“Yes. A three letter word that changes everything.” These words were spoken a few years ago when I attended Urbana Missions Conference, and as I’ve been reflecting on how God has brought me to this point in my journey, they are words that have frequently come back to mind. Looking back, there have been many opportunities to say yes and respond in obedience to God. Sometimes, I eagerly gave an enthusiastic yes. Other times, I was quite reluctant to give my yes, but in every situation, God has been patient and faithful to show me the next step and affirm steps already taken.
Growing up, I had an amazing, Christian family, who demonstrated their faith in their own lives, and encouraged me in mine. I accepted Christ into my heart at a young age and was excited to learn more about God and share with others. At the age of seven, I began attending a summer camp that heavily emphasized missions. Through the people and my experiences there, I learned about God’s command for us to be involved in missions. I saw the need for the gospel to go to unreached people groups, and I told God that I wanted to obey and go overseas as a missionary.
I kind of wish I could say that my path was set from there, but in reality, I deviated from it pretty quickly. In middle school, I had an experience with one of my teachers that made me second guess my desire to go into missions, and I began to look at different paths for my future. Looking back, I can say that I’m grateful for that stretch of time. In that period, I was challenged to take my faith more seriously, to make it my own apart from my family. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I once again began to consider a future in missions. But I had my own stipulations if I was going to do this long term. I wanted to be in the U.S. so that I could be near family. I wanted to stay where I had more job security and would be in a familiar environment. With this in mind, I headed to college as a Spanish major.
Through these periods, God continued to graciously convict me, drawing my heart into obedience. During my freshman year of college, there were three things that were repeatedly brought to my attention; the need for the gospel to go to unreached people groups, the question of what my role in missions was, and the need to hold my own desires with open hands. Having felt called to go to Asia, I was suddenly in a situation where my major didn’t really fit with where I felt God leading me. Already, I had begun to think about studying TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), and in one of my classes, I had my first practicum in a classroom. I loved working with the students, and soon changed my major to education. God was reigniting my passion for missions all while he was showing me a passion for teaching, and it became clear how these two could work together.
Fast forward to my junior year of college, when I was pursuing mission opportunities for the summer through my college’s SOS (Summer of Service) program. Our team met several times in preparation, and I was eager to serve with a team in South Asia for the summer. The year was 2020, so needless to say, that trip didn’t happen. What I didn’t realize at the time was that God was already opening doors for my life post-college. Through this team, I heard about GoCorps for the first time, and began pursuing it as an option for after I graduated.
During my senior year, I began to look into specific placements, and I quickly had narrowed my options down to two possible placements. God closed the doors on one of those placements, and I was becoming frustrated. I was constantly praying, “God, you keep closing doors. I think I’m following where you’re leading, and I’m pursuing these different opportunities, only to have them fall through. Whatever I’m supposed to do, wherever you are leading me, please make it abundantly clear.” After meeting with the team leaders in my current placement, I felt confident that it would be a good fit, even better than when I had originally read the placement description. My biggest affirmation came the following morning. I woke up and opened my email to listen to the day’s prayer devotional. That morning, the scripture had to do with missions, so at the end they prayed for an unreached people group and also prayed for workers to go to this particular group. More specifically, they prayed for the country and people group that I was considering going and working with.
So here I am, several months later, raising support to move to Central Asia in the coming season. Looking back, I have had countless opportunities to say yes to God. Some of those did not turn out how I expected, and some are still in progress. While there may have been some disappointment and confusion along the way, I can definitively say that I don’t regret those times I responded in obedience.
I will leave you with another quote from my time at Urbana. I pray that this is something that is reflected both in my life, and in yours…
“I have decided that a yes to Jesus is a lifestyle. Wherever he calls me, whatever the cost, however afraid I might feel, I have decided to always say yes to him. Why? Because I love him, and he is worthy of my yes. He is worthy of my trust.” -Sarah Breuel Urbana 2018