“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21 NKJV
7 years ago I had a conversation with my father who asks me one question that changed completely the path that I was walking at that time in my life and help me to have a broad perspective of the future ahead of me. You might be asking yourself what was the question, the question was, “what’s your plan?”. Yes, as simple as it sounds this was the question that God uses through my father to open my eyes and see that there was no future, no hope to where I was heading to.
From that point over I was steadfast in my decision to join the Service. My perseverance in the process starts producing a new and revitalize character and that character starts producing a new hope. The Holy Spirit starts gaining ground in my mind and my heart after a sincere prayer asking Him that “if this was God’s will, then have your way in me.” In other words, it proved to me that this is what you have and want for me.
We have heard before the saying“watch out for what you wish for”, the Holy Spirit start renewing my thoughts and attitudes in order for me to be ready for what I was getting into. There is a big difference between taking risks by yourself and taking risks in response to the One who has called you. God called me and I responded without even recognizing that it was him on the other side of the phone willing to offer me one more time the plans that He knew He had for me way before I took my very first breath. When I think about this it might look and sound something like this: Ring ring, me: “Hello?”, God: Yes, can I ask you a question? Me: Yes, sure. God: What’s your plan? Me: “thinking mode”, God: I have one for you, do you want it? Me: Yes, sure.
From all the options that I could’ve to choose during that time, I choose to join the Service but it was definitely because God was 100% sure that taking that risk I wasn’t going to have any regrets. He knows our needs, He know was best for us, He knows more than us, more than anyone in the whole world. When He called Abraham He tells him to leave his land, his family and leave his father’s house. Abraham answer with an action, he departed. Abraham knew who was calling him and he knew who was going to fulfill those amazing promises. When we receive promises from those that people that surround us daily it feels hard to fully trust in their words, but when God speaks He delivers a message of absolute truth and that’s how our faith gets activated. And when He speaks His promises to us we can fully trust in Him because God never changes, He remains the same.
In 2013 I left the land and family that saw me grew up, I left friendships and relationships that I had fo years. I left behind everything that I knew, everything that I was able to relate to. Faith, trust and obedience must be present from the beginning and along the way of your journey. This is key for all of us to step in the uncertainty, knowing who goes before us, who goes behind us and who is around us. When Jesus told Simon that “from now on you’ll be fishing for people”. And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. Isn’t that crazy? But I guarantee you that their risk of following Jesus didn’t bring them any regret. God will always go to show up when we least expected. For me, I was drowning in debts, living paycheck to paycheck, without caring too much about my future, my plan and my hope. But then God shows up in the least expected way and without me realizing or noticing He extent His righteous hand and brought me out of the horrible pit that I was in. He established my steps into a new pathway.
He made me one of the few and the proud and I’m more than grateful for every blessing. I have seen myself grow in so many areas of life, especially in my faith. I can say that I knew about God, according to what the bible, my family, the church, religion, and culture said about Him, but it wasn’t until I meet Him that I truly knew who He is and who I was in Him. Leaving everything was gaining everything for me. I gain new confidence, a new identity, a new mindset, a new perspective. I found pure love, joy, peace, acceptance, and a new life. Let Him write this new chapter in your life and step into the journey that He has planned just for you.