The Website of Miah and Michelle Collins

He gives us Purpose

Today God put some things together for me, or He finally made the pieces come together. I have been reading Proverbs and there are so many nuggets of “wisdom” that I am learning. Some repeating themes in Proverbs: 1.) humility comes before honor 2.) the wise man heeds discipline and seeks counsel 3.) In a man’s heart are many plans, but it is from the Lord that the tongue speaks...there are many more but I just wanted to put a few that have been standing out to me right now.

So, I have been learning some wisdom from the wisest man that ever lived, King Solomon. I have also been learning a lot from the women here in Cameroon who are incredibly revolutionary. These women are very unconventional for their culture, for their positions, and for women in general. I have two examples here that really challenge and encourage me:
1.) Adele- Adele is a mother of 5, a journalist, a teacher, a business owner, and a manager. She makes her own grocery lists every day, and goes to buy groceries everyday. She is on the Cameroonian National Television, as a reporter for the news every night. She runs a training center which she started herself for raising up journalists, audio visual professionals, etc. And she does a lot of the training that happens everyday in this school. Then, she also started her own hairdressing business and gym. There is an upstairs for hair, where she gets her hair done everyday for the news in the evening, and a manicure/pedicure/ massage parlor on the bottom, with a gym in back. Then she also created jobs for 5 young people at her house, cooking, cleaning, driving, etc. She just finished building her own house, where she came on site every morning from 5-10am to make sure they finished on time. She speaks 10 of the tribal languages, plus English, and French and she travels almost once a month to teach in other African countries about news reporting, etc.
Example 2.) Florence- I have already talked a little about Florence. But I want to elaborate a little on what she does. Florence is the J-Life representative in Cameroon, and she does J-Life seminars about once every two months. She is the youth pastor of probably the most flourishing youth ministry in Cameroon. Her youth are all running projects in their neighborhoods themselves, they are creating rap groups for Jesus, they are making dance teams that dance to hip hop songs for worship, and they are making their own evangelism projects such as picnics, or jogging groups. Florence also has her own ministry called I Care, where she does training seminars, intensive training periods, and raises up leaders with missional hearts who understand their strengths and giftedness. She started a radio program for young women, that airs every Saturday morning where they discuss honestly about issues of young women in Cameroon. Florence has organized 5 trainings for us while we are here with other pastors she has created a network with all over Yaounde in order to spread the impact of youth ministry. She has sleep overs at her house (we’re talking about a born and raised Cameroonian woman breaking all kinds of cultural norms) for the youth, and she is personally housing two young people to help them in their lives and to make sure they go to school and stay out of trouble. She is a student now, studying Psychology at the University here in Yaounde, to help her understand youth mindsets and human thinking better. She is a wife, and a mother of two, 5 and 7 years old.

After speaking to God, asking for wisdom in my life, and living with these two women, watching their lives and what they are doing with their time, I have been incredibly inspired. I have realized that the reason I have not been completely satisfied with the idea of doing what I am doing now for the rest of my life is because I felt like there needs to be more, more impact, more people being affected, a wider reach of my ministry. And as I have watched these women who are always learning, always innovating, always wanting to go further and broader in their thinking and their influence, I am encouraged that God wants me to be doing the same thing with my mind.
One thing I have realized that I love to do, something I do naturally and something I am good at is counseling. And God has shown me that I can use this gifting so much in mission work. But the reality is that I have very little background in studying this profession. And I also have realized that people in Africa have very deep issues, many that cannot be fully helped without professional help, and even then, it would take a mighty act of God. The statistic in South Africa are that 1 out of 4 women have been raped. And I do not have the skills yet to help someone deal with that type of a past. So, I am praying about what it might look like for me to study counseling, and how God might want that to fit in with everything.

I am also realizing that my past, my area of study at the University of Texas is very useful to me now. I can also see how my experiences now could help to benefit the UTeach program in general and I am learning some incredible truths about education that I think every teacher would benefit from. So I am also thinking about how we can use what we are learning and doing now to pour back into the programs and universities that gave us the minds that we are using in our work now. I am thinking about how much future teachers could benefit from seeing underdeveloped countries and from seeing what potential education has in the growth of a nation. Future teachers need to see how integral the profession of teaching is to an entire society and culture. They need to realize that they are not just teaching a subject, but they are shaping the minds of the future generations. And they need to be reminded of this all the time, because this is a purpose and a vision that can motivate anyone for a lifetime. Teaching is one of the most under rated professions and I believe that it need to be recognized for how crucial it is to societies as a whole. After traveling to 6 Africans countries this year, I am able to have a visual image and personified examples of what education has the power to do in a country, and it is astounding!

So, God is encouraging me, and giving me visions and ideas of what He might be wanting me to do with my life. I am starting to realize how important it is to never get caught up in just doing your job. But I always want to be thinking about how I can make a bigger impact, what God is doing and how He wants me to use my past, present, and future, to increase the scope of His Kingdom.  I know that this will always be moving and changing but I am ready to do whatever He asks of me.