Show Me

Since last October God has blessed me with a job as a barista at Starbucks. I love my job because the work environment allows me to be creative. I enjoy getting to know (most of) the regular customers that come in, and I really like working with and getting to know my co-workers.

Recently my church had a missions week, where several missionaries from around the world came and talked about their lives and experiences on the mission field. One of them spoke to my young adults’ group and told us all about living in several different countries, some of the many challenges he’d faced, and how being a missionary wasn’t just about taking pictures with minority children for your Instagram.

It was one of the best talks I’d heard that week, but on my way home I started to compare his testimony to mine. This really cool guy was off traveling and spreading the Gospel to all corners of the world, but here I was in the Midwest, living a pretty generic life, and working at Starbucks. I’d wanted to go on a mission trip for years, but have never had the opportunity.

In my quiet time I prayed, “God, send me somewhere where I can do real mission work.”

God quickly slapped me over the head and reminded me that He put me right where I am for a very specific reason. He is showing me how dangerous it is to compare my life to others because comparison can easily grow into bitterness.

It took a lot of humbling, but my prayers changed from “Send me” to “Show me.”

I prayed that God would open my eyes to ways I could serve through my everyday life. And, he did.

I realized He put me in Starbucks to be a light to the people I’m around, even the ones I don’t particularly look forward to seeing, because everyone is in need of a Savior.

I hope this encourages you to look for opportunities in your everyday life to be a light and witness for Him. Say, “show me.”