A Beautiful Verse. A Beautiful Meaning.

"For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts. ~Malachi 1:11

Why is that phrase italicized, you may be asking? Well, two parts. Background & Foreground.

Background.

My initial call to missions came when I was in High School. I had been on 2 mission trips by my junior year, Spring semester. And I wasn't really thinking about when I would serve again. God has just used me over Christmas break to witness to a guy at my school, over Facebook of all things. And even though it was just a bunch of seeds being flung, and maybe a bit too much force, it still stuck with that guy, whether he would admit it or not. Anyway, so a few weeks, maybe a month into the semester, I DVR-ed a TV show. It was called KidNation...don't know if anyone remembers it, but it was about these kids who were taken to a ghost town in the west, and set up their own like government and what not. Yeah, a bunch of middle schoolers = drama-rama (hahaha, I say that now, when I LOVE working with them!). So I had never watched the show before tonight, the only reason I wanted to was because its theme for the night was religion. So, to make a really long story short, at the end, a little Indian boy had set up a shrine to a Hindu god and was offering incense to that god, bowing before it, etc. Needless to say, I was bawling my eyes out. Then a little girl, who had claimed to be a Christian, walked up and asked him about what he was doing. After he told her, he got up and stepped aside. And she bowed down and did what he had been doing. I had to quickly turn off the TV and run to my room. I fell on my face and only heard Isaiah 6 going through my mind..."Here I am, Lord! Send me!"

Foreground.

As I was preparing for this summer, back at MC, some people told me about this guy I should meet, who had been to India this past summer. So, eventually we did meet, and he told me a lot of stuff. A lot of good stuff, which has stuck with me and helped me (Thank you!). So, one of the big things that stuck out to me was how he spoke of idols. Here in the U.S., we think of idols in the non-tangible sense (entertainment, addictions, etc)...but in India, as he told me, these idols are literal, made out of wood or some other material, formed into a god, set on a shrine, and worshipped. Isaiah 40 came to mind as he spoke, when it speaks on idols' worthlessness, carved out of materials that the one true God made!

So that is why that phrase is italicized. Because I am about to embark into a land where idols will surround me. But I'm learning to keep my eyes upon the God who reigns forever, the God whose name "will be great among the nations." I am SO excited to be apart of His purpose & mission to do this, made worthy to be among the priesthood, called out of darkness into His wonderful light, and filled with His love, my cup overflows so that I made be poured out for those who are empty and don't even know it yet.