Just Say Yes

I love the saying "grow through what you go through"; it's such a great reminder that you can take any adverse experience and turn it into a growing experience. The thing is, I tend to try my best to stay away from adverse situations. Sure I like an adventure, but I don't like anything that stretches me too far. I tend to say no, not knowing how the situation may turn out. However, I'm learning that those adverse situations can be the best moments to experience growth.

The past month for me has been full of experiences that have pushed me past my comfort zone and into a region where only faith could carry me. It started off with a mission trip to Honduras. Now it wasn't the mission trip itself that was out of my comfort zone because I had been on a mission trip to Honduras before, but it was all of the circumstances surrounding the trip that pushed me. Honduras was and is still in a state of civil and political unrest in which bridges are being blockaded, airports shut down, the US embassy set aflame, tires burning in the streets and Dole trucks burned in protest. Now let's compare this to Troy, Ohio where our biggest protests were when Troy High School decided to let students choose which bathroom they would use by what gender they identify with. That consisted of parents holding signs on the side of the road and chanting; not quite as scary as what I was about to go into. Not to mention, the day before we left was thought to be the start of a revolution since that day marked the 10 year anniversary of the Coupe D'etat; one of the major causes of civil unrest when Honduras' president was exiled and replaced. So in summary, saying yes to going meant potentially going into a country at war with itself and trusting that God was going to take care of me. Now that's a lot of trust.

As crazy as everything seemed, not more than 12 hours before we were booked to leave, we got the go-ahead from our trip coordinator; there hadn't been any big protests that day and it was looking as if God had stopped what news sources were predicting could have been the start of something pretty ugly. So we went and we trusted. There would be days in which hotel employees told us they heard chatter on the streets of protests, but a week went by and no protests affected us. We were able to accomplish God's work when we could've taken the option to stay home and say no to his calling.

On one of the last days of the trip, we were stuck behind a peaceful protest consisting of teachers sitting on a log on a bridge. I would say we were there for a couple hours, and it was scary initially, before we knew what was going on. There were armed police officers driving up to the bridge in armored cars like something really serious was going on, but in all actuality, they were just some Gucci-belt wearing teachers. But once we knew more about the protest, some of our people literally walked up to the scene, and it was almost comical to me. Why was I afraid? Of course it was okay; God was with us and when we put our trust in Him, He will protect us. This experience felt like God was trying to tell us, "look, this is what I have been protecting you from this whole trip". He was with us the whole time.

I've returned from this trip so grateful for all of the relationships formed, the opportunity to see old friends, and I can't believe we were so close to just staying home. That's the lesson I've gotten out of this trip; to trust God and go when he says to go. We've seen from numerous stories in the bible what happens when you say no to what God has in store for you. Jonah tried to escape God's plans for him and ended up in the belly of a whale before he finally said yes to God. Isn't it so much easier to just say yes now because if it's God's plan, He's going to make it happen one way or another, and wouldn't it just be so amazing to be a part of it?!