God has been preparing me for missions since childhood by deepening my love for His Word and using my home church and time at camp to disciple me. I considered working in children’s ministry for the rest of my life.
And then I was asked a question in Bible school that stopped me cold: What is God’s goal in all of human history? It was the first time I really understood God’s heart for all the nations—that they would come to know Him. (Revelation 7:9) If God’s heart is for the nations and I love God, then my heart needs to be for the nations too.
Later that year I went to Papua New Guinea where I met tribal believers who had received the gospel in their language for the first time 20 years ago. They told us that despite persecution, different villages in their language were asking them to come and teach God’s message! They were eager to go despite big challenges in their way. If they can trust God with big things so can I. Six weeks later, I was training for cross-cultural church planting (ethnostraining.ca).
God has led me despite my knee-shaking faith and taught me that ultimately He will accomplish the task of the nations knowing Him. He is simply using me to do so and shaping me to be more like Him in the process.