by Lou Seale
From the moment I began to follow Jesus, I dreamed of being a missionary. At age 18, I envisioned myself being the Corrie Ten Boom of the 21st century - which made it particularly challenging for me to consider getting married someday. After all, she was single and served the Lord wholeheartedly in a Gestapo prison, and later in a concentration camp.
Near-martyrdom seemed so romantic...
Upon graduation from university, I accepted an offer from the Fulbright Commission to move to South East Asia: a perfect guise to fulfill my calling as quickly as possible.
However, my missionary dreams were dashed. I was forced by the loving providence of God to leave South Asia and return back home to Texas for holy matrimony and a high-paying job at Google. Humph.
Some people’s struggles look a lot like favor.
I entered into Google with all the foolish mindset of a missionary who loved the mission, but not the people. Thankfully, it took little time for Father to change my perspective and teach me about His heart for the unreached people he placed me in the midst of: millennials in tech.
My co-workers and I were inundated with company-sponsored “wellness events” that claimed to provide peace in the stressful work environment...if only we would pause for 15 minutes to follow the latest Zen meditation. There were internal websites providing easy access to Eastern religions and New Age teachings, yet I was ostracized for speaking the name of Christ during my lunch break.
Appalled, I brought HR’s attention to the flyers and advertisements for Buddhist monk meditation visits and even Islamic celebration opportunities while I’d been systematically muzzled from causing “social discomfort” for talking about the true Prince of Peace.
Slowly, Father turned my attention to how he teaches us in such situations. My colleagues were being fed false bread filled with toxins. Would not the aroma of true, filling sustenance offer the better alternative for those truly seeking the way to life? Instead of fighting against the onslaught of false meditation and stress remedies could I not enter into the arena, humbly and confidently offering the one who created meditation and peace itself?
Too long have Christians been fearful of using New Age jargon, intent on separating ourselves from falsehood. In reality, these concepts: peace, meditation, balance, alignment, purpose and so on, have been stolen from the very codex of God’s vocabulary.
Lost people are seeking truth and answers in their brokenness, and until we are willing to engage with them "in the field", they will continue to take the crumbs they are offered by wellness movements.
We step in. We press on. We are those who enter the darkness, not for the sake of obscuring the truth, but rather to be light. We recover that which has been lost.
Today, I am no longer working in tech. I offer meditation hours and wellness packages to companies across London, New York, San Francisco and Austin, giving their employees an opportunity to "align with the peace they were created to inhabit”. Is this not the intent of Christian prayer? Alignment with the will of the heart of the Father? Is meditating not a command upon which we receive the word of God into our bodies as spiritual, and on days of fasting, even physical bread?
I have the opportunity to call myself a full-time missionary. It is a title I don't care to use. Rather, I see myself as one who enters the gates of the corporate world as a “spiritual coach”: one who has the answers to truth and life. It’s not the gestapo prison or developing country that I dreamed of, but it is where God has drawn my battle line. Where is yours?
Lou lives in London with her husband and partner in the gospel, Collin. She works across nations with charities, companies, government organizations, and churches to bring about holistic reconciliation through wellness coaching. Please submit any questions or comments for Lou in the contact form below.
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