Becoming a missionary to a foreign country is quite a journey.  It takes you from being  just an ordinary person to someone on fire;  someone with a purpose.  You won’t always know what the next step will be or have all the answers, but you just know that you’ve been called, and at times, that is all you have when the going gets tough.  I have a lot more respect for missionaries than I ever had before because I now know what they go through as the calling takes shape.  It is not always easy to give up everything you’ve ever known for the sake of the Gospel.  Aside from the physical realm of giving up all your worldly posessions and shedding your former life, there is also the emotional side.  Some people are excited and supportive, others are offended and hurt by your decisions.  Every decision is made carefully and with much prayer.  I must admit that I have come a long way.  I was once in a place where I was beginning to question the call, and had even thought of giving up because it was a lot of work and tremendously stressful.  But somewhere in the midst of all the struggles of trying to balance family life with support raising, selling the house, dealing with a sudden job loss, and trying to pay off bills, I discovered that there is one thing that kept me from losing my mind.  It was the fire!  The fire is that burning passion inside, that will not let you take no for an answer.  It is that force that propels you from one day to the next, that thrusts you out of your comfort zone and onto the platform where you give your testimony and share your vision with others.  It is the strenght that makes you all the more determined when certain people get offended or tell you that you are crazy.  It is the peace that surpasses all understanding when you wait for the finances to come in or when deadlines loom in the distance.  It is the love of Jesus Christ inside you, which gives you compassion to love the unlovable, to give hope to the hopeless, to heal the sick, to give love and mercy, or your very last breath so another might truly live!  That is the fire!  It is all consuming.  It never dies, and God does not take it back.  Learning to trust, obey, and kindle the fire inside is something that every missionary must do.  It is hard, but the rewards are great.  And for me nothing is better than to see God move in a mighty way and realize that nothing will stop Him from loving and reaching out to His people.  And it is an honor to be a part of it.  If God is for us, then who could be against us?  Let’s get up, go out, and spread the Good News to all the Earth!!!!   Thank you, Lord!