This Was Where I Belonged

The airplane window showed nothing but blue. I was flying over the ocean for the very first time in my life. But I was crossing much more than a sea of water – I was crossing the sea between dreams and reality. All my life, I knew that I was going to be a missionary; now I was finally going on a mission trip. I wasn’t nervous about preaching or anything else really. I knew that I could do nothing but was pumped for what God was going to do through me. So I entered the trip with the mentality of being blessed and working with God to bring people to His truth and love.

I rode in the car on the way to my church that first night, drinking in the world that surrounded me. We turned onto a road that was extremely steep. I’m sure that many drivers in America wouldn’t attempt to drive it or at least would be very nervous to do so. It curved twice before heading downward again. Going down we entered my church’s neighborhood. I found it to be very poor; the houses were very small and not closed around completely; some of the homes were made of scraps of metal put together. They looked like they could fall at any moment. I was surrounded by a world so different than anything in America, not even like a ghetto. But I felt more at home than I’ve ever felt before. This was where I belonged.

Message after message, God’s love was presented to a hurting people. They’re a people of burdens, alcoholism, abuse, and pain. But still the children smile and laugh, and their parent’s hospitality is felt in each handshake, hug, and kiss on the cheek. Here I was preaching about God’s love, but I discovered it to be in their hearts already. Now they could find it the heart of God.

Let me tell you one of their stories. I’ll introduce you to a fourteen-year-old girl. A month ago, she was away from home living the all too common lifestyle of immorality that is here in Dominican as people search for happiness in all the wrong places. But she came back home and began coming to my meetings. Her life changed immediately. Her mother noticed the change. When she first came I saw a teenager with hoop earrings and suggestive clothing. Now I see a person transformed outwardly with her inner peace and happiness shining through.

Let me show the eyes of these people. Look past their poverty, look past their loose lifestyles, look past their outward appearance and see the tears, confusion, and pain. Now see those eyes after they have looked into the eyes of Christ. What happens? Where there were tears, there is joy. Where there was confusion, there are answers. Where there was pain, there is comfort.

I have been so humbled and thrilled to be a part of God touching the lives of these people. People all over the world are suffering for multiple reasons and it has been my utmost privilege to feel God’s love in my own life which reaches out to others through me. There is nothing more amazing than to be used by God Himself.