God Adventures

Posted on May 21, 2012 by ELN

Adventure: an exciting or very unusual experience; participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises; a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

God is a God of adventure! Amazing opportunities and incredible journeys await those who stand ready to follow Him wherever He may lead them.

In Genesis we read the story of one such adventurer. A servant, sent out on a long and perilous journey to find a wife for his master’s favored son meets the lovely Rebekah. Fulfilling a sign from the Lord, she draws water from the well for this very thirsty man and his camels. Keep this in mind; she doesn’t even know this man. He meets her at the well, spends the night in her dad’s house, and is determined to take her away with him. Her relatives make some attempts at delaying her departure, but in the end, they leave the decision to her.

Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go” Genesis 24:54-58 (NKJV).

She may not have known the servant, but she knew the working of God when she saw it! Mary the mother of Jesus responds with the same bold confidence to the news that she will miraculously conceive the Messiah with this statement: Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” Luke 1:38 (NKJV).

Like Rebekah and Mary, Andrea Barrios, a first year intern at Awaken has answered, “I will go” to the leading of God. Here she shares one of her God Adventures:

“I have known for a while that God has given me a heart for missions, so when I heard Grace North was going to minister in Haiti I knew I had to be there. It was an exciting, yet challenging realization. I found myself more than a little anxious that I might be overwhelmed by my emotions in the middle of all the brokenness I expected to find there, but trusting that God would equip me for anything He called me to do; I submitted my plans to Him and signed up!

“What impacted me most upon my arrival was seeing the living conditions of the Haitian people. Most have literally nothing, and yet they seemed so loving and happy. They truly gave everything they had to Jesus, no matter what their natural circumstance.

“I expected the trip to be a lot of hard, exhausting work, but God was so good. I can honestly say that I never expected it to be as fun as it was! His presence made the work seem almost easy. I got to do what I love to do, which is minister to kids and serve alongside people I love. Yes, there was actual work involved like sanding the staircase (3 days in a row!) or teaching the kindergarten class with limited supplies. I had expected to be exhausted and emotional, but with His peace, this was a joyful experience.

“The Haiti mission trip not only changed my perspective on others, but it changed how I view my own life as well. It took just about everything I had to even step foot on that plane to leave. Even days after being home, I was still missing it. It was then I realized that I was home sick for Haiti. More than that, I was home sick for the mission field. God is preparing me through Awaken, and He’ll send me out again soon. When He does, I’ll be ready!”

To find out more about Awaken, the ELN school of ministry in Phoenix, Arizona, click here.

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