Dear Ambassador,
This is for the one who stresses over their calling from God and how to get it right. This is for the one who finds themself caught in the details and forgetting about the pleasure of the presence of Jesus. This is for the one who wants to know the when?, the where?, the how?, and is overlooking the power of simply sitting at His feet.
I invite you to sit down now and imagine how I felt sitting in a classroom in Asia. Being in this room was a massive answer to prayer because I had waited on its fulfillment for 4 years. The nations – I was there. I had left my home country for the first time ever and was more than ready to be used powerfully on this short-term mission trip.
The speaker in this moment was using the analogy of shooting a bow and arrow and the importance of having a target. If we shoot with nothing in mind, we will be shooting at the wind and our arrows will fall wherever they land, for better or for worse. He talked about the importance of narrowing down our aim – specifically regarding a people group in the context of reaching the lost. If we want every tribe, nation, and tongue to hear the gospel, it would be to our benefit to narrow down which tribe, nation, or tongue we want to focus our efforts on so that we know if we are hitting the bullseye.
This began to stress me out because I had no clue where I was meant to be aiming my arrows. I had (have) a deep care for Rochester, New York, and the work that is going on here. But being in the nations ignited something else in me that made me feel called to reach the people there also (plus, I had received a dream that I was to be a missionary there). I was going back and forth about how I could feasibly minister to two different places on opposite sides of the globe. My Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth – surely there was a way to reach them all. But wasn’t I just told to aim for a bullseye? A specific point?
I took this question to two or three of the leaders and every one of them gave me the same answer. The answer was that I was wrongly viewing what the “bullseye” is. The “bullseye” isn’t a people group, or even a place; rather, the “bullseye” is the presence of Jesus. The bullseye is seeking Him in prayer and the Word. From there, we can better identify the target so we are not shooting into thin air. However, if we are going to hit the bullseye, we must aim for Him. Always.
During a different session on this same mission trip, I was struck by the story of Mary and Martha. The passage can be found in Luke 10:38-42, which says:
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
This passage always hits home for me because I am a hard worker and want to do my part like Martha. But what hit me this specific time was that the words “distracted with much serving” can be replaced with “distracted with much ministry.” I was so caught up in the details of getting everything right in my ministry that I was missing the opportunity of sitting at the feet of Jesus.
My notes from the session read: “You can get addicted and intoxicated with ministry like a drug. Don’t do that. Get addicted and intoxicated with Jesus. The enemy loves to use ministry and missions to take people out.”
My questions about needing to decide on a target (i.e. Rochester or Asia) were discussed on June 4th. Do you want to know what happened on June 5th? On June 5th, I received a text message from someone back home inviting me into something that will essentially bridge the gap between reaching New York and reaching the nations. The story is still unfolding as I write this, but at the time of the text message, it seemed like a clear answer to my dilemma – I don’t have to pick Rochester or the nations. I can reach both. I am so excited to follow the Lord is this direction and I am still in awe of how perfectly He is working out all the details.
God is good at positioning us right where we need to be. He knows how to open doors and guide us through them.
Our part is to get in His presence.
Our part is to sit at His feet.
Our part is to submit to His guidance.
That is the bullseye.
That is the “one thing [that] is necessary.”
Excelsior, Ambassador.
Nicole Ashley Missions 