Three and a half weeks ago my feet touched Italian soil for the first time. The 10 days that followed were totally life-changing, as Stephen and I saw the country that will become our new home... the people that we will pour our hearts and lives into over the years to come... the place where God has planned His destiny for us. I can honestly say that it was everything I had imagined, but it was also so much more than I had ever dreamed.
I expected the breath-taking beauty of the landscape and the awe I would feel on viewing the ancient architecture. The food was as delicious as I had anticipated and we ate lots of it! Especially the gelato!
What I didn't expect was the overwhelming grief that came over me in a church in Faenza as God revealed to me the spiritual state of Italian Catholics. I began to understand that Italians never see Jesus as the risen Lord. He is perpetually on the cross being sacrificed for their sins. The work of salvation is never considered complete as they do penance over and over to earn forgiveness, without the knowledge that Jesus offers it freely, with no strings attached.
But for the majority of Italians, a relationship with God is a waste of time. They've been to mass and think that it's irrelevant to their lives. Why do they need Jesus? They live in one of the most beautiful and influential countries in the world and they have everything they could possibly need... or do they?
As we traveled to each of the 10 cities we visited during our time in Italy, we heard stories of how God is working to draw Italians to Himself. In every place, we met missionaries who are laboring to reveal the true gospel to people who have been deceived. They have forsaken home, family, and everything familiar to be obedient to God's call and their sacrifice is not in vain!
The Lord is doing amazing things in Italy! Nuns who have never read the Bible before are studying the scriptures with missionaries and coming to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior! Evangelical summer camps in Forli are miraculously being promoted by the city government and now an even greater number of children are hearing the gospel daily during the camps! God is opening doors for ministry on the campus of the University of Bologna, which is the oldest university in Europe and has over 90,000 students, but currently has no evangelical ministry! And even right now, new churches are being planted in towns where there has never been an evangelical church before! Like candles being lit, one by one in a dark room, the light of Truth is illuminating the darkness in Italy. And as more candles are lit, eventually the light will overtake the darkness.
When God first spoke to us in late 2008, we didn't fully understand why He was calling us to Italy. We read the statistics and were grieved by them. We felt God asking us to do something about it and so we embarked on this journey. Because He is our Lord, we have walked this path out of obedience, not always able to see the next turn or even the next step, but trusting that God would make everything clear in His time. In Italy, the fog lifted and we were able, for the first time, to truly see the road before us. While the path is not an easy one, we realize that God is calling us to join Him on a great adventure. We see Him before us, beckoning us to follow Him, asking us to put aside our fears and trust that He is more the capable to make a way. And so we will follow God down this road as long as He leads. It's time for the next step in the journey...
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