Discipleship Training School (DTS) ruined my life. In the best way possible.

I applied for my DTS three weeks before it started. God had been calling me to take a step of faith for well over a year but I kept putting it off, running like Jonah. I was a train chugging along the tracks of normality, chasing my goal of an ordinary life. My whole life up to this point had been building up to that goal of having the “American Dream,” living the “good life.” I had made plans to go to a good college, get good grades, get a good job, and have a good, normal life. Little did I know that, despite my quest for good, God was calling me to great. The train was beginning to fly off the tracks.

Little did I know that, despite my quest for good, God was calling me to great.

I had no idea what I was getting into.

By the second day of DTS I was convinced it was where I was supposed to be, by Week 3 my life and faith had been radically shaken and grown, and by Week 5 God had solidified my call to a sacrificial life of ministry and mission work. I tend to be pretty introverted at times and have a difficult time initiating conversations with people, so I thought I could never be a missionary or an evangelist, and therefore I was useless in the Kingdom.

I thought I could never be a missionary or an evangelist, and therefore I was useless in the Kingdom.

Once that was revealed to me I was able to combat those fears by replacing them with the truth that God speaks over me. The truth is that I have value, I am His child, He’s not going to let me down, He’s not going to run away, He’s not mad at me, He works in me through His Spirit even when I have little to offer, and He is okay with my doubts and questions as long as I take them to Him. The truth is that I have power and authority by the name of Jesus. As Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” My faith is not based on my authority or on the power of my prayers, but on the One who loves me and has set me free and fills me with His Holy Spirit.

He is okay with my doubts and questions as long as I take them to Him.

As it says in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” He has not set us free to just be free, but also that we may beckon and welcome others into that same freedom that we have in Christ. DTS taught me that what Jesus has accomplished and done in my life is too important to keep to myself. The truth is that we are all called to mission work, whether in the traditional overseas sense or not. You can be a “missionary” in your own hometown! Jesus called each and every one of His followers to follow Him in radical ways, to “take up your cross daily,” to “go into all the world,” and as His followers today He calls you and I to the exact same thing. I can no longer live my comfortable, everyday, American life, covered in fears and insecurity, but rather I choose to let Him permeate every aspect of my life, destroying more and more lies and fears, as He makes me more and more like Christ.

So, in reality, DTS did not ruin my life. But God certainly did. And I hope He continues to.

Written by Luke Meyer