Just do it

What made an impact on me most from hearing the history of what God did in the world to fulfill His purposes in the world was hearing about the women victims of the Viking conquests! The Vikings at the time were the most ruthless pagan peoples of the world and they seemed unstoppable in their conquests. Everywhere they went they slaughtered men and children, but raped and eslaved the women. What amazes me is the witness of those women. They had seen the Vikings shed the blood of their families and afterwards had been violated and degraded. But instead of vengfully fighting back, they chose the way of Christ. Instead of fighting back, they whispered the gospel into the ears of the Viking men as they were raped. I don't know about you, but that is amazing to me.

These women chose love, even though it required all kinds of difficult personal sacrifice and trust in God as they gave their lives to serve the Vikings in the midst of their grief and loss. What started happening is the Vikings were effected by the power of the gospel in the lives of these women! These women trusted God in their cicumstances, doing everything for God's glory and because of this the gospel spread in the entire Viking world!

This has made such an impact on me because I dream of going and bringing the good news of the gospel blessing of God to unreached people, but if God wanted me to stay, or put me into circumstances like those women, I don't know if I could withstand it. It inspires me so much and so does Paul as I read of the numerous accounts of suffering for God's glory in his life. I think of his words in Colossians 1, "to this end I labor with his energy which so powerfully works within me". Paul had hard circumstance after hard circumstance in his life, but he knew what he was about. He knew that no matter where he was, what he did, or who he was with, he was supposed to glorify God. He didn't always see what God was doing, but he trusted God. His purpose was to glorify God. He didn't let circumstances get him down, he just did it. Looking at these stories I aspire to just do it too!