Category Archives: Ministry

A fond farewell from the ladies’ group

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Monday night was my last night with our ladies’ group here at church before our move. I was pretty emotional right beforehand, but the Lord gave grace during the evening to handle it all well. I was really, really hoping not to cry in front of people. I know this will sound silly and vain, but one time when I was crying when I was little, I caught sight of myself in a mirror and was shocked. It wasn’t pretty. 🙂 Not that I am obsessed with being pretty, but it wasn’t the elegant crying you see on TV, the quiet dabbing at the corner of the eye with one’s handkerchief. It was red, screwed-up face, runny nose, blubbering, snorting, and gasping. And from that moment on I hoped to never cry in front of others. Even with that, the Lord gave grace to just not worry about it, that we’d just deal with whatever happened — but I am really glad He helped me not to cry. 🙂

OK, enough silliness about crying..

The ladies were incredibly generous to me. They gave me an arrangement of beautiful pink-edged roses…

And a copy of one of my favorite hymns done in calligraphy in different shades of pink by one of the ladies:

They also gave me a gift card from Michael’s to help decorate our new home and gift cards to Outback for an outing with the family. I joked with them that I should leave more often since it is so rewarding. 🙂 But probably the most treasured gift is a little booklet done in the style of the ladies’ booklet I have done for almost ten years with notes to me from several of the ladies as well as many of our missionaries and some scattered quotes and poems.

I was blessed reading over that Monday night when I got home and I know I will enjoy going over it again and again. It was gratifying to know that some of the goals I had for the group had been accomplished and a blessing to see that the Lord had used the ladies’ ministry in many ways.

I have to confess at first that I was incredibly nervous about being honored in front of people. I am often terribly self-conscious in groups, even to the point of not being able to raise my hand to answer a question, so the thought of having everyone’s attention directed toward me in that way was uncomfortable, to say the least. And then the thought of having what I do highlighted nearly sent me into a panic attck. It’s funny, if someone compliments my cooking or decorating, and I can just say “thank you” and move on, but if someone compliments something I do in the way of ministry, I had this strange idea that that was taking away from the Lord receiving glory for it, especially if I took pleasure in being complimented for it. I wrestled with that in one of my earliest posts here. But over the last week, the Lord helped me come to terms with that enough to be able face the evening graciously. I was going to devote a whole post to thinking through all of that, but there just hasn’t been time to write it out. But one thing that helped was this quote from C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says, “Well done,” are all pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, “I have pleased him; all is well,” to thinking, “What a fine person I must be to have done it.”

Then I wrote to my good friend Susan for some help in gaining the right perspective, and she encouraged me to just graciously accept it as an expression of love and the ladies desire to be a blessing to me.

I also remembered something a former pastor’s wife shared in an officer’s meeting for a ladies’ group — she was emphasizing the need to speak up when giving reports to the group, because it wasn’t doing anyone any good to stand up in front of people to say something if no one could hear you, and she made the statement that self-consciousness is consciousness of self, and we’re supposed to forget self (let me just say, lest anyone take that the wrong way out of context, she wasn’t talking about forgetting self to the point of becoming a doormat and never having a will or desires of your own, but she was making the point that self-consciousness is fed by too much focus on self.)

Then Monday morning, several of the verses from Daily Light spoke of not being afraid or dismayed, because the Lord was with me, and even though those verses were talking about vastly different circumstances, they were a help.

There is a balance between doing things “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Ephesians 6:6-7) and “[Letting] your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). I hope I was able to justly point the glory for any good accomplished to the Lord. I tried to share I Peter 4: 10-11: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” both as a means of showing that anything I did was “as of the ability which God giveth” and to encourage whoever takes up the ladies’ ministry next that He will enable them, as well. I am blessed to know that God can use me in spite of my faults and flaws.

I want to write up some of the things involved with the ladies’ ministry for the next person — not that they have to do everything the way I did it, but just so they have some idea of what’s going on and why — but other than that, I am pretty much done with my responsibilities there. In some ways it is an incredible relief; in other ways I am missing it already. I know the Lord will have ministry for us in a new church, but my mind is also buzzing with ideas about some other writing possibilities and a web site for ladies’ ministry that I have been thinking about setting up. So, we’ll see how the Lord leads some time after the dust settles from moving!

Book Review: God Wears His Own Watch

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When my ever-practical husband first saw the title of God Wears His Own Watch by Reid Lehman, he commented, “God doesn’t wear a watch.” True, but Mr, Lehman explains that what he means is that God operates on His own time table, not ours. Sometimes He seems to act in ways that seem late, even past our human deadlines, but He never fails.

At 144 pages, this book is a brief but compelling history of Miracle Hill Ministries and how God has provided for it and worked in the lives of both the workers and the clients.

If you’ve ever tried to work with homeless or addicted, you know it can be discouraging and frustrating, yet God does still patiently change lives. Sanctification is a long process, and when we struggle with our own besetting sins we shouldn’t be surprised that others with perhaps more visible sins do as well. It was a thrill to read of those whose lives the Lord saved and changed, and it encouraged hope for some of my own lost loved ones. One particular lady in one pastor’s neighborhood was in “a drunken haze” for fifteen years before she finally responded to his invitation to trust Christ. How few people are that patient and persistent in working with people! This lady was one of the very few who never relapsed once she was saved and later on became a faithful worker at Miracle Hill. Her own children had been taken from her by DSS, but she became a baby-sitter to Mr. Lehman’s children, which helped heal that wound in her heart, and she was later able to reestablish a relationship with her own children. Sometimes we can harshly judge that some of the painful consequences people encounter are “only what they deserve,” forgetting the depth of pain of those consequences and the mercy we have received in not getting everything we “deserve” for our sins.

Mr. Lehman is also very transparent about his own struggles with feeling inadequate to take over the leadership and how God used different situations in the ministry to reveal to him his own sins and needs in order to change him. He says on page 129:

The people we serve at Miracle Hill have real problems — massive, unsolvable problems. Pious platitudes just won’t do. Quoting Scripture at them, even though it’s the tool God uses to change lives, isn’t enough, either. When we want to see the lives of others transformed, we cannot hold anything back in our own lives — secret sins, past hurts, or running from an issue we have never been willing to face. Some counselors have left our ministry defeated because they were unable, or unwilling, to allow God to change [them].

All of us are broken in some way. If we’re allowing God to continue His painful work of change within us, if we are willing to admit we’re struggling, we can still help others change. If we deny we have problems, or hide our struggles, how can we tell others God can transform and change their lives? And so we have persevered in prayer until God showed Himself.

There are many accounts of God’s provision for the many needs of the ministry. I enjoyed hearing how it got its name: when they were pouring concrete for the children’s home, rain threatened, and volunteers who had come from out of state were limited in the time they could spend before having to return home, so they really needed to finish what they were doing. They stopped “to pray that God would not allow the rain to hinder pouring of the concrete. Soon after that prayer, the workers could see a solid sheet of heavy rain moving toward them, but they watched in astonishment as the thunderclouds parted right at the construction site at the top of the hill. The rain fell all around them, on both sides of the hill, then joined again at the base in force. The bottom of the hill was soaked, but there was only a light sprinkle at the top!” So the volunteers were able to keep working. When secretary Vera Wright heard of this answer to prayer, she said, “This is just like a miracle, isn’t it?” The “miracle on the hill” led to the entire ministry being named “Miracle Hill,” looking forward, I am sure, to the greater miracles they were trusting God to accomplish in lives.

I enjoyed this closer look into this ministry, and I hope many will read it and be stirred anew for what God can accomplish in and through people.

(This review will be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of Books)

Ladies’ Luncheon 2010

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I’ve been promising to show and tell you the details of our church’s ladies’ luncheon from last weekend, so here we go. 🙂

In some ways I start thinking about the next luncheon right after the last one, but I don’t start really planning for it until after January. I like to have a theme built around a verse or thought from Scripture, and usually after praying about and often after a brainstorming session, something will come to mind, sometimes a few ideas. After a while something crystallizes and I feel sure this is the theme for the year.

This year it didn’t happen quite like that. I saw this plaque in Cracker Barrel:

I just loved the little house with the heart in it, and it reminded me of Psalm 101:2b: “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” And I thought, “Hey! That might make a good theme for the ladies’ luncheon!”

I eventually went back and got this for Mittu, because she uses red and black in some of the rooms in her house, and, of course, because of what it said.

And the more I thought and prayed about it, the more “A Perfect Heart” from Psalm 101:2b seemed like a perfect theme. It’s applicable to everyone no matter whether they’re married or single, have children or not. Home can be the place where we most easily let down our guard, but it is the place we most need to walk closely with the Lord. Yet as we look at our hearts, we can get discouraged because we’re so far from perfect: but that’s just a reminder of how we need God’s grace  and need to depend on Him moment by moment for the strength, wisdom, and everything else we need to walk with Him. Thankfully He does not give up on us when we fail and fall, but He forgives us when we confess our faults to Him and promises His grace to sustain us.

Practically, I wanted to use that little black house with a heart in it as a motif. I even photocopied the plaque before giving it to Mittu so I could remember what it looked like and possibly even use the house outline as a pattern. I wanted to get away from my usual penchant for pastel pink and Victoriana  because I know not everyone likes that, plus I wanted it to be different and more contemporary. I’ve seen a few weddings using red and black as their colors, and I have also seen that in some new brides’ decorating schemes, so I decided to use red, black, and white.

At our April ladies’ meeting, we made little plaques with black and white patterned scrapbooking paper as backgrounds and a little black house with a red heart and the theme verse. We used black and white patterned ribbon for hangers, and some of that as well as black  pre-cut decorative edgings I found at Hobby Lobby for trim. We used a flat 5 x 7″ canvas in the art section of Hobby Lobby and Michael’s — they were about a dollar apiece at Michael’s and a little less at Hobby Lobby. It was so fun to see what the different ladies came up with using the different papers and ribbon. Here are a few of them:

I ended up not using the little house from the plaque as a template — I wasn’t sure if that might be illegal or unethical. You can find some basic house shapes like this one online, but I looked through my Cricut cartridges to see if I had any that would do and ended up using the little church design from the Winter Wonderland cartridge and cutting off the steeple. 🙂 There were other little houses on the cartridge, but I liked that one best. (On a side note, I didn’t buy the cartridge just for this project — I already had it — and I didn’t pay that price: they frequently go on sale half-price here.) I also used the “blackout” feature (where it just cuts out the outer edges as a solid) of one of the snowflake designs for the background behind the verse. It was the first time I had really used the Cricut machine my generous hubby had given me some time ago — and now I want to use it all the more! With it, I was able to get everything cut out beforehand, so that at the meeting all we had to do was glue things together. If we’d had to have ladies cutting out things, it probably would have taken us more than one session.

For the centerpieces, I got some 6 x 6″ boxes, covered them with white card stock, and used the door and window from this template, enlarging them to fit the house. I found several neat patterns online for making a house with a folded design, but there was no way I could print them big enough — the biggest piece of card stock is 12 x 12, so by the time you get four walls from a design meant to be folded into a house, that allows for only 3 x 3″ walls, and that was too tiny. And folding is not one of my talents — origami, paper airplanes, etc. just don’t come out right when I fold them. So after a lot of thought and searching, it seemed easiest to do it as I did it.

This is all the little houses out to dry after being glued, and I thought they looked like those little subdivisions where all the houses are too close together and look alike. 🙂

I took photos of the step-by-step process if anyone wants me to do a tutorial, but basically it was just a matter of gluing the card stock on, kind of trimming and gluing as I went. A glue stick worked fine on the flat surfaces, but Tacky glue worked better on anything that folded or curved over an edge.

I had originally wanted to embellish them a little more, something like this — flower boxes at the windows, trim around the roofline, etc. But the day I had a friend coming over to work on them, I got sick and had to cancel, and only had time to just glue doors and windows on. I think it probably turned out better that way — with all the other things on the table, it would have looked too busy.

Here are some of the tables:

We used a 12 x 12″ piece of black card stock and then patterned red scrapbooking paper as the base (I was going to use solid red, but they had such pretty red and black patterns I couldn’t resist!) (Can you tell this anti-red person is softening a bit? 🙂 ) I had planned to use geraniums as the flower, but one store only had pink ones, and another only had a few, and they were in humongous containers. So I looked around for other red flowers, and these petunias were just right. We put a little plastic base underneath the plants before putting them into the houses so the dirt and moisture wouldn’t leak (Wal-Mart had them for 35 cents) and cushioned it all around inside the house with Spanish moss. Then we put the favors around the houses, alternated red and black napkins on white tablecloths, and put the program in the center of the place setting. The caterer brought the plates when she came. At the end, one lady from each table who had a particular number taped under her chair got to take the centerpiece home.

Some weeks ago on a Friday’s Fave Five I mentioned how excited I was to find something online to use as favors for the little girls. Somehow the idea came to mind (the Lord dropped it there, I am sure) to have something for them to color, because there is a bit of waiting time while everyone goes through the serving lines. A quick online search for “house coloring pages” yielded a wealth of materiel. I could have either gone with different styles of houses on each page or different rooms in the house. I went with the latter from this site, with a house and the theme verse on the front cover, and a different room of the house with a corresponding verse on each page in side. There were just exactly enough pictures to go with the pages. Here are a couple of them:

I asked a teenager before the luncheon to take a basket around with the coloring books and a small box of crayons to any table with a child and pass them out.

Ok, that’s more than enough about the decorating!

The most important part is the message or devotional. Usually our speakers are from an area within an hour or so, sometimes a pastor’s wife from another church, sometimes someone from the Christian college. This year one of our missionaries was based in Georgia while on furlough. When she and her husband came to our church during furlough, she shared a little about their area of ministry before her husband preached, and it was obvious that she was a born teacher and speaker. I began to wonder if she might be able to come. She was far enough away to need overnight accommodations, so I asked a lady in our church who had hosted them before if she could do so again if they came, as we don’t have enough in our ladies’ ministry budget for hotel accommodations. The Lord worked it all out so that this lady and her two daughters were able to come: her oldest daughter had to be at the University for training for a summer mission team on Monday, anyway. She was wonderful! My impressions of her being a born teacher were reinforced when she brought a stack of visual aids and had an activity to get everyone involved. She brought a lot of things out of the chapter I hadn’t noticed, and, by the way, I love it and much prefer it when speakers take the verse in context as she did rather than running off with it into who knows where.  She basically took the “I wills” (“I will sing of mercy and judgment, ” “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way,” etc.) and “I won’ts” (“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes,” etc.) from the chapter as pictures of what having a perfect heart within our home looks like. I did not think to ask her permission to mention her name or put her picture on my blog, so that’s the only reason I am not doing so.

Then, one of the most exciting parts was a special presentation we made. There is a lady in our church who makes beauitful little dolls, and she put a few in our missions closet. When this family was here before, they asked of she made any in different colors. They said the little girls in their neighborhood in Ghana loved to come over and play with their girls’ dolls, putting them in the little sling-type thing that the African moms carried their babies in on their backs. So I asked this lady if she could make a few for us to give to them, thinking she might be able to make 3 to 5. She made 13! And at the end of the luncheon we were able to present them to our speaker. Here they are on my couch beforehand.


She and her daughters were delighted with them.

On a personal level, it was neat for me to have both my mother-in-law and my daughter-in-law with me. Until my mil moved here, I always had to go to these things alone. I thought I’d have to talk her into it a little more, because she doesn’t usually like to go to much, but though she didn’t look excited about the prospect at first, she agreed. We had gotten her a pretty new dress for Mother’s Day that had a black background and red flowers, and she was so tickled to wear it to the luncheon. She commented about it all morning. And then Mittu wasn’t originally planning to come, but I didn’t know that at first — I think we forget sometimes how intimidating this kind of thing can be to a new person at church. But I asked her if she would mind sitting with Grandma and helping with whatever she might need help with, since I would have to be up and down, and she did so. They both ended up having a wonderful time. My husband had planned to get a picture of the three of us, but forgot about it in trying to get his mom in (he picked her up and took her home since I had to be there early and stay late). I wished I had thought of that, too!

But here is a picture of me holding one of the little dolls:

That little pin was made by Lizzie. I already had the black and white dress for years, but I knew I had seen that pin in Lizzie’s store, and thought it would set it off nicely, and I’d be color coordinated with the decorations, LOL! Plus I can use it at Christmas time or whenever else I might be inspired to wear red. Here is a closer view:

For those who might be interested in the other house-related ideas for centerpieces or favors, some of the links I found are here.

Overall everything went very well — the Lord blessed and enabled all along the way.

And though I enjoyed it — I am glad it is over!

God’s Help for God’s Assignment

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It’s amazing, thrilling, and comforting to me how the Lord sends just what I need through various means. I have a very busy few days ahead — not “crushing,” but busy, and this came yesterday in the daily e-mail devotional made up of Elisabeth Elliot‘s writings. This was originally from her book A Lamp For My Feet.

God’s Help for God’s Assignment

Sometimes a task we have begun takes on seemingly crushing size, and we wonder what ever gave us the notion that we could accomplish it. There is no way out, no way around it, and yet we cannot contemplate actually carrying it through. The rearing of children or the writing of a book are illustrations that come to mind. Let us recall that the task is a divinely appointed one, and divine aid is therefore to be expected. Expect it! Ask for it, wait for it, believe that God gives it. Offer to Him the job itself, along with your fears and misgivings about it. He will not fail or be discouraged. Let his courage encourage you. The day will come when the task will be finished. Trust Him for it.

“For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Is 50:7 AV).

Missions Closet Ministry

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When I mentioned stocking our missions closet recently, Jewel said she’d like to hear more about it. I am happy to oblige!

We “inherited” this ministry from another couple who left our church to help a smaller church in another area, so I don’t know exactly how this was started. When a missionary comes to speak at our church, a love offering is taken for them, but the missions closet is a little something extra. The love offering is given to them in the form of a check, and it may be the next day or longer before they are able to cash it, so some items in the missions closet are little necessities (toothpaste, etc.); other items are just for fun, for their family, and possibly for their ministry.

I have heard that some churches use a point system whereby points are figured to determine how much the missionary and his family are allowed to take, but I have no idea how points are assigned. We’ve found that the need varies so much from family to family that we’d rather leave it open-ended.

I can see, though, that a point system might alleviate some of the awkwardness and uncertainty that a few feel. Some “old-timers” who are used to this sort of thing have no problem coming in and choosing a few things, but a few feel awkward in wanting to avail themselves of the opportunity but not wanting to overstep or seem greedy. Usually we end up suggesting things for them to take or urging them to take something they seem interested in. My husband will often tell them, “It’s not going to do anyone any good just sitting here: go ahead and take it.” On the other hand, occasionally a missionary traveling by car is packed to the gills, or is flying and short on luggage space, or for various reasons really does not need anything, and we want to be careful not to “push” a visit to the missions closet on them to the point that they feel they have to come and take something they don’t want so as not to offend us. We might suggest a CD that can be easily tucked in somewhere, but we know what it is like to travel or pack too much stuff, so we try to encourage but not push.

Jewel was particular interested in what items we stocked in the closet, so I’ll list most of them. We started by just restocking what the couple before us had there and then asking visiting missionaries for suggestions. We also took into account what things we liked to take when we traveled.

Sheet sets in various sizes
Towel sets
Dish towels
Potholders
Throw blankets
Travel irons
Curling iron
A variety of toiletries, both full-sized and travel-sized
Craft items (decorative-edged scissors, punches, foam shapes, etc.)
Various tools
Bungee cords
Balls: football, soccer ball, etc.
Golf tees, balls
Socks
Basic baby items (onesies, sleepers, etc.)
Toys (We have separate bins for girls’ and boys’ toys.)
Batteries
Battery-lit lanterns
Flashlights
Car emergency kits
First aids kits
Thank-you cards, note cards
Stationery sets
Christian music CDs
Christian books for adults, teens, and children

Probably the books and CDs are taken the most, but sheets, towels, balls of all kinds, and tools are our most often taken items. Batteries and bungee cords are chosen pretty frequently, too.

Toiletries are the least-often taken items, which was surprising to me. One missionary commented that some churches give them gift bags, most often filled with toiletries, and they ended up with more than they could use. I don’t know if that’s the case generally.

We don’t stock food in there. One Sunday School class collected a variety of mostly canned foods (without checking to see if we could use them first), but none were ever chosen, and when they’d been in there for a while and it occurred to me I should check the expiration dates, and the majority of them were past the use-by dates. I was heartsick at the waste of their efforts and determined if we ever receive food donations again, I’d donate them to the rescue mission. Another reason not to stock food is to avoid attracting “critters.” I wrote a while back about some rodent visitors to the closet and their by-passing  boxes of macaroni and cheese and Jello to chew on handmade soap and towels (We keep towels in over-sized Ziploc bags now).

We occasionally have an odd thing donated that I’ll leave for quite a while, but if there is not interest over the course of several months I’ll remove them and donate them elsewhere. We don’t usually keep clothing in there: we just don’t have the space and we don’t want to encourage people to donate castoffs. But once someone gave a couple of really nice ladies’ coats, with the tags still on, that she found in her mother’s closet after she passed away. One was chosen by a missionary wife in Mongolia (where they really need warm coats!) and the other by another missionary wife who was in need of one that winter. Someone donated a belt once, and a visiting missionary walked in and went straight to it: it was exactly the size he needed.

And that’s when I feel most blessed and most used in this ministry: when someone’s eyes light up at seeing just the thing they wanted or needed.

As far as logistics go, though it would be nice to have a room singularly devoted to the missions closet, I think most churches are not equipped for that. Our “closet” also houses a piano where lessons are given, Christmas decorations, tape ministry boxes, and assorted other storage items. Sometimes it is a bit of a challenge, but we try to keep it neat and keep only missions closet items on certain shelves all together.

The missions closet is financed by a portion of the church budget and occasional monetary donations, and I turn in receipts for the items I purchase to the church business manager. For the first time this year, Wednesday night offerings in October were designated for the closet in preparation for the Missions Conference. And, as I mentioned, sometimes someone will give us an occasional item. As a general rule we don’t take used things: I’ve heard horror stories about things given to missionaries, and we don’t want them to feel they’re getting “leftovers,” or worse yet, junk.

Overall it is a very fun ministry to buy things and give them to people! And from the comments of missionaries, it seems to be much appreciated. The only negative is having to stay late: the missionaries usually have a table at the back with some of their things displayed, and they’re back there to talk with folks after the service. Then our missions committee meets with them for a few minutes, then we’re able to take them to the closet. But though staying late is the part my flesh balks at, more so the older I get, really, it is not a major sacrifice. Every ministry costs something, and that bit of my time is well worth it.

And that, my friends, is just about everything I can think of to tell you about a missions closet. I’d love to hear whether your church has one and how it is conducted, what kinds of things you keep in it, etc.

(One last note: obviously what I have been discussing here is different from a closet designated for folks who come by the church needing some kind of help. We were in one church that had a closet for that purpose, but it was mostly cast-off clothes, and I don’t think it was used much. Some churches have food pantries: ours has a “benevolence fund” that the pastor can access at his discretion. That kind of ministry is a whole different topic.)

Why hear a missionary presentation?

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What do you think when you hear that a missionary will be speaking at your church? Are you disappointed that you won’t hear the pastor? Or excited about a change of pace? Are you tempted to stay home because it is “just a missionary” after all? Or looking forward to dozing off during the video?

A few weeks ago a young lady spoke at our women’s meeting about her summer on a mission field, and I was blessed in so many ways even beyond just hearing what the Lord did that summer that I made a list of some of the blessings we can glean as missionaries present their work. Our church is having a Missions Conference this week, so it seemed like a good time to revisit these thoughts and post them.

1. Jesus told His disciples to “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields” (John 4:35b), and hearing a missionary presentation is one good way to obey that command.

2. We can see more fields than we could possibly visit in person.

3. Our hearts are stirred for the lost.

4. We are stirred to contribute both by prayer and giving.

5. We’re stirred to come alongside and help the missionary in his or her ministry.

6. It’s educational: we learn of other cultures from those who have actually experienced them.

7. We’re stirred up to serve the Lord in our own areas of ministry.

8. Our faith is encouraged as we see God’s hand at work in the lives of ordinary people who have stepped out in faith and yielded themselves to Him, and we are encouraged to do likewise.

9. Our faith is encouraged as we see God’s provision for funds, supplies, abilities.

10. Our hearts are knit together with brethren we might never meet in this life. We get to know our spiritual relatives whom we will meet some day in heaven.

11. We’re called to be willing to be used in whatever way God might see fit in the mission field He has for each of us, possibly even an overseas one.

How about you? How do you feel about missionary presentations?

Friday’s Fave Five

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FFF fall leaves 2

 

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. A whole evening to read. That doesn’t happen very often. Usually I read in snatches of time here and there. But one evening there was nothing on TV and nothing happening in the blogs I read or on Facebook, and I just wasn’t in a frame of mind to do anything physical, so I spent a lovely evening with a book.

2. A really good apple and orange. One problem with eating fruit is that you never know quite how it is going to taste until you start it, even if you buy the same variety. Sometimes it more dry or tart, etc., ulike a package of Oreos, which tastes the same every time. 🙂 But a really, really good piece of fruit is…really good!

3. A good ladies’ meeting. Somehow it has almost become a tradition to have the November meeting at a ladies’ home who has a home theater (installed and left by the former owners) and watch a film. Plus this hostess usually prepares a full meal rather than snacks, and she usually includes some kind of potato soup — one of my all-time favorite soups. We watched the film “Open My Eyes, Dear Lord” about the lives and ministry of Joe and Tanna Collins — dear, sweet, ordinary people who stepped out in faith. Her testimony about the Lord answering her objections step by step was both sweet and humorous. Unfortunately the film doesn’t share the “rest of the story” as included in the article (it was probably made before the events in the article), but I printed it out and was able to share a few things from it. Several things spoke to me, but this was particularly convicting:

In 1997, the wife of a witch doctor was repeatedly beaten for attending church after she came to Christ. In spite of beatings that would sometimes leave her in bed for two weeks, she would sneak out to be with other Christians for church services. Soon, she had led 22 of her fellow Nepalese to Christ, and she would risk more beatings by spending time with anyone after church who needed to be saved.

How often I drag my feet to attend church (even knowing that God will speak to me and it will be a blessing) because I am tired or whatever — and this lady wanted to attend so much she did so despite beatings.

4. Stocking the missions closet. Our church has a little closet where we take visiting missionaries so they can choose from a variety of items as just an extra little ministry to them. Our missions conference starts this Sunday, so I have been stocking it up. It’s a fun ministry, and it is especially a blessing when something is especially what they needed or something they’re really excited to get. It’s neat to know the Lord leads in even such things. Once a missionary family picked up a little tool which I was not entirely sure even what it was — for some reason I just added it in when shopping, but they needed it.

5. Baby time. My daughter-in-law, Mittu, is baby-sitting a little 8-month old girl. I met her for the first time this week. I haven’t been around babies in a while, and I’m not normally someone who just gravitates to babies. But oh, the sweetness! It was a little preview into what it might be like when grandkids come along. I can’t wait. No pressure, no hurry, all in the Lord’s timing — but I am looking forward to it even more than I already was!

Book Review: To the Golden Shore

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Imagine feeling so convicted and burdened by God’s command to go and share the gospel with every creature and so moved by the state of the lost in other countries that have never heard the gospel that you feel you must go yourself and tell them.

Now imagine doing so when you live in a country where no one has ever done so before.

To the Golden ShoreTo The Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson is a classic missionary biography of Adoniram Judson, America’s first missionary. I had read it years ago but felt an urge to revisit it.

Every missionary has to have dedication and has to be willing to make sacrifices, even in our day. But the amount of dedication and sacrifice and willingness to step into the unknown displayed by Adoniram and his wife and the small group who stepped out with them just amazes me. His wife, Ann Hassletine (also called Nancy) is one of the bravest women I have ever read of, going into the great unknown as she did and facing all that she did in later years. The letter Adoniram wrote to ask her father for her hand in marriage is an atypical proposal, but frank:

I have not to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next Spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls, for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God?

He was not being melodramatic: he was being realistic. It says a lot about Nancy that she accepted such a proposal.

There are several short biographies of Adoniram online, so I don’t want to retell his life story, but I just want to touch on a few highlights that stood out to me from the book.

I wrote before of his remarkable conversion. His innate intelligence, keen mind, and his own struggles coming to faith uniquely fitted him for the philosophical discussions with the Burmese that were preliminary to their understanding the gospel, and that same mind and the facility he developed with the language uniquely fitted him to translate the Bible into Burmese and to create a Burmese-English dictionary and grammar that were the standard for decades.

He had a stalwart, determined character. That could come across as stubborness in some instances, but when convinced as to the will of God, he was firm. During Adoniram’s studies over the long sea voyage, he became convinced that the Baptist mode of baptism, by immersion after a profession of salvation, was the Biblical way. That put him in a difficult position as a Congregationalist missionary. The subject was discussed and debated amongst the missionary candidates on board, but once Adoniram was convinced of the Scriptural position, he felt he had no choice but to resign as a Congregationalist missionary and seek support from the Baptists. Thankfully, in the providence of God, the situation was handled with grace, and God brought him into contact with Baptist men who took on his support. You may or may not agree about modes of baptism, but what stands out to me here was the character it took to act on what he believed even though it was going to cause difficulties.

The Burmese were open to discussion, but it was six long years before the first one believed. Progress was very slow: there was, of course, not the openness to a variety of religions as we take for granted today. Adoniram was careful not to impinge on their culture — he wasn’t trying to create an American church, but a Christian one. But slowly the gospel took root and grew. Oddly, at the time of greatest oppression by the imperialist Burmese king, when the Judsons feared they would have to leave, they had several inquirers. Some of the Burmese converts came forth as gold in the trials they faced where professing Christ cost something.

When war broke out between Burma and England in 1824, the Judsons thought that they would be safe as Americans. However, the Burmese did not understand the Western system of banking: because the Judsons’ checks were cashed through a British merchant, they were thought to be in league with the British, and Adoniram was imprisoned for twenty-one of the most grueling months of his life. A fastidious man, he dealt with filthy quarters and having his feet in fetters raised up toward the ceiling every night while his weight rested on his shoulders on the floor. Nancy daily sought help and favor for him everywhere she could: she even followed him and the rest of the prisoners on a tortuous march to another prison. As authorities searched their home, she hid what she could, especially the manuscript of the Burmese translation of the Bible over which Adoniram had been working so diligently. She hid it in a pillow and took it to Adoniram in prison. The jailer took a liking to the pillow and confiscated it for himself: Nancy made a nicer one, and Adoniram successfully offered it to the jailer in exchange.

As the war began to grind to an end, Adoniram was called on as a translator between the Burmese and British. Lack of nutrition, ill health, and extenuating circumstances all took their toll on Nancy, and she died, followed soon by their baby. None of their other children had lived.

Adoniram entered into the darkest period of his life. He threw himself into translation and missionary work, but wrestled with losses and grief: not only Nancy and all his children, but several missionary colleagues had died as well as his father back in America. Oddly, he felt guilty over his grief. He withdrew into a kind of asceticism for a while. He dug an open grave and spent long periods of time just staring into it. He requested at this time that his letters to others be destroyed, so we don’t know for sure what all he was thinking during this period. Several shorter biographies bypass this section of his life, but I think it is important to note that in his humanness, the losses he had sustained and the time in prison all had their effect on him, understandably, and it took him about three years to recover.

He eventually married Sarah Boardman, the widow of one of his colleagues, and had several more children. They had a happy eleven-year long marriage before she passed away on his only return trip to America, taken originally to try to help improve her health. God granted him another happy marriage to writer Emily Chubbuck for a few years before his own health failed in 1850 at the age of 61.

His legacies are the souls won to Christ in Burma and the churches started there, the Burmese Bible he translated, the Burmese-English dictionary and grammar, and the stirring testimony and influence of a life of character used by God.

Thank you

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Thanks to those who prayed and encouraged me regarding speaking to our ladies’ group Monday. It went fairly well, I think. There’s always the rethinking (“I forgot to say this…I shouldn’t have said…I hope someone wasn’t offended by that…I went on too long…”). I didn’t “feel” too nervous, but my body did react nervously, and that distressed me. But once I got started it was better. I tell myself every time I do something like that that it’s the LAST time I ever will. But I want to be open to what the Lord would have me do. I just hope it’s not public speaking. 🙂 Thanks again! You were a great help.

One of the ladies took a few pictures. I won’t post the ones of the other ladies since they may not want that. 🙂 Here’s one of the neat refreshments and decorations the hostesses provided:

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And me speaking:

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I’ll be glad when today is over…

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At a few of our ladies’ meetings at church through the year we have different ladies  give their testimonies of how they came to the Lord and came to the place in life they are in now. I love those meetings, love hearing how the Lord has worked in people’s lives.  Several weeks ago it occurred to me that I had never shared mine. I had spoken once before about living with TM, but that was it. So, I thought, I won’t schedule myself in, but if I come upon a meeting for which I have nothing else or if a speaker has to cancel out, then maybe I’ll do that.

Our ladies’ meeting for this month is tonight. As this particular date loomed ever-closer and I kept asking different ladies to speak, one by one they declined for various reasons.

Usually once a year we have a “fun night” when we go bowling or play games or something, so I thought about doing that tonight. But then I considered that if the Lord had put it in my mind to share my testimony, then maybe I should do that. So I went ahead and put it in the bulletin and everything.

I guess it’s too late to change my mind and play games, huh?

Fortunately most of what I would say I have written out here on the blog in various places. I just need to pull it together and go over it and pray about what to include, what to summarize so I’m not keeping them til their eyes go all glassy or they fall asleep at the tables.

If you see this before the end of the day and feel so led, I’d appreciate your prayers for the following:

1. That the Lord would remove nervousness, especially the physical manifestations thereof.

2. That He would guide me in what to say. I tend to get overly bogged down in details (as you may or may not have noticed…)

3. That my focus would be on glorifying Him and sharing what He’s done in my life. Sometimes one can get caught up in the thrill of telling a story, and there are a few of those exciting stories in my life. But I don’t want it to be just a neat story.

4. That it would somehow bless and help those listening.

Thank you!