I keep hearing my former pastor's words, spoken to my 19-year-old self over 13 years ago. "The worst possible thing you could do with your life is become a missionary."
And I am starting to wonder if maybe he was right.
I've always felt confident about my decision to step into ministry when and how I did -- against all the odds, really.
I've seen fruit of lives changed and considered it all the proof I needed that I was doing something far from the "worst possible thing".
But here I sit, late at night when the darkness is darkest and the doubts and unknowns are the loudest.
I sit here with my heart pounding and the tears flowing. And now...
Now my confidence is cracked and crumbling. Now while I know lives were changed by our team and years and service in Africa, I still hear my former pastor's words to my faith-filled teenage missionary heart.
And I've gotta be honest. I no longer have my youthful faith and energy that bounded me away from the fateful words spoken over me. I don't have the fight left in me that it takes to stand up against these kinds of roadblocks.
Even when they are only internal.
I simply don't have any fight left.
And I can't help but think...
That maybe he was right after all.
Maybe he was right. Maybe my decision to be a missionary was the worst thing I could've done because of the domino effect it would cause. Because while people got saved, pastors and churches strengthened, young leaders equipped to teach their peers in public schools about abstinence and AIDS prevention, and so many other mind-blowingly amazing things were done that led to transforming a nation... simultaneously my marriage fell apart, the man of God I loved decided to pursue another woman and walk away from God, me, and the ministry, and everything crumbled to pieces.
So maybe he was right all along. Maybe had I not gone to Africa, someone else more suitable and prepared and strong would have gone. And the end result of years of ministry would be so much more than what it currently is.
Maybe he was right...
I know to live in past-tense hypotheticals is completely futile. I know this. But in dark moments of deafening quiet, my heart immediately goes to that place. And I can't help but cry as my chest caves in under the weight of it all.
Maybe he was right...
Maybe He was right.
I gasp, and my breath catches in my throat.
Why do I trust so easily the words of the meteorologist and yet hesitate at the words of God? Why do I more easily trust the negative, fearful voices in my head than I do God's truth?
He told me to go. I went. Lives were changed through the grit and the glory. Including my own.
And so through the ugly tears, I'm starting to hear a growing whisper.
Maybe He was right.
Maybe He was right.