“I found myself loving every minute of it”
I was apprenhensive before going on mission how I would cope with being a 24/7 Christian and how I would act being constantly surrounded by Christians. But what I found was that being on mission; spreading the gospel and demonstrating the love of God, I naturally fitted into that lifestyle. I suppose it wasn’t until after the first week that I even realised this. I thought there would be a difficult transition process to undergo as I turned from a ‘regular Joe’ to a ‘full time missionary’ getting to grips with living as a 24/7 Christian.
But again to my utter surprise I found myself loving every minute of it and appreciating the smaller things in life that I take for granted. It was almost as though I had rediscovered the way I’d always wanted and knew how to live! This came as a great revelation to me as what I was most concerned about turned out to be the easiest and most surprising things I learnt from the whole experience.
I love the way God does things; as His ways are not the way I would necessarily do things, and praise God for that! It is awesome to experience how God makes his desires our desires (when we allow him to) and when we see things through God’s eyes- we find the answers.
Being surrounded by brothers and sisters who really love God and who are always willing to give- there’s no better people to be around and I miss that closeness. It’s made me question and evaluate the company I keep back home. The challenge upon arrriving back home is to see how this 24/7 Christian fits back into my old ways.
Johnnie Garside
Liverpool