Katie Hur
Around the time that I decided to go on this trip to India, I was at a stage people would call the “young adult funk”. About to graduate from college, uncertain of the future, switching back and forth between different career options, and having anxiety over how I would find a fitting path and if I was going to be able to make it. Through this mission trip, God changed the way I approach the circumstances of life: from fear of failure and uncertainty to true dependence and assurance in knowing that He is ultimately in control.
During our preparation time before India, we ran into a problem with delay in our ability to travel, which eventually lead us to having to drive up to the Consulate of India in San Francisco, with just a couple days left before our departure date. Being that I was one of the two not to have received my ability to travel, Satan straightaway started to attack my worth during our time in San Francisco. Upon discovering that my ability to travel hadn’t made any progress in being granted, I started to think that God was not for me, and that I wasn’t worthy enough for his provision and guidance. This began to quickly cultivate a very bitter and doubtful heart about his sovereignty in missions; I wanted to give up and blame God for not providing. I questioned his purpose for causing such an unnecessary burden when I all I wanted to do was to follow his call to serve.
But even despite my doubts and weaknesses, God stayed faithful!
He had already made a way for me to go through a different type of way to travel just two days prior, which allowed for me travel without any delay. 1 I realized that it wasn’t just an unnecessary and careless occurrence, but it was all within God’s plan to grow and prepare my heart for India. He allowed it so that I can truly glorify him for his infinite wisdom and power and to give him praise even through all the darkness that we saw in India. That he is still good and although I may be limited in understanding what his purpose is behind each injustice we saw, the countless people blinded from seeing his goodness and the homes we visited, it is not in my place to question his will behind them but to rely on his wisdom and give him the glory he deserves.
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” –James 1:6
Coming back from India, he has been continuing to challenge my faith and me to turn from self-reliance to dependence on his great wisdom. That which seems impossible in my eyes is possible with God. He has been continuously reminding me to let him be in control and to find my security and identity in him alone and not in my future here on this earth, and that God is superior to any job title and can and will be glorified no matter the circumstances.
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The full story of the truly miraculous recovering of Madison’s and Katie’s visas. ↩