IN SEARCH OF WORKER to serve in rural West Africa for two years.
The national language is French, but it is necessary to speak an indigenous
tribal language to do work among an unreached, majority Islamic people that
does not have the Bible translated into their language. The electricity and
water will be cut often. Phone service, also, will be intermittent and few
people are able to have internet connections strong enough to receive much
email, in text form, only (no photos or other files can be sent or received). There
are no supermarkets or restaurants in the area, so cooking skills are necessary
if you want to eat. If you have children, be willing to let anyone hold your
baby at any time and tell you how to raise them. Personal privacy is nearly
nonexistent in the local culture and it is considered a compliment to ask for
money, clothing, cell phones, food, anything,
at any time. There is no air conditioner in your house and it will be hot to
very hot year round. You will have very little contact with anyone of similar
culture and language to your own and participation in corporate worship can
only happen once or twice a year, when you travel several hours over very rough
roads, riddled with potholes, to get together with people serving in
similar-type jobs in other locations. Of the two years of your term of service,
it will take you about a year to get to a language communication level that you
can take care of your own needs and share the Good News simply (though you still
will be lacking in language to get to deeper conversations). Even though you
will work tirelessly to share the Truth about Jesus, you will see little or no
fruit in the two year term of service.
This was not the
personnel request I answered, but if it had shown the reality of what we
actually experienced, this would be it. I was an elementary school teacher that
had a fairly good command of Spanish. My husband and I had a toddler that was a
picky eater that I was very particular about who she stayed with, what she ate,
and what she wore (Spot on her dress?! Change immediately!). She was the only
grandchild on both sides of the family. I had never in my life traveled
overseas (didn’t even have a passport!) and had never met even one Muslim
person. I did not like to be dirty or hot. If the temperature got above 80, the
air conditioner came on. I also could not cook, unless it came out of a box
that said “_____ Helper” on it. I taught school full-time while my husband was
a student, then would come home exhausted and we would either go out or throw
together something easy. I never attended seminary. I was an extrovert that
needed to have time with girlfriends. I was a musician that played piano and
sang and loved to make music with other musicians, especially in praise of
Jesus. And, I wanted to see tangible results and receive affirmation fairly often. So, what was God thinking? Why would He call someone like me?
Here is the key: God
is not a big boss looking for people that meet certain qualifications:
education, experience, aptitude, etc. The Lord God is looking for people that love
Him and obey Him. That’s it! How in the world can He be glorified
through someone uniquely qualified to do the work He calls him/her to? In my
personal experience, He called me to a task that was WAY beyond my education,
experience, and aptitude. I was broken
in multiple ways during the first two years I served in West Africa. And, I
could have chalked that up and said, “Ok, God, been there, done that. Now, I’m
ready to live near family and friends, play piano and sing on a worship team at
some wonderful church, and let my daughter and newborn son enjoy growing up in
clean, nurturing, child-friendly environments.” But, I didn’t.
What was I
thinking? What made me NOT say that to God? When I look back at all we went
through and the many tears of loneliness and despair that wet my pillow, what
overshadowed all of it was the experience of seeing God do the miraculous in
and through me. It was nothing short of amazing, how He broke me, molded me,
and formed me during that two years. I remember sitting under a mango tree with
a group of young mothers about my age and enthusiastically sharing a Bible
story I had grown to love, because I had begun to see it with new eyes in
preparing it for these women to hear and understand. I got to witness the
understanding creep into their eyes and the beautiful smiles as they came to a
deeper knowledge of God’s grace toward them. That, and many other miraculous
experiences, where my weakness was overshadowed by His strength and my
inabilities were overcome with His power, had me completely fixed on this
calling that He now confirmed to me (and my husband), wasn’t just for two
years, but for my lifetime. I realized that God’s grace extended way beyond how
He worked salvation in me and continued on toward how His Spirit was able to
work through me to call others to a brand new or greater knowledge of Himself.
And, nineteen years
later, I still don’t understand how or why He does it, ‘cause I know myself and
know that He knows me even more. I have insecurities and am painfully aware of
my weaknesses… some days more than others. But, then Jesus’ sweet Spirit, which
He graced me with on the day I chose to follow Him, reminds me of His great
love for me and how HE is doing this work through me. I just need to rest in
Him. Trust in what He’s doing, even when I don’t see it. His grace continues to
amaze me. I’m learning more and more every day, the truths of these words:
But because of his great love for us, God, who
is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the
coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in
his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace
you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:4-10 NIV
Has God called you to
a task that is way beyond you? Are you confident of this? Have you believed
that it is because you can’t do it that He has called you? He is much more
glorified when it is His power that shines through, rather than your ability.
Anyone can answer a personnel request and work according to the accolades and
diplomas on an impressive resumé. But,
God wants to do the miraculous and the supernatural through those of us who are
ordinary and unimpressive. I am praying for you, as you read and consider these
words, that “…the eyes
of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which
he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great
power for us who believe.” Eph. 1:18-19a
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