P:C - Flying to Face Your Fears

I was born into a family that, while it certainly worked to not be prejudiced against any group of people, ended up fostering a (I would say fear, but that’s not quite it.) discomfort – for lack of a better word – toward German people. My grandfather fought in World War II, and we were told not to talk about Germans around him. This even extended to my friend who was an exchange student from Germany. Anyone was free to visit my grandparents’ house with us, but I was told, “Maybe it would be better if you didn’t bring Katy.” So that was that. Subconsciously, this discomfort was solidified by a computer game my mother liked to play. The whole idea was that the player is invading a German fortress, and every time you opened a door there would be someone on the other side who would yell, “Guten Tag!,” and then they would start shooting. I know it’s ridiculous, but this is what wormed its way into my head.

Recently, God stopped me and said, “You’re going to be my warrior.”

I responded, “Okay. Sounds good. Let’s do it.”

So I started applying for different missions trips. I applied for one to Poland, but got rejected, which entirely broke my spirit. I thought, “Why would God call me to this, but then turn me down when I tried to follow His call?” I thought maybe I had misinterpreted His call entirely.

Not long after that, the opportunity to travel to a little German town known as Mainz arose. I said, “Oh, no, God. You are not calling me to that.”

Well, needless to say, God laughed a little and said, “Oh, yes, I am.”

So I applied, and, of course, was accepted.

To make a long story short, I came to Germany and fell in love with the country. I fell in love with the people. I finally opened my heart and was filled by some of the kindest, gentlest people I have known. I think this was God’s way of saying, “If you’re going to by my representative you have to love all my children, just like Me.”

In the end, I found that these people of whom I had lived in fear turned out to be just as beautiful as I thought they were scary. Even though it took me getting on a plane and flying straight into my fears, God was able to open my heart to see people exactly how He sees them: beautiful and Divinely created.