Liberia Trip Part 1

Last week I shared with you our family history and ties to Liberia. This week I would like to share some more details of our trip and what prompted us to return to our family roots.

As I mentioned last week, Liberia sits right on the coast of West Africa. So needless to say, it is breathtakingly beautiful! My husband and I found ourselves saying time and time again… “If Americans knew about this place, they’d pay big bucks to come here.” Yes, no lie, it is that captivating! Aside from the color of the water, some of the places we saw reminded us so much of our trip to Hawaii. Not even joking!

Beautiful scenery!

We spent our first two nights in the capital city of Monrovia staying with friends of our family, actually a man who grew up in Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandma and Grandpa took in several young Liberians who needed a place to live. They raised them as their own. In the short time we stayed with this man we saw the fruit of the spirit flowing out of him that Grandma and Grandpa had invested so much time sowing. The family we stayed with lived in a small gated community with three houses inside. The houses shared a water pump and generator run electric power, which was only on from about 7:00 pm until 6:00 am. They did not have power during the day. They cooked over a coal fire. They did not have any running water. But thankfully they had a toilet that was able to be flushed when you dumped water down it. The mother was a nurse and who had received her training here in the States through a grant. This was quite comforting to us because she was able to acclimate us to Liberian life and prepare us for our next phase of our trip, a ten-day trip interior, where life is entirely different from life in the capital city.

Once departing the capital city we found ourselves on an all day car ride to the interior. Please note here that on a good day you might make it to the mission in about 6 hours from the capital city. However, if there has been any amount of rain whatsoever, you can expect that time to increase drastically. All I can compare the interior Liberian roads to is our off-roading excursions here in the States, only, forget the fun of flying through the dirt on an ATV. Oh no! I have to say, there was not really anything fun about being bounced around like popcorn. And believe me when I say our driver was not to blame for any of it! The roads truly are that rough!

We were blessed with a great driver the entire time we were there! Praise the Lord for that because driving in Liberia is like “diving on another planet!” (as one of our Liberian friends says). And may I add that there are no restrooms anywhere on any of these long jostling roads. So, yes, we did have to pull over for an up close and personal experience with nature. Thankfully, I was prepared! My husband’s aunt and uncle who are currently missionaries in another African country warned me that I would more than likely find myself in situations such as this. So, out came the lapper (a large piece of fabric when wrapped around you it can be worn as a skirt, as well as its many other uses when needed) and away we went. For most Americans, we would have trouble getting past the jarring all day car ride much less having to do our business along the side of the road. For me, it was somehow all so exciting. I was being stretched beyond recognition and loving every minute of it! However, this was only the beginning of my stretching.

We arrived on the mission late in the evening and quite exhausted from our popcorn journey. The Liberians on the mission greeted us as if we were old friends and it was such a comforting feeling, to say the least. Our living arrangements for the next ten days was with the pastor on the mission and his family. You could tell that they had put out their very best for us and was it ever humbling! We were received with such love and honor. By American standards, this family did not have much in the way of material possessions but you would never know that based upon their attitudes and actions. It truly was such refreshing to be surrounded by people who were so enamored with the Lord that the little they had was more than enough. Yes, their lives have challenges, but they have the Lord, and the Lord does not leave the righteous forsaken (Psalm 37:25).

The next ten days were filled with many adventures including an eight-hour motorcycle trip further interior to visit more churches. Getting a round in Liberia always seems to be full of adventures. Our motorcycle trip was just that. We traveled with two other motor cycles, and five of us all together. We had bikes break down, flat tires, we saw an entire village filled with excitement over a bush cow that was killed (meaning the village would have plenty to eat), and we rode for an hour straight in the pouring down rain. Thankfully this was the last hour of our trip and we had finished viewing all of the churches, so we were heading back to the mission to recharge.

The motorcycle my husband and I road on

One of several bike fixes on our motorcycle trip.

One of the churches on our motorcycle trip required us to walk over a bridge that a logging truck had tried to drive over several months before and collapsed part of the bridge in the process of crossing. So the truck was hanging on the bridge leaving only a single footpath for one person to pass by at a time. This made the bridge steep and honestly quite scary. Please note that my picture does not do the situation justice. It was a sight, unlike anything I had ever seen.

Men carried heavy loads across the bridge to the other side on their heads all day long. 

Safely on the other side, we met some precious church people who were so excited to see our arrival. There was one man who told us a story of my husband’s grandfather and the impact he had on an entire village all because he was willing to eat the snake that the village had just killed. This man was a product of our grandfather’s willingness to “become all things to all men that he might win some” (2 Corinthians 9:22). It brings me to tears just thinking about the stories that were shared as we encountered so many beautiful people!

See Liberia Trip Part 2 and Family History With Liberia for more details of our trip.

Lord, I pray that as I share about this trip that you open our hearts and minds to the world around us. Open our hearts to others who are in need. Help us to go outside ourselves and share with others the love that only you can give. In Jesus precious name.

Family History With Liberia

My husband and I had the precious opportunity to travel to Liberia this past summer, a country that sits on the northern coast of West Africa. This little nation has faced mass destruction from two major civil wars that together spanned a period of twelve long years. The memories from civil wars are still very vivid in the minds of so many Liberians because the second civil war ended just 13 years ago, in 2003. During our stay, we learned that schools had been closed down for fourteen years. Leaving an entire generation of Liberians unable to read or write. This makes it very difficult for their society to make advancements. In 2015, the United Nations named Liberia's capital city of Monrovia, the poorest capital city in the world. To this day the entire nation continues to live with no infrastructure for sewer, running water, or electric power. They have slowly been trying to rebuild roads in the main cities, but to get anywhere in the interior is about impossible during the rainy season even if you happen to be one of the lucky ones to owns a four wheeled drive vehicle. Many of the roads, especially in the interior, are dirt roads and as rainy season progresses, the roads become less and less usable. In fact, so much that by the middle of the rainy season there are many places in Liberia that are completely cut off from anyone being able to come or go.

The history of this little nation runs quite deep in our family. My husband's grandparents were missionaries there for 27 years until the church was nationalized. Soon after the work had been nationalized, civil war broke out across the country. I wanted to spend some time sharing with you the deep family heritage that I have been so richly blessed with. I thank God for the opportunity to be part of such a rich heritage.

When Grandma and Grandpa first went into the mission field they were fresh out of Bible college with a heart for ministry. So when Liberia became available they did not hesitate to pack their bags and make the long journey by ship. Grandma and Grandpa both had a heart that beat loudly for the people of Liberia. There is no greater way to win a soul to the Lord than through agape love. Grandma and Grandpa understood what agape love looked like, sounded like and felt like.

They figured that the only way they were going to make an impact in the hearts and lives of these people is to accept them for who they are and love the “hell” out of them in the process. They based their lives around the scripture says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." (John 13:35) Grandma and Grandma loved these people so much! It was that love that was able to lead many lives to the foot of the cross and to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. They knew that if they would just shower the people of Liberia with agape love that God would take care of the rest.

Grandma and Grandpa were no ordinary missionaries.  Sometimes missionaries go and build for themselves a comfortable house. Yes, while that house may not be equivalent to our American standards, they usually end up living like kings as compared to those around them in their third world environment. However, Grandma and Grandpa did not do this. They built themselves a thatch hut. Yes, you read correctly! They lived in a hut with dirt floors, cooked over a fire, ate the types of food the natives were eating and basically became like one of them. Paul says, "I become all things to all men that I might win some." (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) Well, Grandma and Grandpa took this portion of scripture literally. They became Librarian in order to win some Liberians. They did not try to make Americans out of them. They made themselves Liberians to make disciples out of them. What a different mindset. If we want to win souls, which by the way is what we are called to do, then we must be willing to make some adjustments in how we approach the sinner. We are not called to change them. We are called to show them the agape love of Christ so that Christ can change them. This is how true disciples are made. I have said it before and I will say it again. We do not have the ability to change the human heart. The only one who can do that is God Himself. If we go into ministry like a bull in a china cabinet, then all we will reap is broken people. But if we go into ministry with the agape love of Christ, then we will reap a harvest because the Lord will do the work.

As their ministry continued in Liberia they, along with a team of missionaries began to build a mission community, complete with a church, a school, a clinic, a boys and girls dormitory and houses for the various missionaries and leaders. They taught the Liberians trades so they could earn a living. They taught carpentry, mechanics, electrical, plumbing, farming and so much more. So their days of living in a thatched house eventually did end, but it didn't just end for them, it ended for many of the Liberians whom came under the wing of the school and developed the skills to build their own houses. We had the opportunity to stay on the mission grounds that was once the home of these sacrificing missionaries of years past. But instead of the beautiful facilities that were still standing when the missionaries left, it has encountered much destruction from the wars. The people do not have the funds to even begin to think about rebuilding. They truly are just trying to survive each day. The school, church, and clinic are still functioning, but it is nowhere close to thriving or even remotely close to the degree that it once did. The mission pretty much relies on money from nonprofits and outside organizations to keep things running. Without outside help, it would be non-existent. This was so heartbreaking for us to go and see the devastation that civil war can bring to a nation and the impact it can leave behind for years after its end.

I had always heard the heart for Liberia through the stories told by my husband's grandparents, his aunts and his father who had spent their childhood years living with these beautiful people, but to be honest, I never really truly understood their passion. But having been there, meeting the people whose lives were forever touched by the hand of Christ because of the sacrifices that were made by the missionaries that gave up their American comforts to live among these people, I get it now! I totally and completely understand why their hearts were so enamored by these people. My heart has been forever changed by the things my eyes have seen and the things my ears have heard. The hearts of the Liberians are just so sweet. I only wish I had spent more time at the feet of my husband's grandparents gleaning every piece of wisdom from their 27 years of first-hand experience as missionaries. This now is no longer possible since both of these precious saints have gone home to be with our Heavenly Father. We are now praying for wisdom that the Lord will open up our eyes and ears to the things he wants us to do with and for the people in Liberia. I pray that many hearts will be forever changed for the glory of God!

We were flabbergasted by the number of people who came up to us with tears, weeping, whaling, and even screaming with excitement because they were not forgotten by the missionaries. It did not seem to matter where we were either. We had people approach us in the middle of the bush, and in the cities, out in the middle of nowhere and in little villages. They seemed to appear out of the woodwork when they heard we were the grandchildren “Ma and Pa” as the Liberians called them. The precious stories that these people shared with us of the sacrifices that Grandma and Grandpa made impacted their lives so deeply. Their lives were never the same, and neither will ours. Our hearts were so deeply touched by the sacrificial love that was shown these precious people.  It was such a challenge to my spirit. It got me thinking about my impact in the kingdom. What am I doing to impact others for eternity? What it all boils down to is this...what is done for the kingdom will last, everything else will have no impact on eternity and truly means nothing. It truly opened up my eyes in a greater measure to the urgency that has been placed before us to impact others for eternity.

For more about Liberia read Liberia Trip Part 1 and Liberia Trip Part 2.

Lord, please soften our hearts. Give us hearts of compassion for the lost and hurting. There are so many around us that need your agape love to deliver them from the hurt and bondage that they find themselves in. Help us to know what agape love looks like, sounds like and feels like so that we can be a vessel full and overflowing with it for those around us. Help us to remember that we are called to be missionaries! We do not have to travel overseas or to another country to share the agape love that you have poured into us. We can share agape love to our next door neighbors, to our co-workers, our friends, and our family members.  Fill us with your boldness Lord, that we do not shrink back when we see the hurting hearts of others around us.

The Father's Heart

Our Heavenly Father’s heart is filled up with so many truly amazing and wonderful things. I sometimes find myself wondering why it is that He desires so deeply to pass those things on to us. Yet in His infinite wisdom He so liberally shares of His heart. This is the beauty of our Heavenly Father. His deepest desire is for us to grow, to prosper and to expand His kingdom. Our Lord is not stingy. He does not withhold from us the things we need to know to further His kingdom. Since this is our Father’s heart for us then shouldn’t we have that same desire for those who come behind us? Shouldn’t we desire to train others up in kingdom living? Shouldn't it be our heart’s desire to train others in kingdom expansion?

As I find myself asking these questions I also have to ask, “Am I preparing the next generation to take over for me when I’m gone?” How about you? Are you training up anyone to take over for you?  It is so important that we have the type of heart that is preparing the next generation to take our place. Far too often in our competitive, capitalistic society we keep the next generation at arms length rather than training them to know everything we know in hopes that they will exceed us and do a far better job than we ever could. We push our young people aside just so we ourselves can get ahead, and for what? We can not take our jobs, houses, money, cars, or even the physical things we did here on earth to further the kingdom with us. All of those things we leave behind for the next generation to carry on. Rather than leaving them to fend for themselves, we should be training them up to take over the family business. What is the family business you ask? The family business is simply “kingdom expansion.” Are we training others to expand the kingdom? Are we training the next generation of believers to grow the kingdom or are we carrying this load all on our own?

When I look at fathers in the Bible who trained up their children in the family business Paul is my most favorite example. Now, as far as I know Paul did not have any natural children of his own, but that does not mean he did not raise up others to take over the family business once he left this earth. Paul poured into so many lives during his ministry, but the one life Paul poured into which stands out for me, is Timothy. Paul didn’t simply look after Timothy. Paul made opportunities for Timothy to grow, practice, and live out the very things he himself was doing. Paul gave Timothy a chance to see what Paul did, do what Paul did, and put into practice what Paul was doing both right along side Paul, as well as sending Timothy out to practice on his own without Paul being physically present. (To read more on this concept click here.) Paul knew and understood the importance of training up the next generation in kingdom expansion.

“If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then should refuse to accept him. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.” 1 Corinthians 16:10-11

I love that Paul trusted Timothy enough to send him out on various missions. Paul trusted the time and energy he had invested into the heart of Timothy. Paul trusted the fruit that Timothy was producing and therefore had no problem with sending him out to carry on the family business. It is so important that we invest deeply in the lives of other believers so that they will carry on the torch of spreading the gospel. We can not carry the gospel to the ends of the earth on our own. We need others to help carry the load. God has designed His kingdom for us to pass along to others the things we have learned. The wisdom that has been imparted to our hearts is not meant for us to hoard away in the recesses of our hearts and minds. The wisdom that God has given us has been placed in our possession for the short time it takes for us to grow from it and then it is our responsibility to pass it along to the next person or people who are in need of that very slice of wisdom that has enabled us to overcome our obstacles. God’s kingdom is designed around the principle that “freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8).

Paul also made certain that others understood that Timothy was carrying on the work of the Lord just as Paul himself was doing. Paul spelled it out in black and white that they were to receive Timothy as if they were receiving Paul himself. How many of us as parents would want others to accept our children in the same way they would accept us? If I poured out my heart soul, mind and strength into the spiritual upbringing that Paul poured into Timothy, you better believe I would want people treating them with a certain level of respect. So, that is exactly what Paul was doing. He was telling the Corinthian church “Hey look, I have trained this young man up myself and I have full confidence in him. So, because I have complete confidence in his ability I would like you to treat him with the utmost respect. He has my personal stamp of approval upon him. If you do not accept him as you would me, I will come and deal with you directly!” Paul meant business and rightfully so. If we spent the amount of time and energy pouring into Timothy that Paul did we would react the same way. I’d like to think that as Paul was sending Timothy out, he was having a “proud daddy” moment. He was probably so proud of the man that Timothy was becoming that he just could not wait to watch Timothy get his wings under him and start to soar. Paul was launching Timothy into the tremendous responsibilities of ministry and he was excited and proud to have the privilege of doing so.

This is exactly how we should be with other believers. We should be so excited about their moments of soaring. We should be proud of them for stepping out in faith and going about the Father’s business. Like Paul, we should want to bring others up in the family business and watch them bloom. God desires for us to encourage and strengthen one another in this way, to hold up each other’s hands and fight the good fight of faith together. We can not do it on our own. We must be willing to adopt the Father’s heart and bring others along with us, while at the same time allowing others to bring us along side them. We can learn and grow from one another.

Lord, help us to have your heart for others. Help us to shower upon others the gifts that we have so freely received. Help us not to hide away the lessons we have learned on our walk with you. Show us what it looks like to teach one another with all wisdom (Colossians 3:16). Keep us from wanting to make advancements in the kingdom on our own, but rather bring others along with us so we can learn from them and we can aid in raising them up. We need help from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Keep our hearts from getting a superiority complex because we know that there is no room for a proud spirit in your kingdom. Thank you for the example of Paul who so diligently raised up others in kingdom living. Give us the kind of faith that expands the kingdom like never before. In Jesus precious name. Amen.

A Change In Routine

Have you ever been doing something one way for so long and then all of the sudden realized that you were missing out on some important things all because you had locked yourself into a simple routine? A while back I had an “aha” moment  about our children’s devotional time. We had been doing things one way for so long that I never thought about there even being a need to change anything. In today’s post, I would like to share with you this change we made in our household and what this change has meant for us as a family.

Change in routine

As I have shared with you in the past, we home school our three children. We have always been faithful about having a time of family devotions each morning, especially during the school months, but we have not been as diligent at translating that need for our children to foster their own personal devotional time with the Lord. So, this year we have been very purposeful in scheduling time for our children to have their own time to read their Bibles each day. We have been faithfully using the “Our Daily Bread” for our morning devotional time for years. This devotional has a special place in our hearts because it is the same devotional that my husband's grandparents used with their children and grandchildren and so we find if very befitting to carry on this precious tradition. However, lately we have found ourselves veering off the routine of simply reading the given scriptures and the short story provided with each daily devotional. The change in our devotional structure has to do with our decision to set time aside for our children to read their Bibles on their own. Let me explain. In each “Our Daily Bread” devotional there is a section that says “Bible in a year. “ They have broken down the Bible into small chunks of reading each day to make it easy to read through the entire Bible in one year provided that you remain faithful each day. They usually give you about three or four chapters each day and sometimes if the chapters are long they will break it apart into smaller portions. Several months ago I realized that this section was part of our devotional each day. My husband and I discussed the idea of having the children read through the Bible this year, partly for school, and partly because we wanted to foster independent devotional time.

A pleasant surprise

So on the first day of school we did our devotional time like normal and I assigned their first three chapters. I shared with them why we were making these changes. I told them that when we came back the next morning I wanted them to share at least one thing they learned, found interesting, or they liked about those three chapters. I released them to their assignment and was blown away the next morning by what happened. I had been a little concerned that my seven year old would find the reading too difficult or too long, but the complete opposite happened. She excitedly read the three chapters on her own and came to devotional time with so many new and interesting things to share about what the Word of God was teaching her little heart. I have to tell you it made my heart just melt to hear my children talking about the Word of God as if they were having an adult discussion. They were sharing verses that spoke to their spirit like they had been doing it for years. And to think I had been worried that they wouldn’t understand what they were reading, or that it would be like pulling teeth to get them to read. I have found that they are genuinely excited, and months later, they still continue to be diligent about reading. Most of the time I don’t even have to remind them to get it done. I simply write down the chapters on our whiteboard in the morning and they have no trouble getting it done.

One side note that I think you all should know is that when we invested in our children’s first full sized Bibles we specifically sought out a version that would be easier for them to read and understand on their own. Each of my children have their own copy of an “International Children’s Bible.” This particular version is published by Tommy Nelson, a common household name in Christian children’s ministries. We encourage our children to write notes, underline and highlight anything that speaks to them right in their Bibles. We want their interactions with their children’s Bible to be similar to the interactions we as parents have with our own Bibles each morning. We wanted them to explore God’s word for themselves. The “International Children’s Bible” simplifies the reading but doesn’t water the word of God down. Please note, that as I am sharing this product with you all, I am in no way affiliated with these companies. They don’t even know I exist and I surely don’t mind keeping it that way. My blog is not here to become a marketing scheme. The links to these sights are merely there for your reference. My only intentions is for you all to know what we personally use and how helpful we have found this resource to be for our children. (Sorry for the short rant but I just want to make that clear.) At some point we will graduate them to a different version, but for now we are enjoying the fact that they are writing God’s word on their little hearts and understanding it!  

Our devotional time

I can not stress enough the importance of getting into the word of God on a daily bases! I know for me personally, I need that alone time with the Lord so desperately and when I don’t get it, it throws my whole day into a tailspin. I get short tempered, easily agitated, and my peace seems to be non existent. Let’s be real here, sometimes I can get that way even when I have had my time with the Lord in the morning, but it somehow seems to rear it’s ugly head faster and with more fervency when I don’t. I’m no saint here! The Lord’s still working on me!  I can only figure that if I need the quiet time with the Lord just to keep my day balanced, how much more do our children need to learn at a young age the importance of having their quiet time with the Lord? Moreover, God longs to have intimate time with each one of us. What kind of a best friend would we be if ignore our friend, never call, or text and never want to spend any time with them. God is the same way. He desires for us to spend time with Him, to know Him on a heart to heart level. And this always starts with spending time in His word!

This is the basis for our family making the decision to read through the Bible this year. It gives my children direction in their devotional time and because we are all doing it together we have set up a platform of accountability one to another. Let’s be real, we can all use a network of accountability. It is so much easier to do things when you know someone else doing it right alongside you. Think about how much easier it is to go to the gym when you are meeting a friend there as opposed to just going by yourself. We can easily make excuses when no one is relying on us to show up, but when someone is counting on us being there it’s a whole lot harder to come up with excuses. If you are having difficulty with your daily devotional time may I suggest to you get find an accountability partner, someone who is willing to talk with you every day about what you have been reading and learning, someone who is willing to share with you the things that the Lord has been teaching their heart. This person could be your spouse, your best friend, someone from your church like a Sunday school teacher or classmate, an elder or deacon, it could be a parent or sibling, or even a neighbor. Spend some time praying about whom the Lord would desire for you to partner with in this venture. I do realize this can be a vulnerable position to be in, but it is well worth your effort to get yourself established in the word of God! Finding such a person will be such a valuable investment in your spiritual journey!

Lord, I pray that as each of us tries to establish a daily routine of delving into your word. Guide and direct each of us to the people who will encourage us in our walk. Direct us to those who will be willing to hold up our hands when we are feeling weak and vulnerable in this area. I thank you that you that you desire to spend time with each of us. I thank you that you long to know us intimately. Help us to dive into your word so that we can get to know your heart deeply and intimately. In Jesus precious name, Amen.