Giving Him All I've Got
By Christina G. from issue 19

Greetings to you all in the Precious Name of our One and Only Lord Jesus Christ.
As I thought and prayed about what I should write about, with the idea of “Jesus,
Our Restorer” in mind, the Lord seemed to recall to my mind the greatest aspect
of His Presence, the most wonderful thing He ever could have done for me and
for you: loving us to no end. How He could have recalled it to me, I don’t know;
for it was just there: all I had to do was feel it again and I knew what I should write
about.
About a year ago now, I returned home from my two-month mission trip to South India.
What I brought back with me was the most definite calling I cannot even begin to describe.
Since that time, the Lord has guided me to pursue that calling and prepare myself as best
I can for full time missionary work there in India. While it hurts me to think of leaving my
family and everything I know and love, there is but one greater pleasure beyond that of
giving it all up for the sake of my God— my Lover, my All—and that would be to die for
His Name.
What is it, I often wonder, that makes me so weak and afraid of what God will do in and
through me? I believe I can safely say that I have been nothing short of a frightened little
goose at the sight of a dark tunnel I know not where it leads. But then I read stories of
missionaries who, hearing the Lord’s Voice, did not hesitate at all but instantly set off for
wherever the Lord had called them to go. Why is it so hard for me to be that faithful?
I have had people approach me and say how sorry they would be when I am gone. What
does it matter? It delights me beyond remaining here at home, perhaps settling down
with a wonderful husband, raising children born in a free country, and living a life as
homemaker and help meet. Such a life would be within the limits of my “comfort zone”
and it would give me the greatest joy to bear children and raise them for the King of kings.
But what if it is not in the will of my Father for my life? What if He has called me to some
remote village (where no such thing as the ‘civilization’ we know has ever been heard of
among them), to live and to work among the inhabitants—perhaps all my life—, to be
slandered, to know only the poor, half-dressed children or the hard-working men and
women who strive daily to feed themselves?— They, who perhaps have never heard
the Name of our Savior even spoken? Does it matter, then, if my future of living a
“happy,” “secure” life is at stake? Will I be my Father’s servant and let Him have all
I’ve got to give?
I am in the process of reading The Small Woman by Allen Burgess. Reading about
Gladys Aylward and her eagerness and enthusiasm in going to China has uplifted my
spirits, and encouraged me a great deal. Sometimes I think I have been too naïve,
too independent of my parents (which I do not at all wish to be). Will others see me
and think that I have only “chosen” a foreign mission field as a way of “escape” from
their God-given authority?
I pray that I will be a witness, and not a stumbling block. I realize I may be speaking
to some whose call in life is to remain home, to uplift other believers in prayer and encourage-
ment. Please know that I do not mean to reprove you for what the Lord has led you, in
your life so far, to do. The Lord does not call each and every one of us to a foreign mission
field, and He can most certainly use you in the most oddest ways, if you will let Him. I
know that He will call whom He will call, and I am sure He will bless you if you are in His
Perfect will, living out what He has commanded of you.
As I begin college for the remaining six months at home (I believe), I pray that as I
prepare to leave I may be an encouragement to others and not a “show-off” of some sort.
May our Lord bless you all and may our Blessed Restorer continue to restore you for your
endeavors to bring all glory to HIM!~

Christina G. (19) resides in Texas with her parents and six of her siblings,and daily learns
to look to Him for her all as she is the oldest in the house with an older brother married. She
enjoys being with her family, writing stories, articles and corresponding with other like-minded girls,
studying the Word of the Lord, and preparing to move back to India as a full-time missionary as the Lord leads.