"...But God
doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that
we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if
He doesn't come through.” -Francis Chan
I don't know about you, but I really like being
comfortable. I like having a comfortable
couch to come home to, with some good familiar comfort food and a T.V. show
that I love. I like having a group of
friends that get all of my inside jokes, a cozy coffee shop to study in, and a
day that passes relatively drama free. I
like when my finances aren't dependent on someone else, when I have a cushion
in the bank account, and a nice insurance policy that leaves me worry
free. We were designed to enjoy comfort. But when we give it priority over loving
Christ and His mission for us, it leaves us feeling empty and unsatisfied. Naturally, responding to the call to "Go
and make disciples of every nation" (Matt 28:19) will lead us into a lot
of uncomfortable situations, but we shouldn't forget his promise after the command:
"and I will be with you always, to the very end of the age."
I've known for several years that God had a different plan
for me than a job in the secular field.
Every time I've held a normal job, I get an unshakable feeling that
it's not where I'm supposed to be.
Nevertheless, I've put off my calling for all the reasons mentioned
above. After a 2-week visit to Jim
Morgan in Romania in 2014 I realized that my call into missions was something I
couldn't justify putting off any longer.
I also caught a little glimpse of the truth, that the joy which comes
from doing what God has called you to do dwarfs the fears of discomfort. After voicing my desire to explore the
possibilities of entering the mission field, the following 9 months were exceptionally
difficult. I was in a battle against the
Devil and my own sinful self. Through
that, God needed to teach me that His love for me was sufficient. That I didn't need to be dependent on
friendships, finances, and hobbies for my joy.
I had to learn to trust that His joy would always be with me regardless
of circumstances.
This past summer I interned under Jim Morgan and Drive-in
Ministries in Romania for 3 months.
God's provision was incredible as I geared up to leave the country. I was immensely blessed to be fully supported
only 2 months after I began raising support.
Unquestionably, it was the direction God wanted me to go.
The first few weeks of being in Romania were rough. The two weeks in 2014 was the honeymoon period,
where everything new was fun and exciting.
In 2015 I had a few weeks to get settled before the ministry kicked into
full gear and I was mentally struggling to adjust to my surroundings. It was discouraging and I began to doubt my
purpose there. Once the Cinema on Wheels
ministry started up, my heart wasn't in it for a few days. Then I attended a church service which had a
lot of focused prayer time. It was there
that I was able to refocus and restart my heart for the ministry. I asked the Holy Spirit to fill me until it
overflowed into the lives of others.
Effectively submitting that I cannot do any of this by my own power. That
was a turning point in my summer. The
Lord began to use me in the evangelistic ministry, giving me the boldness to share
the Gospel with groups of people.
I also had the opportunity to lead several Bible studies
with the teens and young adults on our team.
These were very informal times of sharing what we learned from assigned
Bible reading, and digging deeper with some prodding questions that I had
prepared. Working on discipleship with
the team members was my primary goal for the summer, and it was very rewarding
to build deep relationships with a few of the guys specifically. I had my own apartment in Craiova where two of
the guys stayed for much of the summer.
Working with teenagers that are passionate about ministry, giving much
of their summer to serve the Lord, is an inspiring experience.
As the summer marched on, Jim shared with the team that we
would be taking the team on two separate 5 day trips several hours away to do
the movie ministry in a few villages that we were invited to. I don't think I knew, until we were on our
way there, that we would be staying at an orphanage called Casa Dorca for the
first trip. I have worked with homeless
children in Africa, but I really had no idea what to expect at an orphanage. I remember being nervous about it. However, that nervousness didn't take long to
subside as the kids were there with smiles to greet us and to carry our bags
inside. I literally had the time of my
life at Casa Dorca. These children brought
up in me a joy -which ultimately came from the Holy Spirit inside me- that I
had not experienced before.
My secondary goal for the summer was to evaluate God's call
on my life. In other words, I was trying
to discern what God wanted me to do vocationally. Instead, I discerned that it's better if I
don't know all the details ahead of time.
The lesson that I learned is to follow God in the next step that He has guided
me to, rather than being majorly focused on the long term. We are a society that values long-term
planning, and it is wise to look ahead and plan, but we must be willing to
submit those plans to God knowing that He will likely change them. Right now, I may not have had the life experiences
yet that would drive the passion for what God has planned for my distant
future, so I have learned to focus more on the present.
Drive-in Ministries (Cinema on Wheels in Romania) has been a
great and life-changing experience for me.
I want to thank the board for giving me this opportunity and the office
for all their administrative work. Mrs.
Jones is the hero of the summer, picking up an extra workload in the office. I believe in this ministry and I'm grateful
for the work that Jim is doing in Romania.
I've seen firsthand how it has changed the lives of many people. Through my experience at Casa Dorca, God lit
a passion in me for ministering to the familyless. I don't know what that means for me
precisely. It could mean working in an
orphanage. It might mean working with
refugees. I'll just follow wherever God
leads me. In the short term I will
return to Casa Dorca for a month in December of this year (2015), and I'm also
talking with a mission organization about the possibility of refugee relief work
within the Syrian refugee crisis. From
the bottom of my heart, thank you for your prayers for me and Jim and the
summer ministry in Romania. Please
continue to pray for Jim and his team.
Pray that God would continue to lead passionate young people to join in
the work there. And lastly, please pray
that I would have the courage and the boldness to go when God says
"go!", no matter the destination.
Dumnezeu să vă binecuvânteze,
Nate Storvik
