Why do all this?

As I was thinking about travel to other countries - my short term to the DR and Haiti, and my year in Costa Rica - I started trying to figure out how much I could do to help the people, and how great it would be that I would be there to serve them, and how awesome the opportunity is that I get to tell them about Jesus... Now, although none of those things are bad, I started to realize how much I said I. Why is it so great that I get to go? I mean, they were just fine without my service right? and these people have lives that they'll go back to when I leave... so what kind of impact am I thinking that I can make? I mean really, I'm just one small human with limited strength anyway. So now what? What should my goal be... because obviously I've got something wrong. This is when I started thinking God. It hit me that HE chose me, HE saved me, HE provided the way for me to go, HE sent me, and HE got me here. So instead of focusing on what I could do, my thoughts took a different turn. How much can God do through me? Well, I've heard it many times "God can only work with what you give him." Ok so now I have to give to God enough of myself to be able to impact these people. Hmm.. If I want my impact to be great, I need to offer the most possible, aka my ENTIRE self. All of me should be God's, so that he can use it however he wants while I'm here. These people don't need me. They need God. So if I give my whole self to God then I guess they're getting God through me. That sounds like a better plan than what I had originally had in mind! And by stepping aside and letting God use me, I can now do more than what my poor human self could do on its own. Changing lives is a God thing. So as I give myself to him, he can change lives with my life, but he'll also change the life that I gave him (that would be mine). Wow. That sounds like a two-for-one deal to me!! So as I think of missions or service in God's name or all of this that I plan to do with my life, I strive to remember the hand that guides me, remember the Spirit behind the words that flow out of my mouth, remember the heart that loves those kids climbing on me more than I do, and remember the strength that keeps me chasing that soccer ball for the nine hundred and ONEth time ;) I desire to open my heart to his word and his Spirit, so that he will mold my life and actions, as I follow him wherever he takes me, into the perfect tool for every situation I'm thrown into. God is great, and he reigns in Costa Rica just as he does in my life. I like to challenge you reading this with Psalm 136 because the repetition always reminds me that we as humans need things beat into our heads before we get it :P guess what? His love endures FOREVER!!!! And the whole reason I do all this is to share that love that endures forever with others everywhere, any time, and every day that I'm alive to do my Mighty Lord's work.