This was a bad idea. Clutching a $20 bill in my hand as the answer to the pain I was in didn't give me any peace. I didn't want to be in this place. As a kid I didn't dream about committing suicide, but now I was quickly losing the urge to live. I needed out! I needed a change! In the darkest time of my life God reached out to me, and saved me from the demons tormenting my mind.
This is my story...
It all began when I was tossed into middle school. My older brother wasn't around like he had been during homeschool. Now, I had to make new friends.
When I first came into missions, I thought I might end up working with the people who lived in garbage dumps in the Philippines, thousands of miles from my home.
When I said yes to God, that’s what I thought He would have me do.
HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULDN’T GO TO COLLEGE IMMEDIATELY
Graduate valedictorian, go to an Ivy League school, enter a respectable profession, get rich - that’s what I decided my life’s purpose was when I was in high school. The only reason I wanted to do missionary work before college was so that I could have a stronger résumé. Good thing God can take our impure motives and bring something good out of them.
I find myself praising God when life is going good. I can say in the morning (good times) you, God, are good. In those times, it’s easy to thank God for what you have. You run to God, you tell others about God, and you kind of feel invincible. Life’s going great. Am I right?
In the early days of GPS, there are at least a handful of stories of some poor souls who opted to trust their Global Positioning System over what their eyes and senses were telling them. Most of the stories have decently happy endings (meaning no serious injuries).
URBAN MISSIONS IN THE MIDST OF Social RESTRICTIONS
How is it even possible to be missional in spite of the restrictions we are facing? Though the physical reach of our activity is blocked, and for good reason, our passion to share the love of Jesus with the nations hasn't diminished at all.
Our urban centers around the country have been seeking creative expressions of how to minister. We are so encouraged by their stories and are praying for more!
Need some help discovering if taking a Gap Year is the right thing for you? In this blog, we tackle a few key issues to help you make this decision with confidence.
The rain couldn't stop 140,000 barefoot Brazilians from saying, "I WILL GO!" last weekend at THE SEND gathering...lifting their shoes up as a symbol of surrender to Jesus. We were there. We saw it first hand⎼a move of God calling people with sweet conviction to walk closer, draw nearer, and go further. It was received with reckless enthusiasm.
"I walked down to the local convenience store to buy a Coke when I noticed a man who looked like he was in pain. He said his shoulder was hurting, so I offered to pray for him.
We thought it would be awesome to take two very different, but vital departments on our campus and switch them for day. You know there are always two sides to every story. Well, this is no different!
It was a huge shock to everyone around me when I decided to become a missionary in 2016. Having come out of 6 years of deep addiction before entering 3 rehabs, I was the last person you’d expect to see joining Youth With A Mission, Tyler.
I was totally living for myself. I thought I was the center of the universe back in May of 2015 before I entered my last rehab. I finally came to a point of surrender about four weeks into that program, when I felt God’s love for me for the first time. It was game-over after that! I was hooked.
Prior to that encounter, I was so consumed with myself I did not ever really love, or allow myself to be loved. Everyone and everything around me was a resource to get whatever I was looking to gain in the moment.
My self-absorbed life stifled love from every crevice and corner of my life.
[Photo: I know right? A mug shot. That's how bad my life had spun out of control.]
However, there was a moment which changed everything for me. A true encounter with God can accomplish what one hundred counseling sessions could not. Something changed when I allowed myself to be stripped before God. No mask, no presuppositions, just a real, vulnerable openness to Jesus as my Savior.
After I graduated from Shiloh, I joined my first Discipleship Training School at YWAM Tyler. Youth With A Mission understands knowing God is paramount. Understanding I am His child is vital. Everything else hinges on this realization.
I believe, “you don’t really know yourself until you know Jesus.” Through my discipleship experience, I finally understood, “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) is a remarkably freeing statement.
While I was still self-centered, caring for no one, stealing, and lying–Jesus died for me! I love Jesus now and do my best to genuinely love the people around me, but Jesus died for the version of me who cared neither for myself, or the people around me.
Whether I am still roaming the streets with a pint of vodka in my belt strap, or I am preaching in front of thousands, Jesus’s love for me is the same! It never changes.
Knowing God, really knowing Him is what life is all about. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Each time I read this verse it chips away at the block of religion that has crusted up around me through years of never actually encountering and pursuing God for myself.
To know God, and to makeHim known. This is the motto of Youth With A Mission. I love the simplicity of this, because when you boil it all down, it is what life is really all about.
[Photo: Making God known took me to Greece with my Evangelism Training School.]
Now do we just spend our time alone in a room, with a Bible and a cup of coffee? Heavens no! James says, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works.”(James 2:18). Such a confident statement that my personality appreciates!
I love being active, pursuing, and creating alongside God for His name’s sake. Prior to coming to YWAM Tyler, I thought all missionaries were old, white, married couples. I thought a missionary wife wore a bonnet (no slight to bonnet wearers!) and the husband had spent years in seminary and pastoral training. The thought of becoming a missionary wasn’t in the solar system of my thought process, but boy did that change after coming to YWAM Tyler.
My understanding of being a missionary changed when I ran into a former X-Games athlete, met men and women who had struggled with addiction, eating disorders, vanity, homosexuality, been through a divorce, and the list could go on. These people were seasoned missionaries who had been around the world several times over, impacting lives every step of the way, yet had a life transformation with Jesus!
This was me too! I was just like these people!? “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
[Photo: Making God known took me to Korea with my Discipleship Training School.]
Out of an overflow of intimacy with a living God our life begins to move. A true faith—a living faith—has the natural outworking of good works. To Know God and Make Him Known. This really sums up how I became a missionary.
If you are ready to take the next step in your personal life of Knowing God and Making Him known, today is the day to sign up for the next training school at YWAM Tyler. We are here and ready to help you discover God's purpose for your life.
