The Courage to Become a Missionary

By: Amber Perron

I consider myself the least likely candidate for missions in the whole world. I can’t stand trying new foods, I’m super shy, I am very fearful, and I don’t like doing anything daring, adventurous, or different.

So why on earth am I a missionary? What gives me the courage to take on a life so contrary to comfort and ease? Am I being forced to be a missionary? In a sense! I am forced by an irresistible desire to love. It would be far easier to run away from this call than to embrace it, but there is never been anything so irresistible in my life! I know there is a world outside of my little self, full of people who suffer in ridiculous amounts, who bear burdens unthinkable.

Hungry people, homeless people, lonely and abandoned people, sick people with no medicine, people who long to know real, true, and lasting love- people long for God. People cannot live to their potential without God because life with Him is our fulfillment! And how great it is! What an incomparable life we have in God!

As a culture, we like to close our eyes and ears. We like to shut off that blinking, beeping red button inside ourselves that lets us know when our help is needed. I spent much of my life doing this, and still many times a day it is a battle to say “Yes, I will give of myself, my desires, my comforts, to be the person this world needs me to be, to be the person God calls me to be.” The question becomes: Am I courageous enough to be all that I really am?

And this is why I am a missionary. This is where my courage comes from. I know my brothers and sisters in the world are waiting for someone. I know that Christ has blessings for them and wants to fill their lives with goodness. Our God is not dead! He is not lazy or unconcerned. It is we who are dead, lazy, and unconcerned.

Jesus calls us to be His hands and feet and heart. This world is always lacking something until I do my part. There is a person who is hopeless until I do my part… What I’ve found in missions is that I will be extremely unfulfilled until I have done my part. Missions itself is so filling. It really is the best life. I am not a courageous person, but I find courage in the love I have for broken and suffering of the world. I find courage in the love and strength that Jesus shows for me and for all through the cross. True love it is courageous!