Living a Life of Preparation
By Kat Swick
While studying abroad in 2008 in London, I heard Christine Caine, founder of A21, give a sermon on preparation. It forever changed how I walked forward. Her point was this: our whole lives are built on preparing for what’s next. We go to high school to prepare for college, go to college to prepare for our careers, step into entry-level jobs so that we can be prepared to step into advanced roles, save so that one day we are prepared to buy a house or a car, and so on. Everything we do is preparing us for what’s next. Ultimately though, we are preparing for Christ’s coming. We are living our lives in expectation of being with Him. Our souls are crying out for Him. It is so strong within us, it’s reflected in how we’ve oriented our entire lives as a society.
“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6 ESV
As I reflect over the 33 years of my life, I see even when I was a little girl how He was preparing me for what I am doing today. I look back at the really difficult, low valleys I walked through, and I can reflect on how those times prepared me for what was to come. It is evident in the little details of my life. For example, I am dyslexic and was not able to read as a child until age 12. Learning a new language as an adult is one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve ever had, but I was not discouraged by the challenges I faced. I had witnessed myself persevere as a little girl. It pushed me to keep showing up to language class. I’ll never forget the first time I had a full conversation in Khmer and walked away actually understanding what had transpired. I couldn’t stop smiling.
My first call to missions was as a freshman in college. I kept thinking, “How in the world will studying fashion design be helpful in going to the nations? Do I need to drop out?” To anyone that is thinking similar right now, the answer is probably no. One of the biggest misconceptions about missionaries is a saying that is often misinterpreted: “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” Usually, this is interpreted as, “You don’t need to have any skills, he’ll teach you when you get there.”
Yikes! Abort! Abort! This is not the heart behind this message. For most, it is saying God is preparing/equipping us for where He will call us or has called us. He knows where we are headed; we just need to trust Him and keep our feet moving forward. If we are living in obedience to Him, then He will be building in us the skills we need to do what he’s calling us to. The season we are in is being used to prepare us for what is next.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
I remember sitting in another sermon by Christine Caine that year as she announced her starting of A21, an anti-trafficking organization. I’d never heard of human trafficking, and something hit me at that moment when she spoke about it; I knew I was called to it. I stood up at the end of service and went to find her and tell her I was dropping out of college and coming to help her. I couldn’t find her. Instagram wasn’t a thing, so I couldn’t just DM her. So instead, I continued on my current trajectory while looking for every opportunity in my path to get involved. I went to conferences, I joined advocacy groups, I raised money, and I signed up for a short-term missions trip through Resonate. All of these things were what I thought was preparing me. However, though they helped me develop knowledge of trafficking, what God was doing in the background of my life was what was preparing me for impact. See, if I’d dropped out of college and gone straight to the field, what would I have had to offer the fight? Even David showed up with his slingshot, and I’m guessing he had practiced using it on some lions before Goliath. We may not be experts yet when we arrive on the field, but we don’t come empty-handed to a fight. We come prepared as best we can. We come with a level of basic training. God may plant a seed, but only in His time and with proper nurturing will it grow. It takes time before it surfaces, but its roots have been forming for some time. If it popped right out of the ground, it would be blown away by the wind But if its roots are deep when it pops up, the wind can’t uproot it.
I had so much to learn. So many skills needed to be wielded first. Yes, a lot of them bloomed and grew while on the field in Cambodia, but had I shown up empty-handed, I couldn’t have empowered others in the way I was able to. I actually could have done a lot of damage or held my Khmer counterparts back. Over 100 women wouldn’t have any orders to sew if they only had an ill-fitting t-shirt pattern to sew that no one wanted to buy or wear. Instead, because I came prepared with the ability to make a quality pattern, those women will have a great t-shirt to sew long after I’m gone. This will transpire into orders to help them sustain their jobs because people actually want to buy their t-shirts past just a pity buy.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV
Our skills don’t have to fit in the traditional missionary box. We don’t all have to be a doctor or pastor. Some of the biggest gifts that are overlooked in the mission field are things like admin, HR, management, and creative and technical positions. As the world is modernizing, so are missions. A lot of missions overseas are turning to business or NGO (non-governmental organizations) work. Due to visas, etc., it is getting increasingly harder for missionaries just to show up and disciple people as their job. We would not do that at home necessarily either. We build relationships in our workplaces and churches and then disciple. Missions are starting to morph into the same model. Some of the most impactful missionaries I’ve met on the field are not the ones that are on fire for God at 18 and jump on a plane. Sadly most of them leave burnt out and tainted in their faith. The most impactful ones are the ones that after at least a few years in HR, management, speech pathology, teaching, psychology, social work, counseling, graphic design, and many other careers, are the ones making the largest impact. Now I’m not saying you need a degree to make an impact, but we need to carry whatever our slingshot is. The ones that have rooted deeply in their faith and come through listening to His voice, are who I am meaning. They just may not be dressed as traditional missionaries, but they are going ready to empower. To help prepare others in those same skills; to build them up, and ultimately to make disciples. If we live lives of preparation in obedience to what God is calling us to, we get to be part of what pastor Keith in 2010 used to love to call the “metanarrative,” the story behind the stories. We get to be a part of God growing His Kingdom, for the lost to be found, disciples to be made, and nations to be reached. That’s powerful.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV
We will never feel fully prepared. We will never have our ducks fully in a row. That’s the beauty of preparation; it’s always just pushing us to what is next. Our journey is never complete. Our lives won’t be complete until we stand in front of the Father and He looks at us and says, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” But until that day, we can’t give up, we have to be diligent. I didn’t drop out of college, instead, I started a company, I designed and patterned, and then one day God opened a door to a country called Cambodia and said now’s the time. I didn’t force it at 18 when I first felt called, I tried, but failed. And yes, I had to learn a LOT once I was off the plane in Cambodia, but as I had to learn language and culture and make Cambodia home, I didn’t have to teach myself how to do my job. I was able to save the effort for a deeper impact on the people I was serving.
Your mission field in life may be in suburbia USA, it may be in corporate America, it may be in a village in the jungle. It may start in suburbia and end in the jungle. We are all on different journeys, and we are all operating in different callings and giftings. That is what makes the church so beautiful; we are working together to prepare for the coming of our Lord. But we need to be diligent and prepare. We need to seek God’s face, be obedient in hearing his voice, and be rooted solely in Him. Then one day, when He needs to move us to the next stage, all He has to do is dig us up and plant us somewhere new, but we are prepared. Our roots are deep, ready to be planted in a larger pot, ready to withstand whatever storm is next to come. How is God preparing you for what’s next?
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
