The Life of a Missionary

I have been on the field, in Africa, now for almost 6 months and have served almost 8 towards my two year term. Time has simply flown. However, I won’t be too cheesy or cliché to say “time flies when you’re having fun”. Not to say that I haven’t had fun over the past 6 months, but the one lesson I have learned just recently is that life as I once knew it will never be the same. Life at home in Kentucky will never be the same. My family, friends, church, and even my home town will never be quite the same. Cousins will have grown taller as well as older and Aunts and Uncles will have aged, but ever gracefully. Several friends will have gotten married, started families, and my adopted nieces and nephews will have grown up and I will have missed those moments I most cherished. However, pictures are wonderful and a blessing which I keep around my home as reminders. Yet not seeing it with my own two eyes, feeling the hugs, or joy of cheering one of them on at a game will ever be missed. All these are givens of course, but the one which seems to be the hardest to accept is my church family changing. My church back in Kentucky has become my second home and somewhere I can really be me. These are the people, who know me best yet it too will never be the same as I left it. The Sunday school class which I taught for 3 years will never have the same students. When I return home they will head into their freshman year of high school. The place where I sat in church will be occupied by someone else. The youth that hung out with will be heading to college. I, too, though will have changed just the same. Yet the life of the missionary is constant change. I wish that life on the other side of the planet would just freeze because I don’t necessarily feel as if I have been gone for 6 months nor do I feel as if I am on another continent, well at least on most days. I feel as if I am only on the west coast of the US instead of the east coast, not true though.

The changes however it’s all beginning to sink in just now. I feel as the first few months were just practice or vacation. The Lord has been working to ever remind me that my life will not only ever be the different, I will be different, but he too will never be the same to me either. Over the past months the Lord has been stripping me of whatever else I was clinging to instead of him. Relationships have been taken away or changed; changes have been made in ways back in Kentucky that I couldn’t help if I were in the states. However, at times I feel as if it would be just easier to accept if I were there. I have been overwhelmed by the midst of change over the month and this week it all began to hit home.

In the early morning today I awoke to any itchy place on my hand and in the midst of my sleep/wake I grabbed the hydrocortisone cream and then fell back to sleep. So when I did finally wake I went into the bath room looked in the mirror after reaching for the glasses and I see 2 large, red swollen places on my face; one on my left eyelid and other on my right cheek bone. I thought, “Oh no, Lord! What am I Job?! I look like Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Norte Dame.” I quickly reached for hydrocortisone cream once again, this time putting it on my face. Then I went into the kitchen to put ice on them when the phone rang. It was Monica, my supervisor’s wife, and when I told here about the bits she told me I should probably go to the clinic to see the doctor. Of course I didn’t want to go but after talking to one our nurse friends here in Mbabane I decided to go. Only to hear from the doctor that it really didn’t seem to be anything serious and to just continue with the hydrocortisone cream along with anti-histamine. I was disappointed since first of all I had missed out on going to set up a new bible study with Kimber. Second of all we were having a farewell get to together for Kristen, one of my friends which was moving back to the states, that evening and by no means did I want my picture being taken looking like Quasimodo. 

None the less when six o’clock rolled around I was ready in my smartest casual wear, for what I have here in Africa, to enjoy a nice evening out with lots of girlfriends. At first I was worried about the picture, but as the night went on I just laughed and had more and more fun. There were 13 of us in all and we had the most amazing time laughing and chatting the night away. Before we knew it, it was 10:30 pm. I honestly can say that I believe tonight was one of the best times I have in Swaziland thus far. The Lord has blessed me with amazing ex-pats and missionary friends. A recent friendship with Lauren, which developed only a week ago, has been such a blessing. Words can not describe it. Tonight it was nice to just through my head back and just cackle. I spent $20 on my meal, drink, dessert, and tip but oh how it was worth it!

This morning I had prayed and asked the Lord to restore and renew my spirit, which he did tonight. This past week has been one of the roughest thus far. The Lord has just been teaching me so much about myself and refining me ever the more. I felt as if Paul did “for I do those things which I do not want to do”. I cried out, “Lord, I am so tried of feeling sorry and miserable. I just want to feel happiness again in our relationship.”  On the way home from the restaurant I was thinking, “Oh, I’d to love call and tell… about tonight”, but then I felt the same nudge reminding me, “No, no. Come to me first not just in hard times but in good times as well. I want to share with you in your sorrows as well as your joys.”

I believe part of this whole week as well as the past month has in part been to teach me just that, to come to Jesus first. Come to Him when I am overjoyed with the blessings or when my heart is broken and I am crying out to Him for comfort. Either way he wants to be a part of them. He doesn’t desire me for me to run to others and unload, but to Him alone. He is to be first and foremost the most important person in my life. If I do not love Him first then how can I love anyone else? I mean I can love someone, but not fully. For neither can we fully understand love till we openly accept it. I know this is not a new concept for even myself, but like I said about trust it has to be one of those lessons you personally experience for it to truly take root.

With all of these changes the Lord has also been revealing to me that each sacrifice should not be viewed as a hardship or test of character as with Abraham, but rather as an act of worship as Mary did when she broke her alabaster box to anoint Him with oil and to clean His feet with her tears. My desire is not to look at the next 16 months or so as a sacrifice, but rather as a simple act of worship to a great and mighty King who offered me so much yet required so little in return. Yes, change is hard and never something we desire…at least I don’t, but God’s love is always there, He is always there for me. He is never failing.

Trusting in the Lord

Last week the Lord really starting speaking to me about my trust in him and from the lessons he was teaching me, he led me to teach on the same subject at our youth meeting. Hope this lesson can encourage as well as challenge you in the same way, which the Lord has myself.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” 

Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deut. 31:6-8

There are some things in life that simply have to be experienced to learn. Trust is one of those things. We can hear a thousand sermons on trusting God to provide, but until we live and breathe the experience, seeing his hand at work day after day, hour after hour, the concept will never quite settle into our heart and soul. 

The book of Joshua is a manual on trust. It reads like an educational documentary on the supernatural provision and power of God in the lives of a people on the brink of discovering Canaan—the Promised Land. From the first page to the last, you see how God literally moved heaven and earth to protect his people and see that they arrived safely home. 

What does trust mean to you?

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phil. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.

What are some areas of our lives that we can trust the Lord with?What are some areas of you life, which you are trusting the Lord with?(Answer this question to yourself) 

Within the book of Joshua we can come to see five important principles. In the midst of the Israelites’ journey, God was teaching Joshua as well as the people how to trust the Lord. At the same time He was hammering home a critical lesson about what it takes to stay in his perfect will. These are principles which apply to anyone longing for the Promise Land of Canaan—to all those who find themselves journeying through the desert with God, looking for home. We all have hopes, dreams, and ambitions. God is calling us to lay them all down at his feet. He wants us to lay them at the altar and offer them to him as a sacrifice of praise and worship. The Lord wants us to trust him with everything, not just the simple things or the really big problems. The Lord wants it all. In order to follow the Lord, entrusting Him with our most prized possession, follow Him into the Promise Land we must recognize these truths:

1. Allow God to lead. He is in control every moment, even when it seems that he isn’t. 

2. Be strong and courageous. When you’re being led by the all-powerful God, you have no time for weakness and insecurity and complacency.

3. Meditate on God’s Word. There is supernatural power in the Word of God, and reading it brings supernatural wisdom.

4. Remember what God has done. Looking forward gives direction, but taking time to look back builds strength and trust.

5. Be united. “A triple-braided cord is not easily broken,” says king Solomon (Ecclesiastes 4:12), and God beautifully demonstrates that truth in the story of Joshua. 

 1. Allow God to lead. He is in control every moment, even when it seems that he isn’t.  

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Joshua 1:5 

Listen to the promises God made to Joshua: “You must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you—from the Negev Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north.’ … No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live …. I will not fail you or abandon you …. You will be successful in everything you do …. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:2-9). We could go on if time and space permitted, but the point is simple: God planned the Israelites’ days and took care of them as clearly as the sun rises in the morning. He promised to be faithful, and he kept that promise. When God is allowed to lead, he not only leads lovingly but with certainty. That truth is displayed throughout the story of Joshua.

 Read Matthew 28:20 

God has given you and me the same promise. “I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” Jesus tells us (Matthew 28:20). Just as God went before the Israelites arranging their days, he is walking beside us today, guiding our every step.

 Think for a moment how God is arranging your days? How is God being faithful to you and are you being faithful to him? 

Do you find that as comforting as I find it? Does it make your heart soar to learn that he cares enough to leave his throne and walk through the desert with you? Does it bring a tear to your eye to think that the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joshua is also the God of Gogo and Ntombie and Tacona? 

We study through the story of Joshua, a clear pattern quickly arises. Whenever the Israelites followed God and remained faithful, they prospered. They won every battle with ease, ate and drank in abundance, and lived fruitful, happy lives. However, when they went their own way, leaving God and his commandments behind, they failed; without exception. Apart from God they had no chance of winning, but when following God, they had no chance of losing.  

Read Romans 8:31 

Knowing that truth, why would we want to set out on any conquest without letting God take the lead? Why try to even start the day without first looking to God for guidance?

 2. Be strong and courageous. When you’re being led by the all-powerful God, you have no time for weakness and insecurity and complacency. 

Read Joshua 1:6-9 As we read these verses I want you to play close attention to the words or phrases, which are repeated.

 How many times does it say in these verses “be strong and courageous”?What is special about the number 3? Do you have any ideas?Who makes up the Trinity? How many are in the Trinity? Do you think maybe God is trying to get tell Joshua as well as us who are reading His Word something today? 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

 This is why God reminded Joshua time and again to “be strong and courageous.” God has a way of working that tends to fall outside the norm, and he needs people who trust him enough to go the distance, no matter how bizarre the game plan. Courage is important to God because courage is a natural by-product of trust. And the greater we trust, the braver we become. As long as God leads the battle, we can march in confidence, knowing that we’ve already won.  

Read Joshua 6:1-5 

God gave Jericho to Israel on the seventh day, just as he said he would.  

How do you think the people of Jericho felt as they saw the Israelites marching around the walls of the city?

Read Joshua 2:9&11 

Who was speaking here? How would you have felt if you were one of the people of Jericho? What if you were one of the Israelites? 

If I were one of the people of Jericho, I don’t quite know how I would react. Perhaps the first day I would have been scared wondering what these people were doing, maybe by the second or third day I would have begun to laugh at them and maybe even mocked them, but by the sixth day I might have thought they were just plain mad. If I were one of the Israelites I believe I would have been confident in whatever Joshua had told me to do. By that time after wondering in the desert for 40 years and being disobedient, as well as knowing the consequences I would done just about anything Joshua had said the Lord had instructed him to do. The Lord had already shown Joshua to be as great as Moses when he parted the Jordan River and the Israelites crossed on the dry riverbed. 

So, think for a moment and image what wall does he have you marching around? 

3. Meditate on God’s Word. There is supernatural power in the Word of God, and reading it brings supernatural wisdom. 

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8

Gaylord Kambarami worked for the American Bible Society in Zimbabwe, distributing Bibles to the locals. But one day he ran across a man who refused to take one. The man was extremely hostile toward Christians. “I’ll only roll the pages and use them to make cigarettes,” the man told him. But Kambarami was a persistent man. “I understand that,” he told the man, “but at least promise to read the page of the New Testament before you smoke it.” The man agreed, somewhat confused, and the two parted ways.

Fifteen years passed, and Kambarami didn’t think much more about the incident until by coincidence he ran across the man again—this time at a Methodist convention in Zimbabwe. The man was now a full-time evangelist and one of the speakers at the gathering. During his speech the man gave his personal testimony, recalling for the audience the day that Kambarami gave him his first New Testament and the dialogue that went on between the two. He told the audience, “I smoked Matthew and I smoked Mark and I smoked Luke, but when I got to John 3:16, I couldn’t smoke anymore. My life was changed from that moment.” 

There is power in the Word of God far beyond what you and I can comprehend. The mere words elicit a level of authority and muscle that no other text can possess. Just reading what the Creator has written brings supernatural insight and wisdom to the mind of the reader. The Lord tells Joshua, “Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed” (Joshua 1:8). One key to following God is to meditate on Scripture and then to let those words flow from your mouth at every occasion. Let the promises of God seep into your heart and mind. Drink of God’s wisdom and delight his Word. 

Read James 1:22-25 

How can you be doers of God’s Word?  

4. Remember what God has done. Looking forward gives direction, but taking time to look back builds strength and trust. 

^“That this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 

Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” Joshua 4:6-7

 Since the beginning of this year I have been keeping journals. This way I can remember and reflect on God how is at work in my life as well as ministry. I want to be able to look back on my time in Swaziland and remember the ways in, which God has impacted my life through my experiences working with the youth and children. Also, in the years to come if I am ever a mother I want my children to be able to read through my journals know how the Lord has not only blessed myself, but also our family.

When you come into my home you’ll find pictures all over. You’ll find picture of my friends, family, and church back at home. You’ll see pictures from special occasions and experiences in my life. Each picture has a story and each person has a special meaning to my life. I surround myself these pictures and memories because they remind me who I am. They also reflect and serve as symbols to myself as to how good God has been to me through the years. It not only reminds me where I’ve been, but where I’m going.

That’s what God had in mind when he told Joshua and the people of Israel to take twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River. The Lord had just miraculously parted the Jordan, allowing the Israelites to enter the Promised Land at last. He had them build a stone marker—a memorial to his miracle that day. “In the future, your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s covenant went across’” (Joshua 4:6-7). The memorial was for the sake of the children—for the generations to come. He knew that Israel’s future was dependent upon her memory of his faithfulness in the past. Knowing where you’re going is a good thing. But there’s nothing quite as comforting as remembering where you’ve been. 

Think for a moment to yourself and remember some milestone or special memory in your life.Why is it a milestone or special memory? How do you see God working in your life right now? 

5. Be united. “A triple-braided cord is not easily broken,” says king Solomon (Ecclesiastes 4:12), and God beautifully demonstrates that truth in the story of Joshua 

Read Ecclesiates 4:12

“Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, 

Until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” Joshua 1:14-15

 Read Numbers 32:6-7, 10-12, 13-15, 25-27 

Before Moses died he made a promise to two and a half of Israel’s tribes. The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh saw that the land east of the Jordan was rich and suitable for livestock. They had many herds and flocks and asked Moses if they could remain behind and settle in the lands of Jazer and Gilead. Moses agreed but on one condition: They were to first cross the Jordan and fight alongside their brothers as they took Canaan. Then they could return and make their home (see Numbers 32:1-27).

When it came time for Israel to cross the Jordan, the tribes reminded Joshua of this promise from Moses. They also remembered their agreement to first help their brothers take Canaan. They fulfilled that promise. And God fulfilled his. Jericho was given into their hands. Could God have accomplished this task without the help of these two-and-a-half tribes? Did God need the extra fighting men to overcome Canaan? You and I know the answer. He helped Gideon slay the Midianites with only three hundred men armed with trumpets (Joshua 7). God doesn’t need an army to fulfill his wishes. What God desired was for the Israelites to stay together. To fight alongside each other, even though the war had already been won. To be a team, united under one God and one cause.

Unity has always been a passion and priority with God. When Jesus prayed for all believers, present and future, unity was of utmost importance to him.  Read John 17:23“May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23, niv). And being unified is more than just getting along with each other, shaking hands as we pass by in the church. Unity means standing shoulder to shoulder in the midst of battle. It means going all the way to Canaan with our brethren. 

 Let’s review! In order to follow the Lord, entrusting Him with our most prized possession, we must remember these truths:

1. Allow God to lead. He is in control every moment, even when it seems that he isn’t. 

2. Be strong and courageous. When you’re being led by the all-powerful God, you have no time for weakness and insecurity and complacency.

3. Meditate on God’s Word. There is supernatural power in the Word of God, and reading it brings supernatural wisdom.

4. Remember what God has done. Looking forward gives direction, but taking time to look back builds strength and trust.

5. Be united. “A triple-braided cord is not easily broken,” says king Solomon (Ecclesiastes 4:12), and God beautifully demonstrates that truth in the story of Joshua.  

Think for a moment how do you plan to apply what you have learned from this lesson? If you feel lead you may share.