“Be not afraid, only believe”
Mark 5:36
We often have goals, which we set out for ourselves, goals we wish to achieve and goals we wish to conquer. We can pray, plan, and wish all our lives, and once it becomes a reality, we have no choice, but to make a decision. A decision, whether we embrace it and believe that God will guide us, or avoid it because we let fear overcomes us.
I was blessed this year to have been able to travel on my very first missionary trip to the country of Kazakhstan. Seeing that it was my first trip, there were a lot of worries and fear about me going, and I have to say I was feeling nervous. So one day, while talking to a woman from my church on this topic, she told me, “If God has chosen to send you, then He will take care of you.” With those words fresh in my mind, and after praying about it, from that day forward, I felt complete peace, as if there were no worries and fear in the first place! Deep down I believed that God was going to come along, and that He would be there whenever I needed Him, and sure enough He was, right there beside me! You can probably guess what the end result was, because all of the worries and problems that I once feared about, proved to be nothing that He couldn’t manage. I am very glad that, I did not let fear ruin my dream, and thankful for having such an opportunity. For me, it was a great lesson, to not be afraid, but to trust God.
Something I noted for myself, was when at the end of our camps, usually the last day, the children would start to come up to us, and beg us to stay a little longer, maybe a day or week, also beg us to come back next year. They would grasp you, hold you tight, look up at you with these puppy eyes, and just beg. Looking down at them I thought to myself, “Lord, who are we to be compared to You? What do we have, that we could offer to these children? It shouldn’t be us that they wait for, it should be You! You are the one gives us all things, and we…well we are just regular people, who look up at You for help.” I realized that these children are waiting for the wrong person and that they should be waiting for God, and not until next year, but everyday! And so I pray that the seeds that we have planted in the children, that they sprout in God’s timing and that they realize that they need Jesus Christ in their lives. I want to ask, that you pray for these children as well. For the children and the country itself.
Arriving in Kazakhstan, I was amazed at the culture, the people, the surroundings, the landscape…etc. However, even though it all seemed unique, I felt like there was something missing, that something proved to be someone, and that someone proved to be God! Throughout our time in Kazakhstan, our team traveled to 5 different camps, and in every camp I realized that the people and the children had that look of emptiness in their eyes. Looking at statistics, Kazakhstan takes fourth place, for having the most teenagers committing suicide every year. Many leave this place without even hearing about God or the Gospel. There are so many people in the country who need to hear about God, and God needs people who are willing to go on this mission. Are you willing to go? Or is something holding you back? Is it fear? If it is, don’t let it defeat you, but believe, and when you do, God will use you in a way that you can’t even imagine!
-Viktoriya Dyachkina