Last Fall/Winter I had the privilege of leading a School of Worship outreach team! The plan was to spend 2.5 months in Scotland with a small team of 3.
As we were making preparations to go, something wasn’t sitting right with one of my students (we’ll call her “Jess” in this story). Jess kept feeling like she shouldn’t go! School of Worship is a secondary school in which the outreach portion is optional. But she had already committed and thought her own feelings were probably just getting in the way. And yet… she just couldn’t shake those feelings. So Jess took time to intentionally pray! That led to confirmation that she wasn’t joining us on outreach.
We trusted that she was hearing from the Lord but our plans immensely shifted. Through all this change, 2 very important things happened:
- An opportunity came up for Jess to be sent by her church to a closed country in Southeast Asia that had been on her heart for many years!
- The other student and I went to Costa Rica after 1 month in Scotland!
Keep in mind: both of those things wouldn’t have happened if she had decided to come with us. Why is that significant?
Well, read this story Jess shares from her time in Southeast Asia:
“We were assisting an undercover survey throughout a predominantly Muslim concentrated region. We were on our way to one of the only churches in the district, carrying everything we owned in our arms as we went. After many miles of walking, we decided to shed the weight of our bag of brown rice, seeking to give it to one of the many slum homes we passed by. Curious, warm and vibrant women and children quickly arose to welcome us as we approached. Through our national partner/translator we asked if we could share good news with them. They excitedly gathered 50+ women and children from the outskirts of the slum. Using stories from the Bible, we shared the message of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God and one true king! His power over wind and waves, his sacrifice for our sins, his love for sinners. After many minutes of preaching to these wide eyed, hungry faces we asked…
“Have you heard anything like this? What do you think of this good news?” Their hungry eyes turned into cloudy, confused foreheads.
“How could we ever know such a story? We have been waiting to hear good news like this but you have not come until this day. We have been waiting our whole lives to hear this. How could we have known? Why did you not come sooner?”
Jess’ team was able to leave them with Bibles and the Jesus films, expectant to see some of those smiling faces again one day in Heaven!
As for us, while we were in Costa Rica we spent 2 weeks running a Mini Discipleship Training School where local teenagers were deeply impacted. One young boy said it was the first time he’d ever felt the presence of God! A girl who had grown up in intense poverty said it was the first time she’d ever felt joy! Handfuls of teenagers confessed addictions and sought prayer, healing, and victory in those areas!
It was SUCH a special and impactful outreach! I will never, ever forget it.
We wouldn’t have been part of any of that; wouldn’t have touched any of those lives if Jess hadn’t made the uncomfortable decision of listening to God’s voice when she didn’t understand why.
If He is telling you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you… just do it! You won’t regret obeying Him.
-Jaycie Plett, YWAM Maui Staff Member