Our Part

What do you say when your dream of 15 years finally comes true, but it doesn’t look like anything you thought it would? To be honest, I was simply speechless.

It’s taken me quite some time to process and recognize my God loves me so much that He would allow me to wait. Those years of waiting were long and hard, with many “almosts” and “maybes”. And it wasn’t until Ten2 that that Lord allowed me to serve in the European harvest fields.

I was seven years old when I first became obsessed with all things European. I was 14 when all I talked about was England and the only music I listened to was British boy bands (that may or may not be true still today). And I turned 23 when I landed for training for this summer. Fifteen years of the Lord working in me and one summer worth all the waiting.

Life in England was nothing like I had dreamed during those previous 15 years. It reminded me of home (but with better accents). And though the church is small, it is one far more passionate than I’ve ever experienced in the US.

Never did I expect to spend my time chatting with 65-year-old women over tea and biscuits daily. I miss their wisdom.

Never did I expect to meet a sweet, teenage girl who loved her family history so much that she would spend a full day at a museum and teach me all about the West Midlands. I miss her contagious fervor to see her generation honor God above all things.

Never did I anticipate being hosted by people I had never met, yet felt like home. I miss making dinner together and getting lost on hikes and finding horses in random fields (yes…it happened more than once).

And never did I anticipate that saying goodbye would be harder than the 15 years of waiting. I miss England.

And still, there is dream that spreads much farther than the West Midlands and the rest of England, and even Ten2 itself. It’s a dream that every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. As believers, this is our dream. And as our dreams align with that of Christ, He takes them much further than we could imagine.

Our part in the Great Commission looks different for every individual. We are designed and gifted differently with different passions, whether it is the blessing to send, the blessing to welcome, the blessing to go, or the blessing to encourage. We all get to be part of this dream that is truly larger than we could imagine on our own. So how do we respond to this dream?

We pray.

We ask earnestly that the Lord of the harvest would use us the best way He sees fit. We pray that if we are waiting, we wait patiently. If we are serving, we do so in humility. If we are supporting, we do so generously. We pray, with thanks, that we are invited to play a part in this dream becoming reality.

–Kiley Shionis

2019 Ten2 Participant, Birmingham, England, UK