MEET JULIE GROMER: her heart changed when she found her passion and now strives to minister to everyone she meets.
What made you decide to serve internationally?
My whole life I never viewed myself as someone who would do overseas missions. That’s just not who I was or how I was built. My heart started to change around the summer of 2018, but I still never thought I would be a missionary. God led me into signing up for a three week mission trip to Nepal that was leaving in the summer of 2019. I originally planned togo to India because ever since I started looking into missions, my heart had a major pull towards that area. Because of restrictions, I couldn’t go to India, and that is what led me to Nepal. Over this trip to Nepal and in the time since coming home, God really revealed to me that He was leading me into this ministry for life. So I can’t say it was any one thing that made me decide to serve internationally or that I even was the one to make that decision; it was truly just a spark in my heart from God that made that fire start to burn. He is the one who grew that passion from a small desire to a huge pull towards overseas missions. Looking at it all now, I know this is where He is leading me, and this is what I will be doing the rest of my life.
What’s one hesitation or concern you had about traveling and serving internationally, and how did you overcome it?
I honestly haven’t had a ton of hesitation just because I’m the type of person to jump straight into something when I have a big passion for it and when I know it’s right. One thing that does scare me though is support raising. You never know if you will be able to fundraise the full amount of money or if people will help you out in that way. I most definitely don’t have that kind of money myself to just fully pay for it, but I do tend to be kind of a pushover when it comes to asking people for support. I’m not a big fan of asking people for money, and I can get a bit embarrassed. I feel I have grown a bit in that just as I have seen people support me more in the past few months, but honestly I still do struggle with that. It’s something I have to surrender to the Lord and allow Him to take care of each day.
What’s one thing you learned about loving and serving others well through fundraising?
I feel I have learned so much about what it feels like to be raising support for something you have a passion for. I now have a much bigger understanding towards others who are raising support or sharing about their passions, whether it’s their ministry, beliefs, or even a hobby. I feel I am so much more open to supporting people in the things THEY love, even if I don’t necessarily have an interest for it.
How do you hope your service will impact others long term?
I hope that through my missions trips and hopefully long term overseas living in the future, I can impact the people we are ministering to. I hope they can experience the presence of God through me and that they continue to thirst for Christ and pursue Him. I hope I can impact any teammates I may have. Ministry isn’t just for the people we meet in foreign countries. I can also use this passion to minister to teammates, to leaders, to friends and family, to supporters, and to anyone I come into contact with. I just pray that I can spark a fire in people through my passion for Jesus and what He is doing in me.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to serve during this trying time but doesn’t know where to start?
Pray about it but also begin to research. Look into getting started. I can’t stress this enough. Don’t just sit and wait for things to appear or come to you. Search for opportunities, put yourself out there. 90% of the opportunities I got, didn’t get started until I put it into action or jumped into it head first. When you find a possible opportunity, pray about it and sit on it. God will give you peace over the opportunity and the intuition if it’s right. When it’s right, you’ll know. Once you start to pursue ministry and opportunities, they’ll start flooding in on their own, and you will see God at work!! Trust me, you do not want to miss it.
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