At Age 17, I had surrendered my life to be a missionary...dreamed of being a missionary...and prayed for God's direction and guidance to be a missionary.
In college, I surveyed the missions majors very seriously. It went kinda like this...."hummm...he's going to deep Africa...Russia...China.....ohhhh...Jamaica...now that sounds pretty good." (blush...giggle)
Now, If you ask my husband, he'll say he chose me. But "between you and me" I picked him. Just ask my close friend, Emily, who had her hand in the matchmaking!
As a teen ager, Joshua felt God's call on his life to pastor a church. He assumed that he would pastor somewhere in the States...ideally in "somewhere pretty with good hunting, like Colorado", Josh. When he was 17, he went on a missions trip to Jamaica, to do Vacation Bible Schools. While there, God started burdening his heart for the Jamaican people. He didn't want to make a hasty decision that wouldn't last. He didn't say anything to anyone for a couple weeks. Finally, it became very obvious that God wasn't letting him get away from it. One night after church, he went behind his parents barn and surrendered his life to be a missionary in Jamaica.
We figured out after we were married, that God burdened both of our hearts for missions the same summer. Me in Missouri and him in Louisiana. God's ways are so perfect.