He Qualifies the Called...

Sorry this is such a long post! but its got a little history in it, so please read all the way through! :)   

 3 DAYS! just 3, seemingly very long days, I leave! I guess I won't really comprehend this whole thing till I land in Tanzania, or about half way through the 14 hour flight there! ;)
     So a few people have suggested that I tell a little about how I get to go on a missions trip and about where it all started. I was a little nervous Sunday night at church speaking in front of everyone, so I said my thank yous and was done ;) . So, with that...here it goes. :)
     My passion for global missions began when I was oh?... probably around 14. I was at Apostolic at the time and I believe a missionary to the Philippine's came. And that's where it all began! The pictures, the sacrifices his family had made, how they picked up and left everything they knew. All to win souls. It was so inspiring to me. And then my love for global missions grew. Though at an age so young I never really knew there was anything I could do about it but the usual...pray, fast, ask God for guidance. So lets fast-forward say, 5 years down the road. At this time I had just started going to New Life. Which truly saved my life. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, New Life Church was a God send. It was here that I "rediscovered" my love for Global Missions. So at about 19 years old I got on google. ;) I googled, and I remember so plainly, "Pentecostal Mission Trips" and wouldn't you know the first thing to pop up was a program called "Apostolic Youth Corps" formally known as "Youth on Missions". Apostolic Youth Corps (AYC) is based out of the General Youth Division for the UPC whose headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri. It gives young people ages 16-35 a chance to explore their love for Global Missions. So in 2011 I applied for the AYC trip to the Fiji Islands.
    Now, unfortunately I was not able to go the summer of 2011. I was heart broken. But I had prior plans I was committed to, and couldn't get off for both. But ya see, I believe in God's timing and He has a plan. It just wasn't my time to go. So the time came when the trips were posted for summer 2012. These trips included Tanzania, The Philippine's, Switzerland, Russia, Haiti, Costa Rica, Argentina and Portland, Oregon. I prayed so hard over where I needed to go. And before I knew it, Tanzania was all I could think about. So I applied, and prayed, checked the mail, and prayed some more. And what felt like an eternity later, I got that glorious letter in the mail! I had been accepted! ME! a small town girl from Arkansas. I was going on a missions trip, to Africa!
     I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and have dinner with Brother Mark Alphin, UPC missionary to Finland when he and his daughter were in town. He gave me so much wonderful advice! He also warned me that I would be under a great deal of spiritual warfare. Now, I had been told this before. But, its only after many sleepless night that I truly understood what that meant. I have fought nightmares, doubt, fear, and one pretty bad panic attack during the process of preparing for my missions trip. I have fasted all social media sites for a moth now, and as dumb as it sounds I fought major urges to get on them.
     One major thing I have been dealing with is doubt. I had a nightmare where a person I've never seen before was talking to me. He looked me straight in the eye, and I remember this so vividly, he said, "you've been praying and fasting since February (for a certain need) and nothing as happened. what makes you think you can go to Tanzania and in 12 days help all these people? You are not going to accomplish anything. You are not qualified to do it." This dream stirred my very soul. I should not have let it affect me the way it did, but it was so vivid. I know it was the devil himself telling me these lies. But, I had a bad panic attack and all these feeling came out I thought I had pushed aside. I was crying and could hardly breath all while telling my mother, "I'm not qualified to do this. I'm not ready. I can't even help my own family, how can I help the Tanzanian people? I'm. Just. Not. Qualified." Looking back on that I realize was I saying the EXACT things the devil had told me in my dream.1. I am not qualified. 2. I cant help these people. and 3. I'm not ready. These are LIES the devil put in my mind to kill and destroy my dreams. During this attack my mother kept repeating the sweet name of Jesus and said something My youth pastor taught on not to long ago. She said, "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called." Those words have never meant more to me in my entire life. The devil might of shaken me to my core, but he has NOT broken me. The Lord has His hands on this trip! He has His hands on me and the AYC team. And He HAS qualified us.
      Now I know the only reason the Devil is attacking me so hard is because he knows, oh believe me! He knows something GREAT is about to happen! And he is doing everything in his power to stop our team. Several others on the AYC team have fought everything from fear, depression, health problems, nightmares and many other unsaid things. Ya see, I believe the devil takes your weakness and uses everything in his power to fight you with it. That's his ONLY tactic. Well, Devil I've got news for you! YOU WILL BE AND HAVE ALREADY BEEN DEFEATED! Our team is going to sweep through Tanzania like a HOLY GHOST FIRE! They won't know what hit them! I'm praying we break EVERY chain that is binding the Tanzanian people, and that we break every single hold you have on them! So fight all you want Devil, we have already won. ;)
     I know this was long! And I'm sorry. But I had a story to tell, so I did. If you only take one thing from this whole story take this... "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called."
    Until next time....