Over the course of the day, I’ve had so many different emotions ranging from excitement and happiness to sadness, guilt and selfishness. An interesting day to say the least! I’m truly missing home since I just moved across the country to become a MissionCorps member at Maggie’s Place.
All good stuff happened today. I had an opportunity to go swimming but we all know I am allergic to that AZ heat (with temperatures reaching to 107 degrees!). This brings me back to when I went away to college. I cried after the first week from being homesick.
Mission work is such a great idea but are you truly ready to experience being away from family and friends and everything you know? Are you really ready to allow God to change you from the inside out? Are you ready to sacrifice personal space and get outside your comfort zone to make positive changes in someone else’s life? These are questions I thought about but I really didn’t give much serious thought. I just knew I wanted to do this work as a way of saying thank you to God. I wanted to give up a year or two of my life to do something for Him. That was it… I was willing to step out in faith, go into the unknown, and do work for Him without truly realizing the consequences of my decision.
Giving up personal space, being away from family & friends, not having my car… These are just some things that I have given up but I know my gains are going to be so much greater!
“For the momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
This reminds of the story of Christ and how he went to the Cross… He had to leave everyone behind, his mom, disciples and followers, to do His father’s will. He could have gotten down, said “I’m out!” and walked off, but He chose to stay. As such, I could hop back on a plane today and go home but that’s just too easy. The suffering that came with the Cross did not stop Christ from accomplishing His real goal – to die for all humanity and to save us from our sins.
In this way, I plan to be like Christ, putting my selfishness and fear aside to support these women and help them to pursue a better life for themselves and their children.
So today, I stand strong, tall, & firm on Christ until the end….
I can’t quit— I won’t quit
By Charmaine Witherspoon, a MissionCorps member
