Hi everyone. For anyone who hasn't met me, my name's Rachel. I've been going to this church for over three years now and I spent the last two years living in the house next door.
So I really love this church and I'm really excited to share with you all tonight. I probably could speak for three hours, but don't worry, I won't.
I'm just going to start off by reading Romans chapter 12 verse 1 to 8.
Therefore I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and prove what God's will is.
His good, pleasing and perfect will.
For by the grace given to me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you thought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.
In accordance with the faith, God has distributed to each of you.
For just as each one of us has one body with many members, for just as each of us has one body with many members, these members do not all have the same function.
Though many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.
If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.
If it is serving, then serve.
If it is teaching, then teach.
If it is to encourage, then give encouragement.
If it is giving, then give generously.
If it is to lead, do it diligently.
If it is to show mercy, do it diligently.
Heavenly Father, I just pray that you'll be with me as I seek tonight.
Well thank you for each person that is here.
Lord, may they not just hear my words and my stories, but may they hear your words and may they see how we've worked through me.
And I just thank you for the opportunity to share tonight.
So during March I set off to spend two and a half weeks volunteering as a nurse and midwife with my medical shifts in Papua New Guinea.
About 15 months have passed since a friend of mine had suggested I pray that going on our age, and so it had been quite a long build up to the trip starting.
Because I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into, it was quite hard to prepare for such a trip.
What I did do though was pray that God would have me in a place where He wanted me, and where I could be best used to serve Him.
As I set off to Papua New Guinea on March 9th, I was in no way prepared for what the next two and a half weeks would have in store.
I can say without a doubt that this outreach was one of the most incredible adventures of my life so far.
The first few days of the trip were all about getting to know each of the other volunteers,
learning about YWAM's mission, learning about Papua New Guinea culture, and training on how to run health clinics each day.
While the ship was still docked in Allatau, we had the opportunity of having a tour of the Allatau General Hospital.
This experience was both incredible and incredibly heartbreaking.
Allatau General Hospital is the biggest health care centre for the entire Melbourne Bay Province, which is like the state of Papua New Guinea,
and seeing the lack of resources there made me feel physically ill.
I remember on the first day of orientation, one of our senior clinic leaders said to us, it's okay for your heart to hurt a little bit.
Well, on this day, my heart was hurting.
I knew that I wasn't going to be able to change the world, or even Papua New Guinea in two and a half weeks,
but our sure as heck was going to put in 110% to make a difference in whatever way I possibly could,
big or small, to any individual group or village that I came in contact with.
When we finally set sail, there was a huge buzz about the ship.
We were really excited to see what the next few days would have in store.
Each day I woke up with a big smile on my face.
Sometimes I had to actually pinch myself to make sure that this was real and not just a big, amazing dream.
I was having the most incredible time, and my heart was filled with so much joy, despite deep challenges we faced along the way.
This trip was without a doubt one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
I was predominantly involved in triaging patients, providing antenatal care,
family planning education, and educating the healthcare workers on obstetric emergencies.
Some days I also had to act as the physiotherapist, the pharmacist, and the doctor as well.
The weather was really hot and humid, and I could never sweat so much in my entire life.
The days were long, with breakfast at 6.30am, clinics running all day,
and chanting to the ship for dinner at 6pm, and then more work to be done after dinner each night.
We were busy, with over 100 patients visiting each doctor each day, and we saw some really sick people.
The harsh reality of just how remote these villages were and how difficult it was for these people to access healthcare was hard to comprehend.
Again, my heart was breaking, but this was still one of the most incredible adventures of my life.
It was a lot of fun. We got to live on a ship, which was heaps of fun,
each morning we were struck not knowing where we could be, but trusted that the captain and chief may have had it all sorted.
It was so incredibly beautiful. Puppining any is just the most beautiful place I've ever been.
Each day I'd wake up just in awe of the creation that surrounded me.
We got to commute from the ship to villages each day on small boats, which was a lot of fun.
A bit of fresh air and the sea spray splashing in your face. A good way to wake you up each morning.
And I got to volunteer alongside over 90 other incredible volunteers from 17 different countries around the world.
We got to relax on a Sunday, on weekends, stargaze up there each night.
We got to witness some of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen in my life.
We had random dance parties. We played board games, card games, enjoyed talent shows and shared so much joy and laughter with one another.
I have a million stories I could share with you all, but I have just chosen one to share with you all tonight.
If you want to hear more of my stories, please let me know and I'd really love to share them with you.
So on the next slide, there is a photo of Lavinia and I.
Lavinia came to our clinic one day hoping to see the doctors.
They were really busy, so I saw her instead.
She explained to me that she and her husband had been married for five years and desperately wanted a child, but that they'd been having trouble conceiving.
I assessed her overall health. We had a chat about reproductive health.
And I gave her some education about when is the best time in a woman's menstrual cycle to try and conceive.
Then I looked at her and I said, I'm sorry, but I don't think our doctors will really be able to help you today.
The look on her face was like a dream or hope from it.
Somehow she thought seeing our doctors would make everything better and that she was going to conceive.
To see that lack of hope, my heart was breaking once again.
So I offered to pray for her.
When I offered to pray for her, she just lit up like I'd offered her a wedding lottery ticket.
We prayed and it was really special.
When I finished praying, I opened my eyes and saw tears rolling down her face.
I then began to cry as well.
We shared a really beautiful hug together and I promised her that when I returned to the ship that night,
when I returned to Australia, I would continue to pray for her.
We said goodbye and I continued seeing patients every year.
As I was packing up at the end of the day, I suddenly felt this overwhelming guilt.
Lavinia and I had spent such a special time together, but now just an hour or two later, I'd already forgotten her name.
I think I was just angry at myself, so I was packing up and I was a bit frustrated.
I found a tiny piece of rubbish on the ground.
I picked it up and sort of screwed it up in my hand and then looked at it again.
It was a tiny piece of paper about the size of a 50 cent piece and on it was written, Lavinia Mark.
To this day, I don't know where that piece of paper came from.
It wasn't my handwriting and as far as I know, she hadn't brought it in with her.
She was coming with a clinic book, so I don't know where it came from
and I'm putting it down to being a miracle from God.
I still have that piece of paper and I'm continuing to pray for Lavinia
and I'm thanking God for the opportunity we had to meet each other and pray together that day.
I had so many encounters on this trip that challenged me both personally and professionally.
I hoped that God would use me to make a difference in people's lives during this hour each
but never in more than years would I have imagined the transformation that was going to take place in my own life.
I wonder if you've ever sung any of the songs that go something like this.
Break my heart for what breaks yours, everything I am for your kingdom's cause.
I surrender all.
Spirit lead me where my trust is with our borders, that we walk upon the waters wherever you would call me.
Lord I give you my heart, I give you my soul.
Take my life, take all that I am.
Maybe you've prayed a prayer, something along the lines of
God I really want to live for you, please show me what you want me to do.
Guide me Lord, help me see direction in my life.
Well I challenge you, when you sing those words and you pray those prayers, do you mean it?
Because I know that I had sung those songs and I prayed those prayers many times in my life
but now I'm wondering how often I'd actually meant it.
Be careful what you sing and be careful what you pray.
Don't say these things and then put boundaries on how you want God to answer your prayers or guide your life.
He doesn't work like that.
We have to stop putting God in a box.
As I559 says, as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We have to acknowledge the power and sovereignty of our God and start living our lives as an act of worship to Him
just as He commands us to in Romans 12.
During outreach it was as though God said to me,
OK Rachel, I've got you now.
All those words you've been singing and praying, I'm going to take you up on them.
I'm going to let you do it and you need to do it again and trust me.
It wasn't like I'd heard the audible voice of God or anything but it was a strong feeling in my gut
and given how crazy it was and how much it was pushing me out of my comfort zone,
I had a pretty good feeling it was God.
I started to pray.
I prayed a lot.
I chatted with some of the senior clinic leaders and they prayed with me too.
I was initially filled with such fear because I felt like God was really wanting me to step out in faith
under every aspect of my life for Him, not just part of it.
I needed to stop worrying about the things that didn't matter and trust that so long as I was there obedient to God,
He would provide all of my needs and guide me a long way.
Joshua 1.9 says, Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid.
Do not be discouraged.
The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
There was then no more fear.
Just complete peace and excitement for what was to come.
I would go for the sunset each night in absolute awe of God's beautiful creation
and I would reflect on the day that had been and prayed for what was to come.
There's a slide of one of the sunsets there.
John 10.10 kept coming to my mind that this comes to steal, kill and destroy,
that God has come so that we may have life and have it to the fullest.
I realised that in my selfish ways I was holding on to things that were stopping me from living my life to the full in the way God created it to be.
This passage in John 10 talks about God being the shepherd and we being His sheep.
A shepherd doesn't ever do anything to harm his sheep or lead them in the wrong direction.
He provides for them and he protects them.
The sheep trust him and are obedient.
We need to start being sheep.
I need to start being a sheep.
I need to start trusting God and allowing Him to be the shepherd.
Our Father Jehovah Jireh, our provider.
All that we need comes from Him.
I recently came across a song that I really love.
In the chorus it says,
When you believe is all you need, this will be your defining moment.
As you live your life walking in His light, trusting Him completely, that will be your defining moment.
This trip was a defining moment in my life.
I said to Pastor Nick a few weeks ago,
I could never have imagined my life heading in this direction.
And he reminded me of Ephesians 3.20 which talks about how God can do far greater things than you or I could possibly imagine.
That was so relevant for me.
Since returning from Papua New Guinea, God has continued to reveal Himself to me daily.
And He has so graciously opened up so many doors and closed so many others.
In December I'm going to be going back onto the ship for another short hour each in Papua New Guinea.
Then in January I'm going to be moving to Townsville to do a discipleship training school with Wyman.
With this there's a three month lecture phase based in Townsville
where we do a lot of intense Bible study and missionary training.
Then we spend two and a half months on our reach in Papua New Guinea carrying out God's work.
This could involve being back on the medical ship or could be land based, working in schools, churches, hospitals or other community groups.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit overwhelmed with how drastically my life plans have changed in the last six to eight weeks.
But I am reminded that even though this new life is the ones where I could possibly imagine, God had it all planned.
The last slide has one of my favorite verses and it's Jeremiah 2911.
It says, I know the plans I have for you to bless the Lord.
Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.
So I'm passing in His plans and I'm excited to see what it means to live life to the full to God in whichever way He leads me.
Thank you.
