The other day, while facing the prospect that I will be leaving Birmingham on my way to Ghana in just over a month, I started feeling overwhelmed. I don't feel ready. I still have funds to raise, documents to submit, supplies to buy, books to read, workouts to complete, and scriptures to memorize. And those things are in addition to my regular to-do list. There is so much to do.
Today, however, God gave me grace. Sitting on my back porch, drinking in the sun-dipped leaves, breathing in the cool morning air, listening to the song of the birds, I felt a quiet reassurance...a whisper that I am ready. Not because of anything I have done but simply because the His Holy Spirt is inside me. Jesus said, "All authority...has been given to me. Therefore go" (Matthew 28:18-19).
The most important prerequisite has already been met. Jesus has authority. And since His Spirit is in me, I walk under that authority, infused with that power (see 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 and Ephesians 1:18-22). Therefore, I may go.
This is not to excuse me from accountability, nor does it remove those items mentioned above. It does, however, provide me with an assurance that over all my preparations, God has given me all that I need. He has set this trip before me. It was He who put the desire in my young heart to travel...to go. And He will be the One to see me through.
I may never feel ready. But Jesus didn't ask me to. He didn't ask His disciples if they felt "up" to going. He simply said, "go." And He gave them a promise: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Mathew 28:19-20).
I am ready. Not because I feel so, but because He is with me.
Sources:
Girl with backpack looking at water at sunset. Digital image. Healing Hands Urgent Care. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2015. <http://www.healinghandsuc.com/travel-med/>
Holy Bible New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002. Print.
