Ever Want to Be a Missionary? Here's Our Chance

Have you ever wanted to be a missionary?

I have. I thought I’d be a missionary elsewhere - specifically Belize, where I got the coins above - and I had a picture of what it would look like. The things I would spend my days doing, the boldness I would naturally have to tell everyone about Jesus (because becoming a missionary automatically means you’re bold, right? ;))

Maybe you’ve thought the same thing, or maybe you are a missionary right now in a place outside your birth country. I’m writing this as an American to fellow Americans, but hopefully those of you in other countries will benefit as well.

We are living in a time that’s unfamiliar. It’s nerve-wracking, uncomfortable, strange, and sometimes plain ol’ scary. We’ve gone from normal to not-normal pretty quick, and if you haven’t come to grips with this yet I’ll be the one to tell you: it isn’t going back to normal. Because God is always Lord, not going back to normal will be okay. But it has been and will be quite an adjustment.

Look around, what do you see?

Fear? Panic? Lust for evil? Addiction? Injustice? Hatred, betrayal, anxiety?

This year, the great 2020, people have been pushed to limits and stretched out far. When we are pressed, what’s deep inside is that which comes out. If people don’t have Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit is not what comes out!

As we wonder what things will look like in our country, and as we see what is unfolding, I want to encourage you.

The balm for all of this is not our government. The government has a role, but it is not savior. Jesus Christ is Savior, and the balm that we all need.

So while we fight for good politics and leaders, we also need to realize that people desperately need Jesus. We are missionaries - here, right now.

I believe we will have more opportunities to share our hope than we’ve had before. It is very evident now who is truly at peace and who is not. What’s the reason for your peace? How can you have hope and purpose as the world is falling apart?

We have a Savior who strengthens us through even the hardest challenges. We can feel the panic and shed the tears, but we can continue on knowing that we are safe in Christ. We can do our daily duties knowing that they are worthwhile to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things — that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed (Titus 2:1-5).

This exhortation doesn’t change with the times! Are you an older woman? Hopefully you know how this section applies to your life, and if I may say - we younger women need you to follow this! We desperately need Godly women in our lives, and we need you to take your role seriously. Reach out, invite us over, offer to stop by with coffee and chat. Many of us want to learn and have Godly examples. Encourage us with your testimonies of God’s faithfulness in your life!

Are you a younger woman, like me? Let’s not push the older women away or roll our eyes at their suggestions and stories. Let’s invite them in where appropriate, and learn to appreciate their wisdom and God-given role in our lives. Along with this, we are given the rest of that passage; love our husbands and children, be self-controlled and pure (ESV), homemakers, kind and submissive to our husbands. This is where our faithfulness and duty to the Lord starts: with our families. With the world around us fraying at the seams, it is ever more clearly important that we serve wholeheartedly in our homes. Our days of prepping meals, teaching math, doing laundry, and listening to our husband’s challenges are not in vain, they are faithful service. They truly are beautiful deeds if done for the Lord.

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward (Matthew 10:42).

How many drinks do you hand out during the day?! We know God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7) and one who gives freely without expecting anything in return. When you pass out drinks and plates of food, do it cheerfully and with thanksgiving! The Lord has given you opportunities today to serve on His behalf.

Beyond the walls of our own homes, we have friends and family and neighbors who desperately need the goodness of the Lord. They need to know that all of us have fallen short of God’s standards, and we need a Savior. We need a Savior to rescue us from our bondage to sin - and those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord know that He is the most wonderful, gracious, complete Savior!

Here is our chance, friends. Talk with your neighbors and get to know them. Let the neighborhood kids come play in your yard, and pass out cups of water to them too. Bake goodies with your kids and deliver them to elderly men and women, or to families who haven’t left their houses in weeks. We don’t all have to be on the same page politically to be able to serve and show Christ’s love. Let others see the freedom you have in Christ, and that they can have it too.

Invite people over for meals with no strings attached. Help with someone’s yard work, and do it joyfully. Call relatives you haven’t seen for a while, just to chat.

Yes, it’s work. But we are called to reach out on behalf of Christ, and it is good work! It is sanctifying work, work that makes us more like Jesus and blesses others at the same time. It is living out the Gospel, and it is rough and messy and absolutely beautiful. Don’t be afraid to spend your life for the sake of the Gospel. In fact, do it!

In this trying time, may we cling more to the Word of God and be people who do what it says. Now is the time for us to be missionaries, right where we are and with increased fervor.

I am praying for you, reader, as we go at this together!

Silence is Golden

Silence. We often run from it; it’s uncomfortable. We tend to like noise and distractions.

For over a month now, I’ve been largely off of social media and news platforms. The noise was getting to be too much, and I felt a prick in my conscience to let it go.

Besides being freed up thought- and time-wise, I’ve come to appreciate silence. It actually is golden. It’s in the silence that the Lord has taught me and molded me; how grateful I am.

I’ve wrestled with my health. One issue in particular, that leaves me flat on the couch some days and has kept me from having the many children we’ve always desired. The pain is multifaceted. My tears always fall before the Lord - I know that He hears me. I still don’t have the answers to my whys and hows, but I am content. Finally. God saw fit to give me this body, knowing the challenges I’d face, and it is for His glory. I pray for healing, through His special touch or through doctors He equips. And if not, He is still good and will carry me through the rest of the years I have to manage it. With this perspective, I can genuinely thank Him for this body.

I’ve struggled to stay at peace this year. We dealt with a horrible accident that I wouldn’t wish on an enemy. Life and death flashed before our eyes. The day after that, a neighbor family lost their little boy. And not long after that, a friend lost his grown son in yet another horrible accident. This with all the regular news and verbal fistfights and pure hatred in our world… I couldn’t and can’t bear it all.

Yet that’s the point, and the Lord was gracious to show me that amidst our family’s trial. I couldn’t hold up under the weight of it. Peace was fleeting; I tried to hold on to it but it slipped through my fingers every time. In my desperation, I begged God to carry me. Take my burdens. Show me what He means when He says His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30). And somehow… somehow He did. He showed Himself so strong to carry it all. All! He lifted my chin and reminded me that not one thing happens outside His good will. And at this point in my life, I know better than to question whether His will is good or not. I have seen over and over and over again how His ways are better than mine (Isaiah 55:9). He renewed my strength as I put my hope in Him (Isaiah 40:31). He helped me put one foot in front of the other when all I wanted to do was crumple into a heap. And as the days went on, He sustained me. There was no point along the way that I caved and lost all hope - no, He remained sufficient. He still remains sufficient.

Silence is golden.

As I look at the world and how broken my beloved country is, I still have hope. He sustains me even in this. Our world is not going to Hell in a handbasket. God has been revealing sin; He is exposing the darkness and bringing light to it. We shouldn’t be surprised when the light illuminates cobwebs and skeletons. Things get messy and we see evil. But then - He cleans and restores. People are finding that there is no fulfillment in things or other people; life without Jesus is empty. The harvest is plentiful - may the Lord raise up more workers!

Silence is golden. Friend, lessen the distractions - I promise you don’t really need them. What you need is Jesus Christ. Turn to Him, turn to Him, turn to Him. Just as He is teaching me, He can teach you. He can make sense of your life and trials. He can satisfy and keep you going. He is Lord of lords and King of kings. We have none to fear but Him!

Take your burdens and joyfully give them to the Lord to carry. Focus on the tasks He gives you, the people He puts before you, and give thanks. He is good, all the time. And all the time, He is good!

Finding Your Tribe

Lord, please bring me women I can do life with!

I’ve prayed this prayer so many times. But He has seen it best that I don’t have a “tribe.” Year after year, I meet people and watch people leave. Some friends I talk to more than others, but the ride-or-dies, the tribe - it hasn’t formed.

God has heard my prayers, and He has patiently and faithfully taught me.

Play date after play date, get-together after get-together, I would enter and run a mental checklist. You know the kind - is she in the same season of life? does she parent like me? is she too ___? does she care about ___? is her hair naturally that color? can’t be, she must spend a bazillion dollars on self-care…

In my desperation to find “the right” friends, I pushed many away (mentally) because they didn’t “fit.” But I have since learned that I shouldn’t treat people like prospective employees, because the business of filtering friendships is not really a thing. At least, it’s not a Godly thing!

People come and go in our lives; different people come in different seasons. None of this is unknown to God - in fact, He knows who we will learn from and grow with at each point in our lives! Instead of trying to create a group of women we think are perfect for our lives, what if we look around at who God has already introduced us to?

I have found that putting my mental checklist aside does wonders. Without those expectations, I am free to love and care about each woman God brings into my life. I am free to treat them as I want to be treated, and I am free to not worry when they don’t reciprocate.

As important as friendships are, we cannot put our faith in them. Other women cannot be our end-all, our ultimate quest in life. We will be disappointed time after time! God gives us the right people at the right times in our lives because He knows best who we need to learn from, and who will learn from us.

Friendships are important; living life solo isn’t preferable. Yet it’s really all about Him - surprise! Have you ever had someone come into your life and teach you an invaluable lesson, simply by being themselves? God uses us to teach each other and point each other to Himself. We learn more about Him and His goodness through each other, which makes sense since we all are made in His image.

I have had many women come into my life at various stages. Some are decades older, and we have remained close over many years. I have gained much wisdom from these women! Some have been in the same season of motherhood, and we have learned to appreciate each other because our children enjoy playing together. Some friendships fit naturally, and some take more work. Some women are good friends I’ve met in very unique ways, and yet we live hundreds and thousands of miles apart.

There is so much beauty in how God crosses paths and leads people to meet each other. There will never be one person who can be all the things for you - only Jesus can fill that role.

Let yourself and others off the hook! Take the women He puts in front of you, of all ages, and get to know them. Be more interested in how you can serve them than how they can serve you. Doing so will allow you some of the richest, worry-free friendships!

If the Lord brings a group of women around you that you are able to share much of life with, praise Him for that! Keep your eyes open to still connect with those who aren’t in your group. If the Lord does not bring you a tight-knit group of women, praise Him for that too and don’t stress over it!

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”

Psalm 136:1

It sounds simple, and it is - take who He gives you and be thankful for them. Amen!

Standing for Our Children

This is a Facebook post I recently wrote, and I wanted to share it here as well. We are facing things in our beloved USA that we have never faced, and amidst it all - our children are being overlooked.

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From the beginning of this whole thing...what shall we call it? It started with a virus and now who knows what's going on, it'll just be remembered as the infamous "2020".

From the beginning, I have been burdened for our children. Not just my kids, I mean kids across our nation. Bear with me, and please, put aside politics for a minute. I am desperate that you hear this.

We took them out of schools. We closed everything. No playgrounds, no libraries, no nothing. Away from consistency, friends, social life, space to play and learn and release energy.

Many families have actually thrived with this - God has used so much for good.

Yet there's another side. A side where I do trust He is still working, but a side that absolutely sickens me.

For many kids, home is not safe. Home is terrifying. Home is where they are abused, neglected, exposed. They are not protected.

And in the last 6+ months, as we've seen adult suicide and depression rates skyrocket, the number of cases being reported to DHS has dropped. I know this because I asked. Do you see what that means?
People are not reporting abuse (of course, if you're an abuser stuck at home with children...you're not reporting it and neither is anyone else). Children are not. being. protected.

And more recently, the exposure of human trafficking. We all knew it existed, but most of us didn't realize the extent of it. I am grateful it has been exposed, praise God for shedding light on what has been hidden in darkness. It is pure evil.

So what is our response?

To continue putting masks on our children's faces? Again - put aside the politics, please. If you look at a group of children in masks, they all look similar. Do you realize pedophiles are using this to their great advantage?? Do you know that traffickers are out and about - with children - and nobody even knows because we can't see each other's faces?

And defunding the police - are people thinking of the implications this has for *children*? Police are their defense! The police show up to calls for domestic abuse, they are the ones who wait with hurting children while a home is found for them to go to. They do the hard work to protect kids in our own neighborhoods.

Friends, will we keep failing our children?

Or will we think beyond ourselves, and think of the generations that come after us? Will we look out for those who can't look out for themselves?

It starts in our own homes, protecting our own children. Don't you feel bad for protecting your children. Don't be cow toed into things you know are not in your children's best interest. Fight for your kids.

And as we look out - if we see something, say something. Get trained to know the signs of abuse. (Operation Underground Railroad has fantastic resources for this.)

I'm still searching. I feel so helpless with it all, knowing there are children being preyed on and not knowing what on earth to do. But these couple things and a lot of prayer - I know those are places to start. Please, join me.

"When the cares of my heart are many,
Your consolations cheer my soul."
Psalm 94:19

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8