Shannon Kelly Lake Union Herald, June/July 2018
EVER SINCE HIS HIGH SCHOOL mission trip to Nicaragua, Jonathan Rodney, a mission-minded Shalem Church (Waukegan, Illinois) member, knew he wanted to dedicate himself to God’s service.
As the 24-year-old was preparing to serve as a Southern University student missionary in Egypt in 2013, everything was going as planned — that was, until he received a phone call from the Student Missions director just three days before leaving. “I wasn’t able to go on the trip anymore,” Jonathan said. “I didn’t understand.” Jonathan was given some alternative service locations — all islands. “It was very ironic, because when I was thinking about doing mission work, I didn’t think of going to the islands because I felt like it wouldn’t be a challenge to me,” Jonathan recalled with a laugh. “Just the way that island life is portrayed, it can seem like it’s paradise. I didn’t want paradise; I wanted to be somewhere where I was going to really grow.” He finally decided to go to the Micronesian island of Pohnpei.
When Jonathan arrived in Pohnpei, where he would serve as a teacher to second- and sixth-graders in addition to teaching choir, he was confronted with unexpected challenges. Notably, he spent agonizing hours praying over a demon-possessed student. When the situation remained unchanged, Jonathan found his faith pushed to the breaking point. “That moment was so . . . hurtful, because we prayed about it. We did all these things, and it took so long for it to go away. You read Bible verses where it’s like, if you call on the name of Jesus, He’ll come, but it wasn’t as clear-cut, I guess. And I was struggling so hard with that.”
One day, Jonathan found himself swinging on the playground and pouring his heart out to God. “God, what is going on? All of this stuff has happened, and at the same time nothing has happened. I just need to know; why did You bring me here?” Suddenly, he was shaken to hear a voice tell him, “Listen to ‘Oceans.’” The command came a second time. Jonathan promptly downloaded the song and began to listen to it. The words brought him to tears: “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders / Let me walk upon the waters / Wherever You would call me.”1 “It literally was just fitting everything I was feeling, and everything that I wanted to say to God, but I was too angry, but also too scared, to say,” he said. “After that song was heard, my experience kept peaking. It was just amazing.”
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