After a breakfast of horse-food, plain yoghurt, and tea in a quaint, antique-filled cafe downtown, it was off to work. I had much research to do on the internet, a cover letter and resume to write, and a future to plan. After I graduated from the course in Prague, I felt God calling me to prepare myself for His long-term plan for my life.
This past year I have devoted myself to preparing for the Foreign Service Officer Exam by picking up the occasional Economist or U.S. News and World Report magazines at Barnes and Noble, writing graduate papers based on U.S. foreign relations, reviewing my old history books, and studying up on the unknown world of management. All this climaxed in April when I finally took the exam I had heard so many had failed. I left the testing facilities incredibly confident.
“When will you know the results?”
“Late July.”
Instead of waiting, twiddling my thumbs in Savannah, for the results, I hopped aboard a plane to Europe to study in Prague and visit my parents in Germany. As I neared the completion date of the Teaching English as a Foreign Language course, a question began to surface in my mind.
Where did my deepest desire lay? ... in serving my country ... or serving my God? Representing the United States ... or representing Christ? I knew the answer immediately.
Serve God ... that was the ultimate desire of my heart.
Why such emphasis on the Foreign Service then? Was God testing me ... even before I knew whether or not I had passed? Was the Foreign Service to be my Isaac? Isn’t it possible to do both ... serve God and country? Oh, absolutely, dear Reader. But I began to reevaluate my motives for entering the Foreign Service. I realized that this was not the career I desired. It was not what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I discovered that all along I was only thinking of the Foreign Service as something to do before the ultimate plan.
The desire God has placed on my heart is different. I LONG for women all over the world to know and love God with all their souls, hearts, minds, and strength. I desire to enable them to lead their children in the ways of Christ. I want to teach them to love and respect their husbands, to become his helpmeet, enabling him to be all he can be for the Lord.
So, what was I doing sitting around working towards something so temporary when I have the ability to prepare myself now for God’s purpose for my life? So I have committed myself to partner with my parents in prayer and action to see this come to pass. Every night we meet together and I share with them what the Lord is teaching me and what has been accomplished during that day towards that end. Before we retire for the night, I lay any documents or notes I have made throughout the day on the table and we kneel and pray over them. I am confident that when I return to the United States I will have a clear path laid out before me.
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1 comment:
So you're joining God's Foreign Service, then?
Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. ... my kingdom is from another place. (John 18:36)
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