On the Ship

When Jackie Pullinger felt the Lord call her, she didn’t exactly know where to go or what to do. She applied to several mission boards but they turned her down. She was single, wasn’t trained enough, etc.. etc… Yet she still felt a strong calling to go. But her largest problem was that she didn’t know where to serve.

One day she consulted with a pastor. When she confessed that the Lord laid it strong in her heart to step into missions but he hadn’t given her the location, he advised her if God was telling her to go, she had better obey the Lord. He instructed her to buy a ticket on a cargo ship that went the furthest distance away. Every time that ship pulled into port, she should ask God is this is where she was to get off the ship.

Obedient to God’s call, Jackie bought a ticket to China, the farthest place from England that the ships currently went. Waving to her family was heartbreaking but she knew she was to obey the Lord’s call. With each stop at each port she would pray, but the Lord did not lead her to disembark. Finally on the last stop in Hong Kong, the Lord said this was the place. With very little money and through numerous miracles, Jackie Pullinger was able to enter the country and eventually start a ministry to drug addicts in the Walled City. She continues her ministry to this day. (Jacki Pullinger–Chasing the Dragon).

Right now I feel a little bit of what Jackie Pullinger must have felt like on the ship. I am currently in a beautiful place for ministry but I feel this is a bridge to something else, not the stopping off point. I am just not sure what the stopping off point is yet. For now I am on the ship and asking God about where to disembark. In the meantime I have commitments here until the end of the year. To not know what is after December is uncomfortable, but it does press me harder into the heart of God. And in reality, that’s a pretty good thing.