“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
-Mathew 11:28-30

Missions trips are awesome!
I know this because I have heard amazing stories of amazing things that God did through and to the people that went on these missions trips.
This is my first missions trip and after the first day I was discouraged... Discouraged because I expected everyday to be like those amazing stories I heard from friends:

"We prayed for this person's broken ankle and it was immediately healed."
"I spoke at this remote church and 23 people accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior that night!"

I wanted that for us. Rachel did not understand why I was getting so down on myself. She has been on trips before and has seen amazing God stories. I have seen them too, but just not while on a missions trip.
Honestly it's SELFISH!

Why do I want those things?

I could say because I want God to work miracles and change lives for the betterment of HIS kingdom, but my attitude seemed more like "I want God to use ME, so I can say that I did it. I did that. I now have an amazing story to share about MY missions trip."

I did not think that's what I was thinking but deep down I just wanted to change the life of every person we meet while on this trip. It's not selfish when I put it that way, but it is selfish when I think about WHO I am changing and WHY? Am I speaking life into this person because I want them to go to heaven and live a life on fire for Jesus? Do I want that to happen for them or for me? Do I get satisfaction from that thinking to myself "Yeah, I did that"
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

GOD DID THAT! He did it all! He will continue to do ALL. All glory to HIM.

I am sharing this because I had a wake up moment.
Let me tell you something truly awesome: Being married is the best thing ever.
For this reason in particular: My beautiful wife Rachel Amundson reminded me during my venting and frustration with my view towards a missions trip that we don't have to change every life...
I got so butt hurt when we left a conversation in Athens or Rome and the person wasn't open to anything. That's why I love marriage, my wife keeps me upright and reminds me of what truly matters, Christ!

I had another great friend of mine remind me to not be discouraged and to let go. He reminded me I needed to trust Jesus to do the heavy lifting. WOW!

I was trying to do it all on my own, not even asking my wife to help me let alone GOD.

I write this as a reminder to let Jesus do the heavy lifting. It makes life and love a lot easier when you're not so focused on doing this or that and to just let Jesus work and follow His guidance.

Think of something you need to give to Jesus to lift for you. Share it with us here at Days of Difference or with one of your friends or family members.

Cheers!