HEARING GOD’S VOICE: SHERILYN GRAFF’S STORY

When you look up “determined” in the dictionary you’ll find Sherilyn Graff’s image. Sherilyn is a recent high school grad from North Pointe who followed her heart to serve in world missions. She is a rough and tumble rugby player with a gentle spirit. She’s determined to make her life count for God. Sherilyn shares her heart in this post and lets you in on a powerful spiritual experience she had in hearing God’s voice. Follow Sherilyn’s journey on her Facebook page.

This fall, I attended a Discipleship Training School (DTS) through an organization called Youth With a Mission (YWAM). The vision of my program is to send out a ‘wave of youth’ into the world to do missions work, and to share God’s word.

The program has two components: a three month lecture phase (on Australia’s Sunshine Coast); the second is a two month outreach phase where we get to be the hands and feet of God. Every week my class was presented with new topics that challenged me spiritually, as well as excited me.

Hearing And Responding To God’s Voice

My personal goal within this program is to create a more personal relationship with God where I will actively listen to His voice and obey. Practicing this principle has led me to where I am today: spending two months with a group of seven other students who are on fire for God, along with two amazing leaders in Africa.

I don’t know how the decision process works at other bases, but for us, we were told five different outreach options without knowing who was leading them, and then given five minutes to pray over which one to go to (the philosophy behind this is that God speaks quickly).

For me this was a terrifying process… I had just heard God’s voice for the first time that week, and didn’t feel like I would be able to make a choice based off of His will. After writing down all of the country names, I immediately crossed of two of the options because I either had no desire to travel there, or because I had never heard of it.

When God Came In

While I was down to three options, one of the country names kept on echoing in my head…one that I had already crossed off. Believing that it was truly God’s will, I wrote it down as my first choice.

The next day, we went through a crazy revealing process that included blindfolds, shouting animal noises, a hike in the woods, and a tribal council waiting under a waterfall.

At last, I discovered who my leaders were, the faces of my fellow team members, and my outreach locations.

Mozambique And South Africa

Starting in late November my team headed to Mozambique where we actively shared God’s word and His character. We were presented with this amazing opportunity to travel to three different cities and moved our way from the northern part of the country, all the way down to the south. We did ministry with children and preached to anyone and everyone who was willing to listen to God’s word.

We are finishing our outreach in South Africa where we are partnering with YWAM Muizenberg (near Cape Town) and helping them realize their vision in whatever ways we can.

God’s Vision

The vision that has been placed on my heart is to help free people from oppression, as well as encourage people to find a dream that’s big enough for God.

I am excited to testify on behalf of my God.

You can follow Sherilyn’s mission updates on her blog.

APPLICATION: Please pray for Sherilyn this Christmas season while she is away from home and completing her mission. You can support her mission by giving through North Pointe. Designate your giving as “YWAM – SG”. Please leave a comment for Sherilyn below.

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