Faith in the Fallouts

Each year, I have an opportunity through my school to go on a trip. Last year, I went to Honduras, which was entirely mission-based, and I knew I wanted to experience something like that again. This year, I went to Costa Rica, and it was different in the best way possible.

I believe that God works on every mission trip, but this time around, I noticed more of a change in me than anything else. I went into the trip expecting to serve others, but God had a different plan. Instead of just working through me, He was working so hard in me.

Now, of course, I served others this week. My friends and I built a house for a family in need, and we showed people the love of the Lord. But I was shown His love, too, through the joy of kids that I couldn’t always understand, through the friendships I built with others on my team, and through two girls close to my age who live an entirely different life than I do. Through all of this, I saw and felt Christ’s love.

For the longest time, I didn’t want to have a relationship with God anymore because I thought He had stopped loving me. I know now that He never stopped loving me; I just let my circumstances affect my joy, my peace, and my love for Him. Over the last couple of months, He has started to untangle this lie that my mind had woven, but this week truly proved it wrong.

I am beyond thankful for the opportunity I had to serve, but I am more thankful to every person I met and spent time with this week, because each of them showed me the love of the Lord. This trip reminded me that missions are about more than the work we do for others; sometimes, they are about the work God does within us.