Perspectives.

Lately I've really been struggling with the fact that my life is not in my own hands.  Don't get me wrong, I am a child of the amazing king and I LOVE that!  BUT, sometimes I just don't really understand what he is doing with me! I mean he gave me the amazing opportunity to be raised on the mission field and have my eyes opened to so many needs around the world, but then he moved my family back to America!  So, everyday i have this struggle in my life where i feel like i am completely wasting my time away! Not necessarily because I am in America, because i know we need Jesus here just as much as and other country, but because of how i spend my time! I am a student, so my school can be my mission field, but I sit for hours in a class room taking notes and learning skills and the whole time I am thinking "3/4 of the world lives of $2 a day, and I'm sitting in an air conditioned classroom paying $7,000 a year for school." Or i sit and think about how 41% of the world hasn't heard the gospel, and I am worried about how Potassium and Iron could bond to form a compound!  I know that God put me in this situation for his glory and that one day I will need the skills I am learning in order to further his kingdom, but it is so hard to grasp that right now! Ministry is one of the passions that burns greatly inside of me, so sitting in a classroom for 8 hours a day is very hard and it really tests my patience!  I just have to remind myself that in order to follow Christ, I need to work hard at EVERYTHING that he has called me to, and if that is school for right now, then that is where he wants me to put my efforts.  So I have a challenge for all of us, because I know there are others who also feel like you should be doing something so much "greater" than what you are!  DONT WASTE THE OPPORTUNITY GOD HAS GIVEN YOU! Maybe we are not meant to be the ones in Africa right now, but our testimony and attitude where we are could be the one thing that encourages someone else to go into those unreached nations and preach Gods word! We may not be the one who is supposed to physically go there right now, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a huge part in it!  I know you feel convicted to be doing something exciting and big, but don't let that make you bitter toward the life you have right now!  I always think to myself, one day i will be in the middle of a village in the pit of no where and Dr. Anderson's chemistry class will have taught me some fact that will come in handy!

 I remember one time i was sharing with a dear friend about my struggle with feeling useless and she replied to me, " Maybe you are here for me." I looked back at her confused. She laughed and said " No really. Maybe all these years of school, drama, confusion, all of it, was so that we could have this one conversation right now.  Maybe something you will say to me will change my life forever, and all of these years will not be wasted at all, but they will have impacted God's kingdom in a way you couldn't imagine."     We never know what our day will bring or what God is trying to do in our lives, but be open to it.  Accept the challenge of living this "boring American life", and make it radical.  Make your classes, friendships, sports, and everything else be for God's glory.  Don't waste another day thinking you are useless.  God woke you up this morning for a reason.  As long as you are breathing, He isn't done doing amazing things through you.