Expectations

25th March, 2010 - Posted by Camille Cotton -

As our teams are starting their training for their outreaches this summer, I’ve begun talking to them about their expectations. One of the first questions I ask our team members at our very first team meeting is, “What are your expectations?” After everyone shares, I tell them the reason I asked that question. All of their expectations are noble and good, but the reason we talk about expectations is to help them be open to the unexpected.

I know when I went on my first mission trip, my expectation was that I would help people in need and share Jesus’ love, hopefully affecting their lives for the better. I expected to work hard, to encounter more need than I ever had in my everyday life, and to leave the country having finished a project and done something good for a few people. I never would have expected what I actually experienced.

I came back with an overwhelming knowledge that I had been changed by my experiences. I expected to go and make a change by my actions, but I never understood that I’m really the one that changes. And it’s the same story from every person I’ve talked to after returning from a mission trip. Of course you work hard, help those in need and love on people, but it’s more than that. It’s about what God wants to do in your life when you’re serving and doing what He created you to do.

That’s one thing you CAN expect: for God to work on you through your service.