Blindfolded No More
In 2023, a young man named Oliver was attending a Christian university when a strong desire to follow God’s plan for His life began to grow like a fire in his chest. He started gathering students on his campus to regularly pray and worship. He also began driving several hours every month to attend services at MAPS Global. However, despite the fire burning inside of him, he still couldn’t see clearly what God’s plan was. He felt like he was living in a dark room with a blindfold on, reaching out to grab onto whatever he could in order to feel his way forward.
Soon, a longing for the nations to know the living God burdened his heart. It began to weigh so heavily upon him, that when he went back to school, he would look up statistics on the Great Commission and pray. One day, he spent hours alone before the Lord praying for the nations. He finally prayed a bold and dangerous prayer: “God, give me your heart.”
From that moment on, the burden for the nations began to lodge deep within him, putting down permanent roots into the soil of his heart. As the burden grew, he received an invitation to go on a mission trip to the Middle East. He jumped at the opportunity. He was still trying to feel His way forward into God’s plan for His life. But it was hard. He had to do everything alone. He raised the money alone, bought the tickets alone, and traveled alone. He didn’t even know where he was going to stay. Everything was hard. He was like a lone ranger, trying to step into a mission all by himself, blindfolded and burdened.
But, that’s where God met him. While he was sitting in a coffee shop alone in the Middle East, the Lord whispered to Oliver. He told him He could keep trying to pursue ministry to the nations alone, or he could do it with a community. He could do it with MAPS Global. The very next day, Oliver applied for the MAPS Global School, and made plans to move to Richmond, Virginia.
After arriving at the school, Oliver went from feeling alone and blindfolded in a dark room, to planted in a greenhouse with the sunlight pouring in. As he was trained in the classroom, he discovered his identity before the Lord. As he was formed in the prayer room, he began to behold the light of Jesus’ face and be gripped with a desire to see God’s glory. And as he received nurture in a spiritual community, he discovered he was not alone. The blindfold had been removed. He had found his assignment alongside a global family.
Not only was Oliver able to see the sunlight illuminating his destiny clearly for the first time, but that light was nourishing the seedling planted in his heart. He was also being prepared to be transplanted into the mission field.
After completing the school, Oliver is confidently following God’s plan for His life. Not only is he now on staff as a leader in the MAPS Global school, but he’s gotten to go to the nations to pray, preach and sing as part of this community. He is also on track to launch as a long-term missionary with a team that will be pioneering a missions base amongst the unreached in the Himalaya.
God is the one who calls and raises up leaders, lovers, and laborers, and He is intentional about where these ones are formed. Just as God was intentional with planting Oliver in a greenhouse to grow, so He is also intentional with each of us, if we allow him to remove our blinders and show us the light.