Lynda's Testimony

In the fall of 2007 I made a commitment to God to be obedient to His call—wherever it took me. I also prayed for Him to change my character because I knew I would need a change in my heart, thoughts, and actions if I was to be of useful service to Him.


In the past couple years God has been slowly working with me and 2009 proved to be a year filled with growth opportunities. Through such experiences as a job resignation, home burglary, and a diagnosis of breast cancer God showed me that I not only needed Him, but that He would be there supplying the answer to my problem sometimes before I even knew I had a need. He showed me again and again that He was in control and had each detail of my life taken care of. And in the midst of turmoil, He gave me peace.

In planning the mission trip, I often felt frustrated at the lack of progress. Each time I took a problem to the Lord he gave me peace and guidance—without fail. I cannot recall how many times I said to God: “I can’t do this!” nor how many times He said: “I can.”

Two of my weaknesses were doubt in my ability to be an effective leader and feeling inadequate in my knowledge of spiritual matters. Six weeks prior to the mission trip we still didn’t have a spiritual leader and after much prayer I felt God telling me to do it. Wow. Right to my weaknesses He went and right to my knees I fell. “I can’t do this”, I prayed. “You can’t, but I can”, came the answer again.

So I developed a routine of praying and then researching through my personal library, the church library, and online for appropriate subjects to share as devotionals. I don’t believe I’ve ever poured through so many books, articles, and even the Bible searching God’s word for mission related Scriptures. It was a wonderful experience—perhaps even the highlight of the entire trip for me! As I was searching for ways to keep our team connected to God I found myself growing even closer to Him myself. I looked forward to what I would discover each day.

After I had created individual devotionals I then prayed about how and when to present them. I put together a specific schedule with a short morning devotional and a longer evening devotional. Even though I did the physical work I know it was God who worked through me to do it. It was amazing how each day the devotional seemed Tailor-made to fit that day.

The main lesson I learned through the mission trip was that God totally delights in using His strength to work through our weaknesses. And that is when you see God--and not Lynda--at work.

Privleged to serve,
 
Lynda