WAITING ON THE LORD

(Click to hear the sermon)

Just a few weeks after arriving at WOLBI, our class gathered around a campfire one overcast night. We were all given a challenge for the upcoming year – to completely surrender our lives to what the Lord might have for our future and listen to His guidance for the next year. Pieces of paper were passed out, which represented our lives. We were asked to throw them in the fire, together, if we were willing to accept the challenge of completely surrendering our future to the Lord. “Ready? 3….2….1….”

Waiting is something that I have always struggled with. Whether it relates to purchasing something without seeking proper counsel or making decisions about my future, I have never enjoyed the process of waiting. Throughout my childhood I was constantly tested in areas that put my patience to the test. I definitely didn’t pass all of the tests, but they have helped me grow in patience.

I graduated high school in May of 2015 and in August of the same year I traveled to the opposite side of the world to attend the Word of Life Bible Institute on Jeju Island, South Korea. At the moment I was confident in where God had me, but beyond attending the BI, I had no clue what I would do with my future.

After a few months, thoughts of what I would do once I graduated started to inundate my mind and overwhelm me. It was a slow process, but days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, and still I had no direction as to where I wanted to go.

I tried thinking about pursuing a path that aligned with what I thought I was most interested in or had talent for. I looked into an aviation or business major.

I prayed night after night, frustrating myself all the more with the lack of response.

Still nothing.

Until I came across a video by Matt Chandler. The video was entitled “Waiting.” The message that was shared in those brief minutes impacted my future tremendously.

“What do you do when you mind is there, but your heart isn’t?”

I was grabbed. As a student studying the Bible I knew in my head what I should have been doing, but for some reason my heart had not aligned with that yet.

My thoughts went to what Paul had written in his epistle to the Romans: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the Good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” I knew from years of struggling that I needed patience, but I was unwilling to wait.

I wanted an answer.

"Position yourself under the waterfall of grace and you wait while you walk in obedience.”

The answer seemed so simple, yet so hard to do. Truth be told, what was actually hard for me was letting go of control and giving everything to God.

I had been fearful of what the results would be if I stopped doing everything I could humanly do to pursue my future. The deadlines for choosing a college seemed to be coming right over the horizon. I felt trapped. So I decided to surrender everything, completely, to the Lord and rely on Him.

That did not mean sitting idly by not doing anything to pursue my future, but it did mean not worrying, because God is in control.

One of the most common sayings that we hear from professors here at the Bible Institute is: “Work as if everything depends on you, and pray as if it all depends on God.” I had already done the first part, but now I had the peace of doing the second. This was a hard change for me, but I started to feel God’s peace inside me as I continually brought my concerns and desires before him in prayer.

Several weeks went by, and I still did not have an answer. I still felt like I would like to pursue aviation, but I was not convinced. Soon camp was finished and we immediately had a mission’s conference the following weekend with Gary Parker as the Keynote speaker. During that conference, Mr. Parker challenged us to seriously consider what part God might have for us in missions. He stressed the fact that God has called all of us to missions.

It was during this conference that God laid on my heart the idea of being a missionary pilot. Before this point I had not really considered that area of aviation as a future path, mainly for selfish reasons, but now I had a totally new perspective about it. The best part about it, was that it all seemed to fit my life’s path so perfectly.

I did a little bit of research, a lot more prayer, and decided to pursue it. Somebody once said to me that God won’t always show you which door to walk through, but he will close them if that is not where He wants you to go. All we have to do is start walking. So I walked through the door, and it hasn’t shut yet.

It has amazed me how God has transformed and worked in my life ever since I threw that piece of paper into the fire last September. Something I won’t soon forget is how God changed my life when I completely surrendered to His will. That’s when He showed me His peace. That’s when he showed me the way to completely rely upon Him in fervent prayer.

“What do you do when you mind is there, but your heart isn’t?”

“You position yourself under the waterfall of grace and you wait while you walk in obedience.”

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Joshua Anderson, 18, USA, Habakkuk 3.

Usually found behind a camera. Eyeing the Canon EOS-1D Mark II. Future resident of Papau New Guinea, or Brazil...Or where God wants me to be. Wherever that is.