I don’t wear glasses all the time. It wasn’t until I hit the age of 30 that I realized my eyes were strained doing things that until now had been easy. I didn’t want to admit I needed them at first, but finally gave in and bought my first pair. I was blown away by the clarity they brought. While getting used to my life sometimes through lenses, I remembered something that had changed for me in my Discipleship Training School. I learned that as a follower of Jesus, the lens in which I am to see the world is the Bible. Though I had been a believer most of my life, I was surprised to learn of many beliefs and values I had held that didn’t measure up to the standards of the Bible. In recognizing these things, I watched God change my view of the world from in small little shifts that led to healthy perspective.
1. My View of God
To me, God has always been great, He has always been powerful, and He has always been worthy of worship. During my DTS, I discovered that God wants relationship with me. As we read through the scriptures in DTS, it was easy to see that from Genesis to Revelation, God has been pursuing mankind. It was easy to see that though we turned our backs on Him he always intended to offer us restoration through Jesus. Seeing the extravagant love He has for us deepen my understanding of who He is. God the almighty, desiring relationship with even me.
2. My View of The Church
I worked in a church before I joined YWAM. I loved the people I worked with, I loved the youth I served and deeply enjoyed the community of friends it offered. What I didn’t realize until during my DTS was the way the church had greatly shepherded me. What I mean by this is that my faith and character grew immensely because the people around me were not content to let me stay the same. As God prompted change in my life, they reinforced it. They set the bar high. They offered me accountability, community and room to grow. I also realized that without my church family believing in me so deeply, I likely wouldn’t have gone to do my Discipleship Training School. The church cared for me, covered me and supported me.
3. My View of The World
For so long, the world had been far away. It was ‘those people’ in ‘those places’. It wasn’t until my DTS that the world was no longer an arm’s reach away. The world was quickly where I was going and just as quickly where I had been. The stories I heard on the news were no longer far enough away that my heart could avoid engaging. The stories were now riddled with the faces of people I had come to love, built friendships with and wanted to see again. The crisis the world reported on were the daily realities of my friends. The world got a lot smaller very quickly. In its shrinking, it also stirred up a hope I had never had before. A hope fueled by the understanding that God brings people together and that I could have impact.
4. My View of Missions
Prior to DTS, I believed missions was something reserved for super spiritual people. It became very clear that God wants to use all of us actively for the story of redemption He is continuing to write. I intend to live with purpose. I intend to live in obedience to God. I intend to keep saying yes to Him as he asks me to engage those who have never heard His name. I will go.
Written by Jen Dorrough
