I slipped out the door one winter night to a secluded, wooded area. Now was the time to decide. Would I go? For a moment, I just sat there. It was cold and blustery. Through the tree trunks I could see the glow from the windows of my home, the smoke curling up from the chimney, and the silhouettes of my donkeys nudging the hay bale in the field. It was my home.

But now it was time to decide. I let my mind wander into the crevices of my heart. Why did I want to leave this place of warmth and love to move across the world? What were the motives, good or bad, behind it? And why did half of me not want to go at all? Were any of those reasons legitimate? I took out my flashlight and journal and, with a prayer, laid it all before God, the good, the bad, the barriers, even the gripping fears.

My mind juggled all the factors of the decision ahead of me. Some remained out of my control—true barriers. These were things I had not been able to accomplish or would never be able to accomplish without God’s help. I explained to God the legitimate reasons why I could not go. But in my heart, I knew that if it was God’s will, He could, and would, eliminate the barriers. Even so, my heart was restless. So I asked one more thing of God: an extra confirmation. I even suggested to God what that could be. Then I lay back and looked at the stars. Yes, if God could keep the whole universe running, He could take care of me.

Did God reveal His will to me? Absolutely! Here I am, hundreds of lesson plans later, teaching Buddhist children in a land where Christians are few and far between. Most of my days are spent fulfilling my duties as a teacher: lesson planning, teaching, grading, repeating. But behind the mundaneness, miracles are happening in little hearts. It may be a child volunteering to pray for the first time; a student writing that he wants to be in heaven with me; a young reader asking for a Bible; students coming to church; or a child whispering her first answer-to-prayer story in my ear. These are the moments I came for—to show young hearts that there is a God of love and that they can have hope for eternity. And when I see them responding, my own heart rejoices. Though sometimes hard, it is oh-so-rewarding. And if I think back to that cold, starlit night, it humbles me to think that my decision to follow God’s leading may have changed the eternity of these children. I am quite confident that when I rejoice at each child’s step closer to Jesus, an uncountable number of angels join me . . . and that the King Himself is smiling on His throne. 

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