Hi everyone! My name is Taylor Hall, and I am ready to be an ambassador for Christ. 1 Chronicles 16:24 says “Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.” God calls us to share His good and perfect will with all people, to leave all our possessions behind, to lean on Him with everything we have, to also find fellowship and support with other believers, to be flexible, available and surrendered. His story is a powerful one, a force to be reckoned with, and it is has the ultimate power to change lives, to make a person new in Christ, to soften the hardened hearts, to heal the souls of the lost.
I have been praying earnestly and frequently for God to show me my next steps, to show me where He wants me to go, that happens to follow along the path he created for me. While scrolling through Instagram one morning, I happened to come across an organization called: The World Race; that was three years ago, but I was too anxious to apply, not really sure if I was ready to put myself out there for the possibility of a year long mission. I’ve done short term missions, going out for a week and a half, so it’s not completely new to me, but I am ready for a bigger challenge to really push me out of my comfort zone, to grow me even more so in regards to my relationship with Christ.
Finally, I felt a very strong nudge to return to missions, to find opportunities to be an ambassador of Christ once again, to seek out ways to be that all the time instead of just once in a while when an international or local missionary opportunity comes up to serve people, to share with them. God commands us to GO! He commands us to not delay, to run earnestly to Him, to put all of our trust, all of our anxieties into His hands and know that He will deal with them in better ways than we could ever do. He commands us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
That’s a direct command, not something to just disregard because it’s hard but something to take serious, something to pursue in our daily lives. I want to live like Christ every day of my life, not just when I go on mission, and I feel like being a part of the 11n11 journey will really show me how to do that, how to rely solely on Christ everyday and learn from it, grow from it, even on the days where I feel my lowest. As it is said in Kari Jobe’s song “The Cause of Christ”: “It’s not fame that I desire, nor statue in my brother’s eye. I pray it’s said about my life that I lived more to build Your name than mine.”
My cause, our cause as followers of God, is simple yet complex: to share His Word, HIS story with anyone ready and willing to listen. Not everyone will listen because people are stubborn, but at least we can plant that seed and pray over them, pray that God either uses us or someone else to reach them, for Him to speak through them in the best way to reach them specifically. God loves all of His children, including the ones who rebel constantly, who think they can do life alone and don’t need to depend on any higher power to provide for them. He won’t return until everyone hears, and as believers, we should be constantly looking for ways to share, for ways to serve Him and His children, our brothers and sisters.
1 John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” LOVE is the greatest commandment, the one thing besides sharing His Word that he wants us to have, to do, to show. We may not have the same level of unconditional love that God has for us when we love others, but we NEED to strive to achieve or at least come close to that level of love because it is what HE wants for us. After all, when we choose to accept Jesus’ sacrifice, that we want to live forever in heaven with Him, that we willingly repent of our sins on a daily basis to show that we trust Him to take care of us, to provide and protect us, He sees that we are committed to follow Him, that we want to take on the challenges to cause us to grow alongside Him in our faith.
I’m so ready and so excited to take these next steps in my faith, to show God that I want to be challenged, that I’m ready to be pushed out of my comfort zone even further. I’m ready to come back completely different, to renew my focus on HIM and stop focusing on the other stuff that’s been happening in the past year and a half. I can feel Satan trying to push even more, trying to put more obstacles to try and destroy the joy I am feeling as the journey launch gets closer each passing day, and I KNOW that God will protect me, that He won’t give me anything that I can’t handle and that he won’t allow Satan to tempt me beyond what I can’t handle. Our God is stronger than Satan, He defeated him once and He will do it again; if God is for me then who can be against me? 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
To fear Satan is to show God that I don’t trust in Him, and that is not what I’m going to do because I love Him and I know that He is perfect, He is my good good father and He will always be on my side, fighting for me. I believe that God will provide the funds, the prayer partners, the gear, the protection, the love, the friendships and so much more, so as far as the mission goes, I’m not worried. The only fear anyone should have is a healthy, respectful fear of God because of how powerful He is. I’m not worried about any of this because God will provide as He always does, He will guide me to where He knows I need to be right now at this point on my walk with Him, and He will be my cornerstone, my solid foundation, my shoulder to lean on when it gets hard and so much more. I’m so excited to be a part of this journey, to meet my fellow squad members and to see so many new places, new cultures and new people!
