As most of you all know that I live in Iwakuni Japan serving at Calvary Chapel Iwakuni as a missionary. I over sea the children and youth ministry and have a lot of other different ministries that I do here.I always ask God how am I here in Japan as a missionary. God being God always tells me because of His grace.
Some of you may not know my testimony and that when I was younger I was a very shy kid and teenager.
-I had reading and writing problems.
-I hated speaking and reading in front of people.
-I was afraid of everything when I was kid.
I would of rather jump out of a plane with no parachute on then speak in front of people that's saying a lot because I hate heights.
So how did a kid who was shy, who hated speaking and reading in front of people and had reading and writing problem end up in Japan as a missionary?
I wonder that everyday I am here but I am so thankful that our God is just that big and good.
The answer to that is easy..........Gods grace and the way I learned about the beauty of Gods grace is by having a personal devotion time with Him.
I grew up in Visalia, CA. I started going to Parkside Chapel when I was about 5 or so and that is still my home church today, 20 years later.
I remember being about 13,14 years old or so and hearing about missionaries going out to serve the Lord in another country and thinking to myself "God that is so cool that they have that faith but I can never do that". That was when I knew that God started to put that on my heart to be a missionary but I was so afraid. I was even afraid to go on a plane at that age so I thought that alone would hold me back from serving God in another country.
When I was 16 years old I went to a Christian winter camp and we where in this big Sanctuary with tons of other youth praising and worshiping God. I remember thinking to myself "how cool this is God to see all of these youth worshiping you and hearing Your Word taught but I could never teach Youth Your Word because I'm afraid of public speaking and I myself cant speak well".
When I was 13,14 years old my dream was to be a missionary and when I was 16 my dream was to be a youth Pastor. I thought those dreams where only just dreams and could never come true.
God showed me how big He is!!!
When I turned 18 I started helping my youth Pastor out with jr. High. Some of you may know who Jason Wigand. He was my youth Pastor. God blessed me a lot by putting him in my life. When I was 19 God blessed me again by putting John Hinton in my life. Some of you might know him also. He pushed me to dream big and chase that dream God has given me.
When I was 22 I went to bible college and lived in Israel my second semester of bible college.
When I was 23 I went to do my last semester in Japan.
Now I'm 25 and I am a missionary in Japan and also a youth Pastor at the church I am helping at.
How did this happen? Gods grace!!!!! It was ALL God!!!! God doesn't need us but He wants us!!!
It was during my devotion time that God spoke to me to pursue to be a youth pastor and missionary.
It was during my devotion time when God would speak to me, love me, hold me, change me and move me.
Just how important is it to have a personal devotion time with God? Very important!! It is life changing!
During your personal time with God, He will start giving you His desire of His heart and He alone will start making His desire become real in your life.
I want to encourage you all to have a personal time with God everyday. That is when you will start to hear from Him and His dreams become your dreams and then they will become dreams you will be living out for His glory.
Hold on with everything the dreams, the desires that He has put in your heart. God will make those come true beause they are His dreams, His deisres that He has placed in your heart as you are having a personal devotion life with Him!!!
During your devotion time with the Lord, He will speak to you, love you, hold you, change you and move you.
Keep loving Jesus with all that you have and watch how big and good our God is!!!
