'I will offer up my life"

The China Mission Trip was actually my first overseas mission trip. I was a bit unsure
what to expect on this trip and I felt like I was blindly going into an oppressed nation.
I also knew that God heals blindness and will most definitely guide his children. Praise
be to God, who guided us through this mission trip! He who is in the children of God is far greater than the one who is in the world! Thank you Lord Jesus for guiding us through this trip, for the blessings that you prepared for the children, for the blessings you prepared for us, and for your protection while we were in China.

When thinking about being part of a mission team, I think about sharing God’s Word and His love through bible study classes, camp fires, music, dancing, and skits. You know like vacation bible school? I never thought about going on a mission trip and being able to do these things, but with one stipulation. This would be that we couldn’t talk about God, His Love, or let alone open up our Bibles and share God’s word to the unsaved. There are 3 main things that the Lord showed me during this trip. These include the power of His love, the power of worship, and the importance of freedom in prayer.

I was taught an important lesson of the power of God’s love through the children during the camp. I have to honestly say that I didn’t expect to be ministered to during this trip but I expected to be the one ministering out to. I was amazed just how much the children loved on us! We were not allowed to talk with them openly about Christ but were only allowed to show Him through our actions and love for them. I felt so much love from Christ through these children’s actions and love for us! I thought that I was supposed to be showing the children God’s love but I didn’t realize how much they were going to show me His love back. I learned that God is shown through love, not just by giving love but by receiving love, not just by speaking about His love but by showing and acting out His love. When thinking about this I am reminded how the Pharisees wanted to stop the disciples from preaching about the miracles that Jesus had performed. In Luke 19:40 Jesus simply said “I tell you if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Though we weren’t openly allowed to speak to the unsaved children about the Gospel, the love that we shared did. Just as Jesus said that the rocks will cry out if they keep quiet so will our love cry out. I had the privilege to be on the bible-study team in which we were able to be part of the high school worship and bible study time. It was an amazing experience that I was so honored to be a part of. What a blessing to witness these wonderful young women taking part in communion for their first time!

The second lesson that I was taught during this trip was the power of worship. When thinking of missions I automatically think about praise and worship. I never imagined being on a mission trip and not being able to publicly praise and worship our Lord. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to share with the people? One would think, but when in such an oppressed country like China, we were at a disadvantage. Or were we? I’ve never had my freedom in worship taken away before, so this was somewhat of a humbling experience. Although we were not publicly allowed to worship, it seemed that no matter where I went, whether in public or private, there was worship music. In the class our students always had a guitar. During their free time the boys were always playing music and strumming away on their guitars. Although these specific students were not singing the lyrics, they were playing worship songs! These students were ministering to the unsaved students in the class with the music! I could feel the Holy Spirit moving through the music even without the lyrics. We also had a supply room that seemed to take its course as a worship room. There were so many times that I would go to take a break by being refreshed by the strumming of Elisha and Susie’s guitars, while singing along in Jesus’ tunes! I also was hearing humming everywhere I went, realizing quickly that the humming was coming from me! I guess a little of my shyness broke-off during this trip too. J No matter where I was at it seemed that I had worship music in my head! I can’t explain the power behind the worship I experienced in China. You would think that the worship wouldn’t be as strong because of the restrictions, but I felt the exact opposite. Maybe it was the rebel coming out in me, but I honestly believe it was the Holy Spirit at work. The one song that I still can’t get out of my soul from the trip is “I will offer up my life.” I really learned what it means to worship in Spirit and Truth. I believe that my heart has been forever changed by the power of worship that I experienced during this trip.

The Lord also taught me the importance of freedom in prayer. Have you ever tried to pray with your eyes open? Have you ever tried to pray using Christian jargon? Well in China, we had to do just this. It was one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do. I can’t tell you that I succeeded in praying like this. I can’t tell you that I even succeeded in talking the Christian jargon slang. I guess I’m a law breaker but through this, yet another humbling experience, I realized just how much Christ is embedded into my soul. I never knew how much my everyday language consists of the words: God, Father, Lord, Jesus, Christ, praying, and Amen. We weren’t allowed to publicly speak these words when praying or in our everyday conversations. When praying we also had to look at each other like we were talking amongst one another. This was a very awkward experience to say the least. If you have never done this, I recommend just trying to do this to see how much passion is taken out of your prayer. Talk about a bland prayer. I can remember during one of our prayer meetings at the hotel. Priscilla was praying and kept forgetting to use “code talk” during her prayer. She kept catching her words and then turning them into code words. By her doing this, it just made the Holy Spirit flow even more so in our presence. Before going to China, I hadn’t understood the importance of freedom in prayer. I don’t think it’s possible to fully see this until you experience this freedom being taken away from you. By experiencing this first hand, I began to realize the importance of missions. I may think it’s difficult to give up my freedom for 10 days in China but what about the people who live there? What about the children who have no concept of freedom in prayer or worship? How will they grow in the refreshing of the Holy Spirit? How will they grow to become prayer driven and bold in their faith when they are forever scared of the repercussions of this? I began to really understand how blessed I was to come from a country that had freedom in worship, praise, prayer, bible reading, evangelizing, and as little a thing as everyday language communication. As I realized this, I began to think about what I’m doing with my freedom. I had this conviction to dedicate my God given freedom to people who don’t have freedom. To be used by God to help encourage, strengthen, and grow His church in countries that may not have the same freedom that I have been so blessed with.

God taught me so much during our China Mission Trip. I only mentioned 3 main points but if you want to hear more feel free to ask me in person. For me this trip was a confirmation of missions for my future. After going to China, I can’t imagine living for any other purpose than to serve our Lord Jesus Christ by spreading His love, worshiping in Spirit and Truth, and using my freedom for the freedom of others. If I had to sum up our mission trip in one bible verse it would be Romans 8:38 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Thank you Lord Jesus.

God Bless,

Nicole