Personally Loving A Personal God
5/25/2022
Written By: Kailee Seawright
This week officially marks one year since I went on a Filter of Hope mission trip to the Dominican Republic with IUPUI and Butler Cru. It feels like I JUST came back from this trip, so it's hard to wrap my brain around it already hitting the year mark.
That being said, there are some things that God revealed to me on this trip that I still can miss from time to time in the everyday life of living in the United States. I would like to share these revelations with you in hopes that they encourage and lift you up, and maybe even change your perspective as we head into the summer months.
1. People everywhere are craving to hear about Jesus, and He can utilize anyone to start those conversations, right where they are. You don’t have to go to third world countries or minister to people you normally wouldn’t see in your day-to-day activities; your pursuit of sharing Jesus and making Him known should not fall under a specific country or a group of people that you have deemed “need Jesus more” (because Lord knows we ALL desperately need Him and crave Him).
Maybe you think you are too “fill in the blank.” “I’m too young.” “I’m too dumb.” “I’m too ‘new’ to Christianity.” I have those same lies sneak through, often when I feel God pushing me to share about Him. Evangelism is something that has always scared me. I can usually talk to people fairly easily, but the idea of going up to strangers and talking to them about Jesus is terrifying.
So when it was my turn in our group to share the Gospel at the next round of houses we’d be visiting, my anxiousness was diminished in a matter of minutes because I knew God was going before me and that my group was going to support me through it. I was able to share my story and connect with the man we were talking to about deaths of loved ones we had both experienced in life. God can use our “inadequacies” to jump-start powerful, Gospel conversations.
2. God’s provision far outweighs anything we as human beings can ever imagine or try to wrap our minds around. It is so easy to get frustrated when things don’t go “our way,” and when that happens, we often miss how He continues to seek us out.
When planning for my DR trip, I initially never intended on going. My original plan was to go to Hungary the summer before, but lovely COVID cancelled those plans, so I was left crushed and desperate to use the funds people had graciously given to my “intended” mission for another one.
Long story short, God closed the door to Hungary so that He could open the door that led me to the DR. He knew exactly what I needed despite me having no idea. And He knows exactly what you need too! Maybe it's a new job, healing from a broken relationship, or even a miracle of having the McDonald’s ice cream machine ACTUALLY WORKING (imagine that!). Even when the answer is “no” to our current, desperate prayer, He will pave a way for something greater.
3. We serve a PERSONAL God, who loves us INDIVIDUALLY and who continuously seeks US out through ways that others would consider mere “coincidences.” If you know me, you know that I love caring for kids of all ages, and that yearning is what got me into teaching in the first place.
While in the Dominican, on two separate occasions, in two different villages, two different boys I had never met or talked to came up to me specifically and gave me the biggest hugs. Now, I could see this happening if it were kids coming up to me that we had talked to or worked with throughout the week, but these boys were literal strangers. Not to mention that on both occurrences I was standing in a pretty big group with some other teammates, and the boys sought ME out and one of them literally RAN down the street, straight to ME and hugged me.
I was quickly reminded in these moments of God seeking US out, despite our tendencies to be selfish or anything else that would keep us from Him. Like the little boys that ran to me, so too does God run to us, especially when we are least expecting it. He picks us out, takes hold, and reminds us that we are valuable, loved, and His. I promise you God absolutely cares for you, even if you fail to realize it.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Please know that He sees you. He cares for you. And He is seeking you out!
So as we head into summer, the activities may change, more ice cream will be had, and there will be days we are worn out from sunburns and life, but these truths will always hold true no matter what season or drought you find yourself in: we were created with a purpose, and God desires for us to cling to Him, above anything else in this world.
May we never grow weary of that honor and may we always strive to seek Him in anything we do.