When He Calls, Respond!

When I left for my trip to Haiti I had multiple people tell me they wanted to go with me. I did my best to explain to them that this wasn’t just a trip to help some kids, it was a calling. I told people if it was up to me I honestly would have spent those two weeks relaxing like the majority of teachers but this was different. You can determine the difference between a calling and your own will by the conviction the Holy Spirit places on your heart. At the same time I was thinking about going to Haiti, I was looking up flights to Chicago, Florida, Green Bay and Europe. The difference between going to Haiti and anywhere else was the conviction God placed on my heart. To be real, it looked like a pain to find a round trip from Columbus to Haiti but God reassured me that He needed me in Haiti. One night as I prayed about the decision God put on my heart that I was to raise $1,000 for my mission to help those in Haiti, I doubted God in this situation. I only had a week to raise money so I booked my six flights with two overnight stays to get to and from Haiti. I created a paypal account and wrote a blog about the work I was going to do there. I finished a prayer that night by saying, “God, here I am pursuing your will, now it’s your turn to deliver”. That week I received donations from friends, family, strangers and even anonymous letters. By the time that week ended I raised over $1,500 and still had people who wanted to donate.

I smiled as I thought about all the generous hearts who wanted to make a difference with me. Without their donations I would have been arriving with empty pockets because I spent all my money on my flights. God always delivers on His promises. He is faithful and all He asks in return is for our obedience.

Next I would like to share with you the most uncomfortable but influential calling God has placed on my life. Last June at a Bible study I disclosed to my closest friends how God was convicting my heart to share my testimony. As I shared this my friends began to smile in excitement “Zach I want to encourage you to write it down” they went on “then ask God what He wants you to do with it” I began to express all my doubts “but people will judge me, they will know all my deepest, darkest secrets, that’s not easy.” My friend Ryan spoke up “Zach a few months ago God convicted me to write my testimony and share it on a blog, within a few months God took my story and had me share it in front of my church to over 2,500 people. I then sent it to my chief and got to share it with my entire department. People came to know Jesus because I did what He asked.” He smirked at me “you never know who needs to hear your story, who may come to know God because of it". He was right.

I drove home with a burning in my heart to share what God has done for me. I sat down on my couch and pounded my fingers on the keyboard for two hours straight. I woke up and sent it to two of my friends, I displayed my concern about it being too long and that I needed to cut some of it out but they refused to allow me to cut out any part of my story. On Friday,  June 15^th at 11am, I posted my testimony on coming to know Jesus, I called it “Anti-Christ” after a drinking award I won in college. I will never forget the anxiety that came over me as I hit the post button on Facebook. I prayed “God give me strength in this time of insecurity and please use this story to bring glory to your name". I could not have predicted what was about to happen next. My story spread like wild fire. People began reposting my testimony, people began messaging, texting me and calling me to tell me how my story has inspired them. In the first twelve hours my blog went live I received over one thousand views. Ryan was right, God needed to use my story. Now, six months after I posted my first blog, I have written eighteen more stories about now God is working in my life and the blog has received over 10,000 views, meaning people have heard about God's love, grace, forgiveness and mercy over 10,000 times from over a dozen different countries.

That being said there are nights when God will be convicting my heart to write about something and I refuse. I will lay in bed for hours, being restless until I realize God's not going to give me peace until I do His will. There has been no greater honor in my life than living out God"s purpose for me. I realize the callings God has placed on my life. He wants me to write, teach, inspire and He continues to lead people to me so that I can encourage and support them with their struggles and with their faith. I still get nervous as I write blog posts about my struggles and heartfelt stories but He assures me that He will be there to guide me, help me and give me peace.

One of the coolest feeling I have experienced is hearing other people's testimonies about how my blog has helped them along their journey. For example, people have mentioned how this blog has helped them fight an addiction, volunteer more, be more thankful or come to know Jesus. If you have a story and would like to share it with me I would love to read it. I promise to keep it confidential but I also want to know your story so that I can pray for you! I believe in a God that speaks to us through the Bible, our circumstances, people and even a blog. If you would like to share a story with me email me at my personal email account Zachary.Tyler.White@gmail.com Thanks for tuning in and as always please share this post or click "Like" on Facebook if you feel led to share this message. God Bless!!