The journey is the destination.

After a fantastic month at home, I now find myself back in Jackson, Michigan. I had such a great time meeting and chatting with my church family at ERCC. The more I learn and grow here at NTBI, the evermore grateful I am to call ERCC my church home. ERCC not only knows how to genuinely love people, but in His name is purposefully sharing that love with the Renton Highlands community. Love you all!

As some of you may know already, I was officially accepted onto the Interface team for this summer. I praise God for the opportunity to learn more firsthand about tribal mission work.

In many ways, the prospect of Interface is terrifying to me. I’m not going to merely experience the life and culture of a Papua New Guinean. I’m going for the opportunity to explore a future in missions. A future in missions! Me? Who am I to even entertain such a calling? Here at school I’ve had a lot of time to analyze the ludicrous possibility of my being a vocational missionary. Could I, the stereotypical middle class suburbia American, leave behind my family, language, culture, and country and submerse myself into a foreign culture for years? Most tribal cultures are animistic—what will my eyes be exposed to? How will I raise the support to stay overseas? If I’m single—how will I go at it alone? How can I maintain the energy and drive to invest in relationships with people I have absolutely nothing under the sun in common with? How will I accomplish all the work pertaining to whatever position I find myself in, all the while trying to find time to spiritually feed my soul to be able to persevere through whatever loneliness, culture shock, or discouragement I encounter?

Let me switch gears for a moment. During my first semester at NTBI I took classes on the Pentateuch and Old Testament History. The lessons learned in these two classes are many. One lesson, however, continues to reverberate in my mind. Man accomplishes nothing on his own; only through God is anything good ever accomplished. Did Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, David or Josiah accomplish anything righteous by their own power? Absolutely not. Isaiah 64:6 calls all our self-willed and self-sustained righteous deeds filthy rags. This in mind, why don’t we live convinced that God is exactly who He says He is?

Our God is the one true God, Lord of all. He keeps His promises. He warns His people of trouble. He communicates with His people through His Word. As a wise and loving Father, He rebukes and disciplines His children. He teaches His people. He desires our hearts. He hears our prayers. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is faithful. (All these truths were gleaned from 2 Kings 17-19.) My God is clearly worthy of my trust and His purposes are undoubtedly worth giving my life for.

The more I learn at NTBI, the more I realize the gap between God’s expectations for me and my ability to meet them continues to widen. What is the answer to all the worries regarding a life in tribal missions I mentioned earlier? It’s simple: I cannot do it. Never could, never will. It is God who will accomplish His purposes, not me. I can do nothing by my own power, but fortunately I have a solid Rock on which to place my faith.

Where will this life lead? What is my purpose? What does my future hold? I have absolutely no idea. God simply asks me to walk in fellowship with Him. For the believer in Christ, the journey is the destination.

This semester I look forward to learning more about what ‘walking with God’ means. At NTBI I’ve been privileged with the incredible opportunity to develop an irreducible core set of Biblical beliefs. I desire for the ideals and values I hold in higher importance than anything else to be founded on the Word of God. I praise Him for His faithfulness!

Please pray for this Interface opportunity. There is still much preparation to be done and much support to be raised.

Please also continue to pray for the girls at the Salvation Army. Pray that God’s truth infiltrates their hearts and minds and transforms their attitudes and actions. We’re hoping to get them plugged into a church body soon. Please pray that we will be able to find a church that is founded on the Word of God and is within walking distance for us and the girls to attend.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

God Bless,

Abbey Smith