“No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come, eternal life.” – Mark 10:29
In the first couple of years after my salvation, I did not want to go on any mission trips or share the gospel, because “it is too hard”. Of course God did not let me stay where I was, and eventually by the spring break of 2009, I was for the first time considering the possibility of going on a mission trip to Kennesaw State University in Georgia. I was hesitated to make a decision as the registration deadline approaches. Two major issues that were holding me back were money and fear.
On one hand, money had always been very important to me because of the background I grew up in. At this particular time, I had graduated with a Master's degree, yet God had not provided me with a job, so I relied solely on tutoring high school students – taking half of a week of means missing four lessons, or $100. Plus, I have to pay $45 for the cost of the trip! Is it simply worth the money?
On the other hand, I was very much afraid that this first trip would turn into a disaster, and I would never have the heart to go on any mission trips again.
I still remember talking to Joe, the trip leader, the night before departure, because I was still not sure whether I would go or not. Joe said, “I will try my best to make this trip as least frightening as possible for you. Whenever we have to vote for a place to eat, I cannot promise you that you will always get to eat wherever you want, but I promise to vote for whatever you vote for.” For those of you who know how picky I am about American fast food, you can appreciate how much this means to me. For those of you who do not have an idea how picky I am about American fast food, here is a short example: when my friend Sasha and I were driving through the desert in Arizona on a road trip, we were both very hungry, and the only food sign we saw in miles said, “Burger King, 15 miles; McDonald, 80 miles”; my choice at that time was “neither”.
Anyway, I decided to go. The trip turned out to be great, and I no longer fear mission trips. But that is not what this story is about.
Right after I got back, some attorney asked for help with some chemical structures in a case he was dealing with. The email was sent to the chemistry department, but somehow it got forwarded to me, and eventually the attorney decided to hire me for that particular job. For an easy two hour job, he paid me $150 – almost exactly how much I would have made and saved had I not gone on that mission trip ($100 from tutoring and $45 for the trip cost). Not only that, God has blessed my tutoring job much in the later months – I only had two students I was tutoring at the time of spring break, but within a month, the numbers of students increased to almost ten and I literally had to write a weekly schedule to keep track of all my appointments.
That was the first time God had “reimbursed” me for the money I did not have yet committed to spend for His sake. Then there were many more times later. Now that I do not ever worry about money again, because I know God will provide. He does not give us the money beforehand so that we could surely have the money “we need” for something He calls us to do, but if by faith we commit to do whatever He calls us to do anyway, and not worry about the money – He will surely reimburse us later, because He is faithful to His promises.
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