Where your passion meets God’s calling
is where you will meet God the most.

By Sarah Young

These past four years I have been conversing with God about His bigger plan for my life, not only career-wise but also ministry-wise. Throughout my whole life, over and over again, through the different stages of my life, God has faithfully confirmed my calling to become a teacher. So any opportunities that come my way where I can serve kids either at church, on a missions trips, or as a volunteer, I go. The more I engage in serving kids who are either  privileged or underprivileged, the more I find a great joy. I truly believe it comes from our Heavenly Father.

But I feel like God wants to take me farther and expand me more than just being a regular elementary school teacher in America. I’ve begun to get a sense of wanting to teach in a third world country where education is not as accessible as in the States. However, this could be coming from my idea and passion and might not be God’s will for me. So going into the Urbana student missions conference, that was my question to God: “Is becoming a teacher in a third world country part of your purpose in my life?  Is missions part of my life? And is it possible I could do both–be a teacher and a missionary?” I did not want to become a missionary because of my parents telling me to. But I am ultimately looking for God’s confirmation for me.

The journey started one day when I was driving and the song “Well Done” on K-Love  radio came on. Since then, every time I hear that one phrase in the song “Well done you good and faithful servant,” a sense of peace and yearning to hear that from the Lord overwhelms and comforts me. To the point where I picture myself standing in front of Heaven dying to hear that from the lips of God. Me wanting and waiting to see His proud eyes and big smile waiting for me. Then fast forward to Urbana…I find out the main topic of the conference was “being a faithful witness.” I made a connection between what God has been telling me this past month to the title of the conference: “Is God telling me that it is time for me to be His faithful witness and servant?”

Throughout the conference God has truly shown me what it means to be a faithful servant through studying the book of Revelation and going to seminars and exhibits. The book of Revelation is about John bringing hope to God’s people, the expected return of the coming King, a collection of visions of the past, present and future, the awe of who God is and the calling to be a faithful witness. God is described in Revelation, as Holy, triumphant, the One who sits on the throne, majestic, victorious, faithful and the true King. He is truly worthy…with glory and honor, to be praised by His people. Seeing and reflecting on these characteristics of God over these past few days makes me want to serve Him wholeheartedly and join Him in His mission. However, God does say it won’t be easy to follow him. But Revelation 12:11 brings us the hope to fight against the devil, “They (Christians) triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” How we can be victorious is through God’s Word, the blood of the Lamb and our testimony. We need not to be afraid because our God has already won the battle, overcome, triumphed, purchased us and is victorious! All God needs from us is the answer YES to partner with Him in His work to reach the unreached peoples and nations. Having this conviction in my heart throughout the conference, I felt the clear calling from the Lord for me to be a faithful witness come alive.

It is truly time for me to commit to becoming a faithful witness because of how faithful the Lord has been to me over these past 20 years. God is saying it is time for me to consider giving back to Him for all that He has done. Especially after going to the seminar “Reaching the World for Christ as Educators” I feel like God is giving me a little peek of what my future might look like in His global mission. It was brought to my attention that there is a great need in international schools as there is never enough teachers each year. This is so sad because the majority of people who attend these international schools are missionary kids. However, with  the shortage of teachers in the schools, there seems to be more missionaries going back to their home country, where the quality of education is better than on the missions field. This is a big problem because if we are not sending out missionaries, then who will share the Good News in the unreached areas? How is the Word of God going to be spread? So the speaker emphasized that as a missionary teacher, one can reach the world for Christ by partnering with the international schools (helping missionaries kids), so that parents can do God’s work and live out the calling God has called them to do also. As I am reflecting, I am reminded of the time when I was in a missionary school, of how much I appreciated the teachers and the impact they had on me. Now wanting to be a teacher in the future, I want to give that same experience I had to the next generation. A saying from a speaker I heard resonated so much in me, “Where my passion meets God’s calling is where you will meet God the most.” All I want to do is give Him honor, glory and praise. I am so excited to see where He will continue to take me.