Permanent Mark on My Heart

A world of poverty unlike I have ever seen before. All the basic needs that have been met in my life take on a new meaning.
This journey is being so much more than I ever bargained for and so grateful to have been given the opportunity.
This is an experience that is leaving a permanent mark on my heart. I can't help but think of how Gods people, the people of El Salvador, are full of hope when things seem so hopeless. They are full of Love and Grace, even when faced with adversity.
How often have I found myself praying for safety? For smooth travels or for quick healing? I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard people pray for good health, or for protection. Myself so included.
Is this really what I should be praying for?
What if my prayers became more about wanting to know God in every situation, and less about seeking personal safety? How many people in the Bible lived in safety? How many had good health? Not many! Instead we see wars, lion’s dens, and crosses on the pages of Scripture. Shouldn’t this be a wake-up call to me?
What if I spent my prayer time asking God to take me into the most dangerous, and the deepest, darkest places to bring light in His name? What if my desire to obey Him overshadowed any desire to “play it safe” in my own life...whether physically, financially or emotionally? What if I asked Him to use every painful moment in my life to give me a platform to share His Gospel with the world? I do know I have ask Him to do this. What if I answered the call to suffering with joy because I know that will bring Him glory?
“Fearing” God. This word “fear” in reference to God has the idea of living and walking in an understanding of the bigness, the greatness, the holiness of God. When I fear God I have a deep, life-changing respect for who He is that trumps anything this world could throw at me. I found this following quote by the writer Oswald Chambers:

“The remarkable thing about God is when your fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you don’t fear God, you fear everything else.”

When I am walking with the living God, the Great and Holy God, then the things of the earth don’t matter the way they used to. But if I am spending my life trying to figure out how to “stay safe” then I are missing out on the freedom that comes from knowing God. Obviously, God wants me to make wise choices and I am not called to be idiot, and He does want me to bring my requests to Him, BUT I am also called to dangerous places. I am called to the urban cities, the rough neighborhoods, to foreign lands to make His name known. It will cost me.... It may even hurt me...but it is worth it.
What if every prayer for protection became a prayer for courage? What if every prayer for safety became a prayer for faith to go farther, and do more for the cause of Jesus?