back home from that trip forever a changed woman. With more zeal to reach out to people and share my story than ever before. God laid in my heart to reach out beyond my usual devotional post; and that’s the main reason this blog was created.

After reading this, what are you doing to harvest souls? Because disciples are the ones to win souls. “Jesus said to His disciple, ‘the harvest truly is plenty but the laborers are few’”. He also said, we ought to preach the Gospel to all creature ^5.3. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” ⁶. So, keep this in mind, you have been created to labor for God not for men for we are the work of His hands. Our labor is to serve and share [disciple] the good news with all.

If you ask me what is life? For me, I would say: “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” ⁷. When looking at Jesus life, we will see that He didn’t come to serve those that know it all, the healthy, nor the ones that think have it all; but He came for the sick and the needy. So, if you want to live in Christ then you ought to be a servant to those that need your help and proclaim the gospel to lost souls. Don’t be discouraged if you get rejected while helping or sharing the Gospel. For you are not meant to touch or help everyone but the people God will put in your path for you to help. Therefore, be ready and available to do so when the time comes. Take a moment an evaluate your life to see if that’s what you are doing. Are you preparing? Are you working towards winning souls that God has laid in your way? If not, change your ways. God is calling you back. Not yesterday but today, Not tomorrow but today. We need to make a difference in this world and it starts with us taking a stand NOW! Amen!

You might be going through pain now, that should not be a reason to stop you from helping anyone else. No, it doesn’t have to be because God has equipped you to do both. Even in your pain and trials, you can still be useful to God and impact someone’s life. God will surely bless you as you bless other. I will share with you some quotes from Bob Marley that go along with this topic and will hopefully open your eyes as they did to me.

In 1976, two days before a major concert, a gunman broke into Bob Marley’s house and attacked him. He was shot but survived. He performed at the concert two days later in front of 80,000 people. So, when asked why he performed while wounded, he answered…

“The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?”

Oh waooh, isn’t this powerful? So, why are you taking your sweet time while Jesus warns us to “be [stay] alert, sober, and watchful. Your enemy [adversary] the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”? ⁸ My question to you based on this quote is this: why are you seating so comfortable and sleeping while the enemy is out there working? What do you thing is going to happen? If Marley was able to get up two days after been shot to share with people, what is that telling us? It tells us that even in our sufferings we can still help, reach out to others; we do not have the luxury to sleep while the devil is busy walking around looking for who to devour, Amen! Please wake up!

Also, Marley final words before passing away were:

“Live for yourself and you will live in vain; Live for others, and you will live again”.

This is so deep, powerful and it resumes all about our calling on earth. We are meant to live for others not for ourselves, that’s what discipleship is all about. Jesus is the typical example of One who lived not for Himself but for all of us.

I challenge you now to start living your life for others. To reach out to the disadvantaged, to share the Gospel and what God has done in your life with them. For again as mentioned earlier, you might be the closes Jesus that they may see. Don’t think you don’t have what it takes to do so, for we do all have something to share to impact others; it is in us. It might be a smile, a lunch, a visit, a word of encouragement or give a hand; which will do it and go a long way. It might also be a donation or for you to take an extra step. Therefore, I urge you not to stop yourself but save and strengthen yourself by serving others. Amen!

Let us pray: you can personalize this prayer as you pray along.

Father in the mighty name of Jesus, thank You for this time of fellowship and learning; help us to be that disciple You have call us to be; by the help of Your Holy Spirit, help us to live for others instead of ourselves; to have a compassionate heart as you have for us. Teach us Your ways Lord, guide our steps to the path that we should go, and equip us in order to do what you have called us to do in Jesus name. Thank You Lord for loving us, blessing us and for all that you have done, are doing and yet to be done in Jesus name, we have prayed. Amen!

Alleluia!

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¹ 2 Corinthians 5:17;  ² Jeremiah 33:3;  ³ Romans 10:13;  ⁴ Philippians 2:10-11;  ^5.1 Timothy 2:13; ^5.2 Mark 2:14b;  ^5.3 Matthew 9:37 & Mark 16:15;  ⁶ Ephesians 2:10;  ⁷ Philippians 1:21;  ⁸ 1 Peter 5:8;