What's Your Call?

As Christians, we are called to many different things.  We are called to love our enemy; we are called to forgive those who hurt us.  We are called to do difficult things.  And for some of us, those difficult things mean leaving our home country for a foreign land.

Since returning from a visit to the states in May, I have had moments when I really want to go back.  I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want the luxuries of the United States?  Some days, the only thing that keeps you going is knowing, 100% without a shadow of a doubt, that God called you to what you are doing.  We are experiencing that these days.  The things that were so new and adventurous tend to irritate us now.  The culture that seemed so wonderful, sometimes, gets on our nerves!  The "newness" has worn off.  So what do you do in these circumstances?  You focus on your call.

Just this week we've been faced with knowing our call.  People come and go on the mission field all the time.  It almost seems as if more come & go than come & stay.  Events of the past week have helped me know one thing for sure: what my call is.  God has called us to Guatemala.  We know that He has a plan for our lives here, and that we must persevere in doing His work.  It would be easy to pack up and leave when we're having a bad day; I must admit that there have been times when I've looked at airline costs just to see.  But it always comes back to one thing: God called us here, and until He releases us, we are here.  No matter how badly we may want to return to our lives of comfort in the states, we can't.  One of Aaron's professors in seminary told his class that some days the only thing that keeps you going is knowing that God called you to the place you are.  What words of wisdom!

Life is hard, and it's even harder in another country.  But we know that we can't give up or give in to the emotions that we feel.  We have to persevere when things get tough.  We have to push through and fight satan's voice telling us to quit.  That's exactly what he wants.  But, in all aspects of our life, we want our Savior to win.  So we press on, we persevere, we focus on the only thing we can: our call is to Guatemala.  What's yours?