The following post comes from one of CBF’s field personnel, Michelle Norman. Michelle and her husband, Matt, were appointed CBF field personnel in 2011.  They are currently waiting for proper paperwork to move to their field of service, Barcelona, Spain. Click here to support and  learn more about the Norman’s ministry.

“I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.  No turning back.”

I had sung the words hundreds of times before, but this time they really struck me.  This time, I was singing those words as the guest field personnel speaker at a church.  It was the first time I had sung those words when I had stepped out so far in faith that there really was no turning back.

A step…

Years ago as my husband and I prayed and discerned our next steps of ministry there came a realization.  We really were going to have to do this to be faithful to God’s call.  Missions it is, and that means raising the support.  It is a step of faith to trust that God can provide in ways we’ve never experienced before.

A step…

the application, the exploratory process, discerning a place.

Another steps alongside…

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship steps alongside.  It is a risky step for CBF as well.  To continue to appoint field personnel when the Offering for Global Missions will not cover their expenses is to trust God to provide in ways outside of CBF’s tradition.  It is a step of trust that God continues to call and God will continue to provide.  It is a statement of faith, “God is bigger than us.”

A bigger step…

Telling people we were going to be field personnel.  This one was a bit scarier.  What if it didn’t work out?  What if the money didn’t come in?  What if we fail?

Others step out with us…

Friends, family, churches all step out with us.  On mission to serve the most neglected.  They step out in prayer and with funding.  It is a beautiful thing, really.  To see the church gathering to minister among the most neglected, claiming a part in God’s redemptive mission.

More steps…

Possessions sold, a house rented, life in suitcases

And then the bumps in the road, only they feel like mountains – huge, overwhelming mountains.  I get past a few and then there are more and more and more.  Maybe I should just run back….but I can’t.  I’m too far out.  There really is no turning back.  I don’t really want to, but these mountains.  I am just not prepared for them.  They are more than I can climb on my own. 

“I look up to the mountains—does my help come from here?  My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth!” Psalm 121:1

So I begin the year in the midst of the mountains.  I am not alone.  There are others here, deep in a journey of faithfulness – scared, uncertain, not sure of what lies over these hills.  It is in this place, a place where we are so far beyond ourselves and our own capabilities that God is experienced in ways never before known.  I expect to see God work in amazing ways because there is really nothing here I can do but trust, and wait and look for the work of God in and around me.

May we all journey out so far that we can sing with all truthfulness,

“I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. No turning back.”