We were just talking with another missionary at breakfast about how seemingly unrelated events of our past have prepared us for what we do now.
I had just been reading Psalm 144:1..."Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle." Our friend said that he was involved in theatre work many years ago and learned to have a stage presence. When he found himself at the podium in an Asian country, scared to death, speaking on the things of God, that former training came in handy.
It made me look back at my life and see experiences that maybe I didn't appreciate at the time, really helped develop me to be able to do what we do now. Who would have thought that having a flatmate who cooked rice all the time at OSU would prepare me to live with Hawaiian housemates, then life in Micronesia. Who would have thought that the uncomfortable position of being the only white female on a summer mission project in inner-city Detroit during my university years (a highly unusual and exceptional situation), was a foretaste of life in the islands. The list goes on.
Only God could take an extremely quiet little girl who didn't like to venture off on her own, and turn her into a missionary to other cultures. It gives me hope. God can easily do the impossible. He HAS done it, and will continue to reign magnificently over His children, growing us up.
I wonder what is happening now that will be my training for the future!
This is so true! God does the seemingly impossible with the often reluctant or unsuspecting. I have so many examples in my life too.
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