Maybe you've taken a mission trip or two in your lifetime. Maybe you know someone who has taken one. Maybe you hope to take one in the future or maybe you have never considered it and never will.

Personally, I've been on two mission trips and both were great for very different reasons. Each trip affected my life, stretched me to try new things and forced me to step out of my comfort zone. But above all, I came back from both missions trips with the realization that the world needs Jesus and they need it bad.

I just returned home from my second mission trip in Seaside Park, New Jersey, where I spent my summer. Within the first week of being back I've faced one of the hardest questions I've ever had to answer: "How was your trip?"

Do you mean the people, the location?

Do you want to know the highlights?

Or maybe you're more interested in the lows?

Do you mean how was I effected? Or how did I affect others?

You see, I could use words like "incredible," "amazing," "hard," or "tiring," but even these phrases don't shine a light to my experience on the trip. There isn't one word in particular that comes to mind when you ask me how my trip was. There's a million.

I want to be real when I answer the question. Feeling the Lord look down on me as I spread His light excited me everyday, but not everyone wants to hear this life-saving news you have to share with them. I want you to know that some days, it took all I had just to stay in one piece. I was exhausted by the end of most nights because of how much I wanted to give for the Lord — but I'm only human. I struggle to share about the hardships because I don't want to take away from the unbelievable experience that the trip proved to be. But with each tired sigh, I knew the Lord was using my weaknesses to show His strength.

And in the end, it wasn't the trip that was truly incredible. It was God. My heart wouldn't have fallen more in love with God if He wasn't the one doing the changing. Everyday I woke up with a purpose greater than to just merely exist. I woke up knowing I belonged to God and that He could and would do good with me that day. What I want to know is what didn't I learn on my trip?

When I say it's hard to be back it's not because my friends and family back home aren't good enough. It's that I'm scared of what life outside of a strong Christian community will look like. Post-mission trip the burden to share Jesus with others is so prevalent, but will I still be challenged to do it?

Don't get me wrong, I get it. I will most likely ask the same question to the next person who just returned from a mission trip. Just know my hesitation to respond is a result of me replaying every good, bad and life-changing experience I had this summer.