Thursday afternoon’s main session speaker was Pam Sardar, a missionary from India and the mother of SMU’s 2013 Mission Conference co-director, Rebekah Davis.
Sardar used examples from her own life to illustrate how God equips those who may be the most unequipped. Specifically, Sardar explained that she came from a very broken background. She said that, although she had a depressed childhood and participated in some destructive behaviors, she still hungered for God. The first time she felt God speak to her was when she went to India for the first time, where she taught English at a seminary. At this point in her life, Sardar says that she “knew the truth but didn’t have the strength to walk in it.” As she left her time at that seminary, she heard God whisper to her spirit and say, “I’m going to bring you back here.”
God brought Sardar back to India in an incredible and supernatural way. In a manner that can only be God, he brought her and a man from India together. They got married and traveled back to India to do missions work. Sardar used this story to show that God is faithful in fulfilling his promises. Sardar announced to the audience, “God’s got plans for you!”
The way in which God brought together two people from the ends of the Earth to accomplish his purposes was a powerful testimony to his sovereignty and desire for more glory. Sardar’s story made me look back at my life to the times where he worked through me to accomplish his purposes. Reflecting on all of the times when God has been faithful to me helped me understand, in the same way Sardar did, that our God is a powerful God and that he is all-worthy of our praise.
Another insight that God revealed to Sardar throughout her life was that “what God is trying to do in us is help us to see us the way he does.” She said that we all underestimate who God is and what he has for us. Sardar mentioned that Jesus said in John 14:12, “You will do even greater things than I have done.” We don’t pause and consider this truth for all that it implies. God will do everything he wants in us if we surrender to his power in our lives. As I considered all of the miracles and supernatural things that Jesus did throughout the Bible, I understood the full significance of what that verse meant. I also realized that though we may not see it in our everyday lives, if we look back we can see that our life stories are a testimony to the truth of that verse.
Sardar also declared that she and her husband are leading a movement in India to abolish the caste system. She emphasized that although this is a God-sized dream, it is what God wants. When God does the impossible, he brings himself more glory. Sardar asked us to ask God what his impossible dream is for us and to pray that he equips us to accomplish it.
Sardar ended the session by charging all of the students in the audience to “rise up and into the calling that God has placed on our lives.” Coming away from this session, I understand the importance of bringing God glory in everything I do. I also recognized that I need to be committed to praying for him to reveal the impossible dreams he wants me to accomplish and that, through those dreams, I can bring him more of the glory that he deserves.
