Allison recently visited the Silk Road on a short term trip. She attends University where she majors in Public and Urban Affairs. She enjoys running, rock climbing, hiking, and hanging out with friends. 

Today during our abiding time, I was telling my leader about how I felt that God was distant from me on this trip compared to back home. Usually, I can feel His presence whenever I acknowledge that He is with me, but it hadn’t felt like He was close the whole time I’d been in Central Eurasia. She noted that from the Muslim perspective, God is distant all the time. They don’t know Him as a loving Father like we do. There is no relationship.

Each day the call to prayer echoes off the buildings of Istanbul and reminds me that there are nearly 17 million people who do not know the sacrificial, unconditional love of Christ. As I think of how Christ’s love has transformed my life, I want nothing more for the unreached than for them to know the peace and love and joy of a life spent in relationship with God. God sees us, hears us, and loves each of us individually. He knows us and He wants us to know Him. This trip has made the urgency of reaching out to the lost much more real and much more personable.

“The lost” of Central Eurasia are no longer just a topic of prayer, but people with names and faces. Despite differing cultures and languages, we are all people meant to be in relationship with God. The only difference is that in America, we have every opportunity to seek God and are exposed to Christianity every day; whereas in Central Eurasia, most people have never met a Christian. While a lot of what is being done here is sowing seeds, it is so important to be sharing Jesus and His love for these people, even if it’s not accepted at first.

I wonder what my story would have been if multiple people hadn’t taken the time or been bold enough to put themselves out there for Christ, even in America. How can we expect a harvest if we do not take part in planting seeds? The need for laborers among unreached people groups is great, but our God is greater. God isn’t asking us to go “save” people, He’s asking us to step out in obedience for Him to move. Just like in Joshua, when God commands the people to step into the Jordan first before moving all of the water up into a wall to allow them to pass, often we first have to step into what He is calling us to before He moves in mighty ways. It’s about taking that step of faith into the unknown and trusting that God will move.

In Central Eurasia, our Live Dead missionaries are stepping out into what God has called them to (The Great Commission), and there’s no doubt that God has, is, and will move in miraculous ways in this region.