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Hello everyone and welcome to the Faith with Her podcast. It's Joy. I hope you all had an awesome week. Today our episode is titled His Will for Her. It's all about when you feel convicted about God's Will for Your Life. But first let's play a game. So this is a finish the sentence game. So I'll start a sentence and then you will have to finish it. So here we go. Number one, my favorite Bible character is. Mine, besides Jesus, is probably um. Uh, it's really hard. Maybe. Hmm. I maybe Moses, because he was just like really brave, and even though he didn't think he could do what God wanted him to do, he still did it anyway. And then number two, if you could travel anywhere in the world, I'd go to I'd probably go to Italy. I feel like that'd be really fun. Number three, the last thing that made me laugh was um when I was Well, there was one thing that made me laugh really hard. And me and my friends were all um playing basketball in the gym at our school a while ago, probably last year, and um we were trying to do shots backwards and it was hilarious because we were failing and it was it was crazy, but yeah. Number four, if you could instantly learn one skill, it would be to be very good and fluent in ASL, so sign language, American Sign Language, that'd be so fun. Um number five, my favorite dessert is probably cookie cake. Because it's like I don't really like cake and I don't just like playing cookies, so you get the most of the best of both. Um number seven, if I can meet one person from the Bible besides Jesus, I choose um maybe Mary. Because she definitely um went through some hard times or scary times. Number eight, one thing I'm thankful for today is this podcast and my family and really everything that God has given me. Um number nine, my dream job is it's really weird, but maybe a youth pastor's wife or a in an interpreter, maybe for like a sign language church. I don't know. Number ten, if I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be um maybe oranges. Because it's like healthy, but it's also like tasty. Um, so now we can just do our highs and lows. So my high this week was so my church this week is volunteering at like an organization that gives kids and adults in our town lunches for kids who sometimes rely on school lunches, but they don't get to have that lunch in the summer, so they would I guess be hungry if they didn't have this lunch. So while we're serving, a deaf man actually came in. And me and this other teen have actually been learning ASL since we went to teen camp because there was a lot of deaf kids there, and it was really cool to see how they communicated, see how they communicated. So we were like picking up words from the translator that they had, and we actually got to communicate with the guy at the organization a lot this week, so it's been really fun. Um, more on that in um more on that later. But my low was that I had to miss out on a volleyball practice because I was so sore from a leg workout that I did. But whenever I tried to get down and ready to play volleyball, I couldn't get back up. So that was great. But let's get into our lesson now. So have you ever felt like you wanted to do something for God and you knew you were supposed to do something, but you just had no idea what? And you've been praying and praying and praying for months, but it just seems like God isn't answering your prayers. He's been answering every other prayer you've prayed, but not this one. Well, that's how I felt just a couple weeks ago. Ever since I went on a mission trip to Guatemala, I've been feeling this nagging feeling that I needed to tell more people about Jesus. And I was praying and praying and asking myself the question and God the question, God, are you telling me you want me to be a missionary or something? And I was like, me? No, I'm just a 13-year-old girl who makes so many dumb mistakes and has no idea how to live in a foreign country or how to book a plane ticket for that matter. But little did I know that I had a lot more learning and surrendering send surrendering to do before any of that. So then I got to camp. And if you have ever been to a teen camp, you know that camp is one of the best places to really connect with God. So the first night of camp before the service and the music was playing, I prayed to God and I said, God, I know you've placed this burden in my heart to reach more people for the gospel, and I don't know if that means you want me to go to a foreign country or reach people in my neighborhood or to make more podcast episodes or to be a teacher. I just don't know. So I promise that if you make it clear to me what you want me to do this week, I promise I will surrender to whatever you want me to do. And that night the preacher preached on doing God's will. And some points I wrote down from the message were, God will speak to you if you have ears to hear him, and open your heart and tell God you will do whatever he leads you to do. And when the preacher said that, I literally remember my mouth hanging open because I had just prayed that prayer. And the next one um was get up and do God's will. And then I thought, okay, if this is just the first message and God is already speaking to me like this, then I can't wait for the rest of them. And then um Wednesday night, he preached on doing God's will again. And some of his points were you ask God to use you, and when he decides to use you, you say, Oh no, not that, Lord. And how there are lots of ways you can tell God no without actually saying no. Um and another one was how you can be committed to God but not surrender to God. And the last one that really stood out to me was you will keep putting off what God wants you to do until one day you die, and you wish you had said, Yes, Lord, I will do it. After he said that, I knew I needed to get right with the Lord. And the whole week up to that point, I had been fighting back tears every day, and I just didn't want to surrender because I didn't want to go to a foreign country or get out of my comfort zone. And when they had an altar call that night, I knew I needed to get up there and surrender to God. Now, before it was too late, I went up there and I prayed and I said, God, I know that it's okay if I don't know what you want me to do yet, but I know you want me to do something, and maybe I'm not supposed to know yet. So right then and there, I prayed and I said, God, whatever you want me to do, I will do it. I promise. And before I prayed that prayer, I remember looking up and opening my eyes at the altar and thinking, Well, what if I'm making a mistake? And then the preacher said, while everyone was praying, he said something along the lines of, God's will for your life is never a mistake. And then I knew I needed to surrender now. So um, after I went back to my seat and then the service was over and everyone went to free time, I went to my youth leader's wife and I asked if I could talk to her, just me and her, and she said, Yeah. So I asked her if we could go to where no one could see us, and I just started bawling in front of her. It was so embarrassing. But I told her everything I just told you, and then I told her, Well, what if I'm making a mistake? And I'm just so afraid of getting God's will for my life wrong and then messing up my whole future. And she gave me a hug and she told me that God will never ask me to do something I couldn't handle, and then I just needed to keep praying and that God will work it all out. And she prayed for me, and then I went back to the cabin alone, and I went in the bathroom and I prayed again, and I said, God, I know this is what you want me to do, and I'm willing to do anything. And I went back happier than I've ever felt. And about two weeks after camp, I was sitting in church putting stickers on tracks, and a song came through our speakers, and it said, This is the only life I have to do God's will. And I started breaking out in tears, and I went to my dad's office and he prayed with me and told me that at this age I probably won't go know God's will until I'm older, but I just needed to keep serving in church and keep praying and um see what the Lord has in store for me. And I have actually been learning sign language with a couple apps. Um I'm not that good, but just uh I only know a little bit. But I went back to the tracks I was working on, and the camp theme theme song for the year came on, and it was saying a higher call, a brand new reason to live, a higher call, a brand new reason to give, because the camp theme was a higher call. And my dad comes to me with a missionary letter out of nowhere for a deaf church. And I thought, God, do you want me to be a missionary to the deaf people or something? And I still don't know exactly what God wants me to do with my life, but I heard somewhere that God will do amazing things with a heart fully surrendered to him, and that's what I want. And one of the preacher's name, preachers, his name is Dean Miller, signed my Bible, and the verse he wrote in it was Proverbs 11:30, which says, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. And he wrote a little note in my Bible that says, Say yes, Lord. And the other preacher, Randy Dignan, wrote Psalm 145 about praising God. And a couple months ago, I got to hear um um Pastor Kurt Copeland preach at a youth rally, and he wrote the verse Isaiah 8, 6 in my Bible, and this is this was actually before the mission trip, but it says, Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And I do think it's cool how the Lord like links things together to guide you in the right direction, and I'm really happy that I made some really good decisions like that this week. So I'm gonna keep learning sign and keep praying and see what the Lord has in store for me. And I hope you'll do the same. Well, that's all for this week. I hope you liked my story and testimony. Make sure to check out our Instagram page at FaithfullyHerd Podcast. This has been Joy Sandsel, and I'll see you next week on Faithfully Heard Podcast. Bye.