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.

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.

Liberia Trip Part 2

Trying to share the extent of our trip in one post is about impossible so this week's post will be a continuation from where we left off of part 1 of our Liberia trip.

Along with crossing a scary truck collapsed bridge we also found ourselves trekking through swamps, rivers and even crossing over a “monkey bridge” to visit one of the churches. The "monkey bridge" is nothing more than a long jungle gym of logs and sticks that spans the width of an entire river. The “monkey bridge” trip is done by a pastor every weekend for Sunday services. This is a two-hour walk for him from the mission and believe me when I say Liberians don’t mess around when they are going somewhere. I had trouble keeping up! When we took this particular trip we were met on the trail by a woman who knew my husband's grandparents. When she found out who we were, she literally shrieked and wailed with tears of joy. It was such an emotional moment I cried for about ten minutes after we left the woman. Oh, the heritage of Christ! What a beautiful thing it is!

"Monkey Bridge", swamps and rivers we crossed getting to one of the interior churches.

Another big part of our trip to the mission revolved around the school. My husband and I both have our teaching certifications. So because of our backgrounds and experience in education we spent some time doing a teacher training for the mission school teachers. Most of the teachers we were working with had no formal education beyond high school, and some had not even graduated high school. Their education system is extremely rote and completely different than the way our American teachers are trained to teach children. We were so blessed to see their desire to want to learn new ways to effectively educate their students. We are praying that the Lord opens more doors to be able to bring further teacher training to Liberia.  

Presentation of various teaching strategies at the training.

Yet another adventurous part of our trip was the food. I have to say, I truly do like Liberian food, but there was for sure some stretching going on in this department as well. Their cooking takes place outside over a fire in an outdoor kitchen. We ate village chicken, which by the way, is not at all like our American chicken, lots of rice, plantain, fish, snail, crawl fish, collard greens, pineapple, cucumber, and a couple things that we were not sure exactly what they were. We ate what was placed before us because we knew that much love and hard work went into the preparation of our meals and we in no way wanted to disrespect that! We truly were blessed beyond measure as far as the food went.

We ate this bush snail and these crawl fish.

The first half of our trip to the interior was both a blessing to our spirits and humbling to our hearts all at the same time. We were so encouraged and moved to see the Liberians that the missionaries sowed seeds into years ago are still serving the Lord with every ounce of their being. On the same token, it humbled our hearts because we have also seen that the needs are so great! We truly found ourselves laying things at the feet of Jesus because we realized that we do not have enough resources at our human disposal to meet the vast quantity of needs we saw during our stay. The needs are so enormous that the only thing we can do is to rely on God to be the provider. Otherwise, we would walk away shaking our heads and throwing our hands up in discouragement. If we did not hand over our burdened hearts for these people to the Lord we would end up drowning in the overwhelming sense that we are in fact inadequate to begin making an impact on the endless needs set before our eyes. Everywhere we turned, every place we looked, every person we met, there were major needs.

The second half of our trip was not as adventurous, but just as important to accomplish what God had called us to do. We spent time with the Liberian national church leadership as well as the American national church leadership. We spent some time viewing churches in the various towns closer to the major cities. We were able to get a clearer picture of how the Liberians operate, and they, in turn, they got a better understanding of the role that the American side can play in supporting them.

God desires to come back for a united body. He desires that we work and function in a capacity that accurately portrays the love of Christ in all we do in and for the body of Christ. And sometimes that requires us to sit down and get a clear understanding of how we can best support one another’s needs with the resources that we each have. God desires for us to come together, not to push one another away. It is our hope and prayer that as we continue our work in Liberia that we can continue to unify the body of Christ and portray His love accurately.

See Liberia Trip Part 1 and for more details from our trip.

Father, I thank you for opening my eyes to the needs of others. I pray that as I share these stories with others, that their hearts are pricked to reach out to those in need. Lord, I thank you that we do not have to travel overseas to be missionaries. We can be missionaries in our own backyards, in our work places, at our schools, at our local parks, and at our grocery stores. Let your love be evident in our lives no matter where we go. Let your love flow out of us and penetrate others around us. Help us to be everyday missionaries for your kingdom. In the precious name of Jesus Christ.

The Calling

We have been here in Liberia for seven months. I realize I have practically abandoned my blog in the last seven months, but I did not expect to be hit in the face with the adversities of just trying to survive life. I never would have expected that things like preparing meals, doing laundry, dishes, shopping for food, getting water (because we have no running water), and cleaning absolutely everything (especially during dry season when the dust is insane) would take up the majority of our time most days. In the states most of these things are done with machines and take a fraction of the time they do here. Just living is a full time job here!

Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world! After living here I can honestly say they have surpassed the third world status. Liberia is truly a fourth world country! Their infrastructure was destroyed by 24 years of civil wars and coos. And today, 15 years after the war’s end, they are still struggling immensely! Living here is almost like living 80 years ago, with one exception, cell phones. Many Liberians have cell phones, and often at the expense of buying food for their families. We personally know Liberians who virtually starved their family just so they could purchase a smartphone. That may sound ludicrous to you and I, but there is a rational to why they made that choice. It was done so they could make connections with people outside of their Liberian circle. For one individual family that we know of, it paid off. That is how we met one of our Liberian pastors! No joke! My husband connected with him over Facebook. This pastor is in charge of a large compound and school. By virtually starving his family, he changed the course of life for not only his family, but for the many families that live on the compound and attend the school. Desperate times call for desperate measures. But not all Liberians think this radically. Most Liberians settle for surviving one day at a time and not planning for tomorrow. They eat the very seed that they should be planting to harvest a crop for future meals. Many say “why starve today when there is seed to eat?” It takes radical thinkers and those who are willing to put hope in tomorrow to reach outside the here and now and invest into a tomorrow that may never come. Here in the fourth world, tomorrow is truly just wishful thinking. They don’t plan for tomorrow because they might not survive the hardships of today.

This way of life is so unimaginable to most westerners. We have never had to decide between today’s meal and a chance to survive tomorrow. We can’t understand, we have never felt that degree of poverty. For many of us, we have never even seen it, other than the occasional commercials and pictures we see on television. But even, that is not truly tangible to us. It’s nothing we have touched or seen in flesh and blood. It’s easy to walk away from the scene we see on television, but let me tell you, it’s far more difficult to walk away from the flesh and bones standing right in front of you with eyes of desperation piercing your heart. Everywhere we go there are needs, real, evident, legit needs! We are continually bombarded with people asking for help with this need and help with that need. It’s overwhelming. Before coming to this country I had a family member, who had been a missionary in Africa for 52 years tell me “you really need to know why you are called there, because if you don’t the needs of people will distract you from your calling.” Oh boy, is that ever true! If we tried to help every person who came up to us and asked for help we would miss the reason we are here completely. We would find ourselves frustrated and discouraged. Please don’t get me wrong. We do not go around refusing to help people who ask, but we have learned to ask “Lord who would you have us help.” And yes, at times that means saying no to the voices who are asking for help. Sounds cruel right? Well, let’s take a look at Jesus shall we.

There were times even Jesus could not help people, not because He did not want to, but because the circumstances did not allow Him to act. Matthew 13:58 says “And he did not do any miracles there because of their lack of faith.” If the people of Nazareth (Jesus’ hometown) would have believed and had faith, Jesus could have helped, but their lack of faith kept Jesus from helping. Jesus also said in John 5:19 ...“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus did nothing without hearing from the Father first. If he did not hear, he did not act, or speak.

We truly believe there is a specific reason we are called to Liberia. The longer we are here the more clearly we are understanding that calling. Now as people come asking for help, we are more inclined to run it through the filter of our calling. If it lines up with our purpose, we feel more freedom to help. If it doesn’t line up at all, we do not act. This has given us great peace about when to help and when not to help. It’s not that we don’t care and love those we don’t help, on the contrary, we truly do, but we can only do what God has called us to do, anything that does not line up with that calling is nothing more than a distraction. This has been a hard lesson to learn, and one that we still fail at from time to time, but we are thankful that the Lord is a tuning our ear to his voice in this time.

The saying goes, “give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” We are learning to walk the line of giving verses teaching. We desire to see the Liberians not only learn the art of “fishing”, but to have those Liberians teach other Liberians to “fish” as well. In other words. We desire to see Liberians become self sufficient and reproductive. We want them to pass along the knowledge and skills that they have learned from us to others. We have known from the very beginning that we wanted to work our way out of a job. We want the Liberians to not need us anymore because they have the skills they need to be successful. We realize that this is an investment of much time and many years, but that is part of the calling.

For more posts on this subject of calling please click here.

Lord, it has been a challenging road here in Liberia, but one we know that you have called our family to. Father, I pray that each one who reads this post will search out their calling in the kingdom and walk it out with boldness and confidence. Thank you for knowing the plans and purposes for each one of us (Jeremiah 29:11). Let us not grow weary in searching those plans out. Jesus, let your will be done in our lives, and in the lives of our family for your honor and your glory. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.  

Prayer

Our trip to Liberia was filled with impromptu prayer sessions. We prayed for a lame man, a blind man, we prayed for parents, children, leaders, teachers, and families. With our experience in Liberia, we found that there was never a bad time to pray. We would be visiting a church, and the next thing we knew the church members had gathered around and we were laying their needs at the feet of Jesus Christ. These moments truly were powerful experiences. This is something I feel like we don’t take advantage of near enough of here in the States. The Librarians seem to have come to a place of realizing that it’s either God or death. There is no other choice for them. Here in the United States we have packed away a nest egg for emergencies and extra food in the pantry for when the next storm hits. We don’t really have a reason to rely on God like those who have nothing. When we get sick we have the ease of mind of knowing that help is just a phone call away, or a short trip to the doctor’s office. In the third world, if there is a doctor even available they are fortunate! Most of the time the doctor is not even an option and for many of them even if the doctor was available, they would never be able to begin to pay any of the bills from their visit. So, the only hope that they have is in the Lord! Here in the States we have a tendency to rely so heavily on ourselves that we can push God right out of the picture. For many of us, we are not in a position where we have no other options left. We are not desperate enough. This is so disheartening because the Lord desires for us to long for Him, to need Him and to desire Him to move in our lives!

God has given us so much and yet we can have a tendency do so little. In Liberia, we saw people with so little doing so much for the Lord. It truly humbled our hearts to know that out of their nothingness God was moving among them! We heard stories of God’s supernatural healing, provision and moving flowing from the testimonies of their lips. They were so thankful and grateful to the Lord for moving on their behalf. This is entirely different than here in the States. When we see God move we can be quick to justify it away because our medicine is advanced, funds are usually available and we have friends with influence. We rob God of the joy of even trying to move supernaturally in our lives because we are too busy taking care of the situation ourselves instead of relying on God to move on our behalf. And when we are faced with a situation that we have no other choice but the Lord, we approach God in a prayer mixed with doubt. We come to the Lord hoping that he will move on our behalf rather than believing by faith that He will! Oh we of little faith! I share this because I too am guilty of allowing doubt to rob God of the ability to move. Scripture is very clear about what we can expect from the Lord when we mix doubt with our prayers:

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” James 1:6-8

God is not a liar

We should not pray Lord, “if” but rather Lord, “your word says…” We need to hold God to His word! The Lord is an unchanging God and what He says He will do, HE WILL DO! God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He does not say one thing and do the complete opposite. So why do we pray as if He is a liar? Why are our prayers riddled with seeds of doubtful thinking, wishful thinking, and hopeful thinking? Why do we have such little faith? Is it because the miracles that we read about in scripture have not transpired before our very eyes? Is it because we have not actually prayed for a lame person and saw them get up and walk with our very own eyes? Let’s just be real here for a moment shall we? Jesus walked with the 12 disciples and made the lame walk, the mute talk and the blind see right before their eyes and yet they still doubted. So what makes us think our minds will change by seeing these things transpire in front of our own eyes when the 12 lived it everyday and yet still doubted? Our faith does not come from seeing. Our faith comes from hearing.

Faith comes by hearing

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17

When we hear the word of God, not just with our physical ears, because we all know that things can go in one ear and out the other, but with our spiritual ears then faith is truly imparted! May I be so bold as to say that when we pray with doubt it is because we are lacking faith. We are lacking the faith that comes from hearing the word of God with our spiritual ears. In other words, if we truly had faith, we would have no problem praying for the lame, mute, deaf and blind. It’s when we hesitate that we can truly see our level of faith. Sobering isn’t it! I have to admit, I have shied away from many moments of prayer because the voice of doubt was greater than the voice of faith.

Let me give you an example of how bad that voice of doubt has influenced my prayers or stopped me from praying altogether. When we were in Liberia I met a man who had survived a stroke, just like I had. The difference was that his stroke had left some very apparent outward evidences where mine had not. You would think I would have been gung-ho about the opportunity to pray for someone whose shoes I have walked in and understand oh so well. But instead of jumping at the opportunity, I let fear and doubt be my companion in this situation. The fear and doubt flooded my mind as I thought, “look how much worse off he is than you were. God may have been able to heal you, but he certainly can’t heal this man.” At this I should have looked fear and doubt right in the face and reminded them both of the fact that just a few short years ago I was just like him and no different! I should have shouted at my fear that if God can do this for me surely, He can do this for someone else! The Lord is no respecter of persons! (Acts 10:34 and Romans 2:11) But instead of building myself up with faith I simply let fear and doubt have their way that day and to this day am kicking myself for not taking the opportunity that was placed before me.

Our prayers truly have the power to open the floodgates of heaven. We do not need to see physical evidence of God’s power to have faith. Our faith does not come from physical evidence, our faith comes from hearing the word with our spiritual ears. So, let’s open our spiritual ears so that we do not miss out on hearing the word. This may mean we need to close our natural eyes for a little while and forget about what we see going on around us. Seeing is not believing. Hearing is believing.

For more on how God answers prayers and is still working miracles see: "Miracle Working God."

Lord, we  can be so full of doubt sometimes. Help us to be hearers of your word in such a way that it builds in us a faith that destroys all doubt and fear. Help us to rehearse the promises found in your word so that in those moments of prayer we will know how to pray because we are able to pray out your promises. We know fear and doubt is not from you. We know that the enemy is trying to keep us from praying for others by filling us with thoughts of doubt. Fill us with your spirit in those moments that we can overcome the enemy and pray for those who need a touch of your spirit. Help us not to shy away from those situations that seem impossible. We know that nothing is impossible with you! We pray this in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Renovation

Building and renovation projects can be a time consuming investment. Some of us would just rather avoid them altogether and others of us jump in with both feet, but by the time we are in up to our necks we look around and wonder what we were thinking. I have recently been through a somewhat small “renovation” project in our home in Liberia. I put renovation in parentheses because it was never meant to be something that needed to be redone in the first place. However, if there is one thing we have learned about Liberia it is this, things rarely get done right the first time. So, be on your guard when they actually are done “right.” Please don’t misunderstand me here. I am by no means trying to criticize the Liberian culture. It’s just that when you receive education by an uneducated culture the results of that education are surely going to bring about it’s fair share of problems. And this is exactly what we are seeing in the country of Liberia. They are caught in a vicious cycle of poor education. So, upon graduation from college or even their trade schools, the understanding of their skill is limited. The best part about this, is that as missionaries we have such a wide open field to plow, plant and one day harvest. It’s very exciting to us.

Back to my original topic of renovation.  As I spent time the Lord this morning, I realized just how much our faith journey is like a renovation project.  When we are in the throws of a renovation project sometimes we have a hard time making heads or tails of the mess that is being made. If you are dealing with an older home, you may find that you start your renovation project only to find seven other things that need fixed along the way. Isn’t that kind of like how our faith journey can go sometimes? We can’t see the vision for the finished product because we are too busy seeing the mess, or as we walk through the one thing the Lord has us working on fixing and then it feels like seven other things crop in there that need adjusting too.  I frequently find myself telling God that I can’t find Him because I’m too busy looking at the messiness of my life and I just feel overwhelmed by how much fixing really needs done. 

It’s funny how short sighted and impatient we can become with the process. God is not in a hurry with this renovation project of our faith. In fact, the slower He takes us, the more gentle the other fixes will seem to us if we embrace God’s speed at the project. In that same vein, the slower He takes us, the more detailed He can become, in other words, the more like Him He has the ability to make us. This makes me wonder why I am in such a hurry to get through this renovation of my faith. The more I rush Him the less detail He is able to add. What a loving Heavenly Father we have, He knows what He is doing.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

In the times of renovation in our faith journey we are called to fix, or focus our eyes on Jesus, to not get distracted by the mess that is all around us right now. Why? Because He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is renovating our faith into something better and more beautiful than it was before, something that will be unrecognizable, if we only allow Him to work in His timing and at His pace.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

Isn’t it comforting to know that Christ is working on us to create something special. He has a unique and especially chosen plan for your life. Ephesians 2 calls these plans “good works.” I just love the fact that God is handcrafting me, and He is handcrafting you as well! He sees the end result even when all we can see is chaos. It helps me to be less anxious about where my faith renovation is going to know that God has a clear vision and He never misses even the smallest detail.

Father, I thank you that among the mess of this faith renovation you are in the process of creating something beautiful. No matter how messy this thing gets, the end result will be well worth every change we need to make in the process. How humbling it is to know that you are the author and perfecter of this renovation project, a project that you promise to bring to completion in your perfect timing. Help us to step back and allow you to take out the things that should not be in our temples and allow you to add the things that should. Make us more like you each and every day. In your precious name we pray.

Provision In Obedience

“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” Matthew 4:18-22 (emphasis mine)

This portion of scripture clearly shows an unadulterated faith and obedience in Jesus Christ. These men recognized instantly the power and authority that was upon Him and did not hesitate to lay aside the things of this life to follow. Jesus had just begun His ministry and I am sure these men had heard from John the Baptist, but it is quite possible that this is the very first time that they had actually laid eyes on Him. Can you imagine leaving everything you have ever known to go with someone you have just met? I’m sure they had great anticipation of His coming since John the Baptist had relentlessly paved the way for His coming. I can only assume that they did not feel that they were meeting a stranger but a long-awaited friend and in the moment when their eyes locked they did not question His words. Jesus said come and they left the security of their jobs and families and without hesitation and followed.

As I have shared with you all a previous post our family has undergone a similar experience. We have left a secure job, our home, and everything we knew to be our “security” and followed. But can I just say this, when He calls and you go, your needs will always be taken care of. There will always be provision when we move in obedience! We have spent the last 3 months on the road raising funds for Liberia, West Africa and we are gearing up for another 3 months before we can leave for Liberia. We continue to pray that the funds come in to not only get us on the ground but to keep us there so we can do the things God has laid in our hearts to do. We are learning that our God is not limited in the slightest. He is also very creative in his ways of provision. When a family of five lives on the road for three months you can better believe that this is not cheap! But We watched the Lord use people in amazing ways to meet needs that we were not even expecting or asking for! Just as it says in Ephesians “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20. There were so many times we did not even ask or think about God providing in the ways that He did, but to this day He continues to astound us in His creative abilities the ways He provides for His children.

Examples

When traveling on the road we often found ourselves eating fast food. And let me tell you, this gets old quick! One of our go-to places to alleviate the greased down feeling that most fast food joints leave you feeling with is Subway. It is a much healthier option when you're in need of something quick. Like usual, we were standing in line conversing with the other customers. We often get asked why our kids are “out of school.” Well, since they are homeschooled this is an easy segway into what we are doing as a family. We get through the line and ready to pay and the cashier tells me that my bill has been taken care of. I almost cried! Here we were a family of five minding our own business and someone was willing to bless us with a meal. I looked around and caught eyes with the lady standing behind me in line and realized she had taken care of our meal. With tears in my eyes, I thanked her. My children quickly followed suit. We were completely blown away by God’s hand in it all.

While we are on the road we live out of a travel trailer. It is a tight squeeze, but it’s home and that thought seems to alleviate some of the discomforts of the close quarters. When you live in a travel trailer full time it is bound to have both the normal wear and tear of the road plus the general maintenance that any travel trailer is going to need. So when our initial three months was done we took it to an RV shop and told them everything we needed to be done. We had mentioned that we were paying about $50 a month to store it in a storage unit and he told us that we could store it at his shop for $30 a month. He stores a number of other trailers and RVs and that it would not be a problem. This was great news! Any way we could cut costs is always helpful! We also had the opportunity to share what we are doing as a family and upon hearing his, the owner of the RV shop got so excited. He had just started going to church about a year ago. So, it was very evident he was still a very new and eager Christian, such a refreshing thing to see! He talked about his wife and how faithful she had been over the years with church and now he had finally decided to join her and does not regret it one bit. He was so moved by our story he actually called up his wife while we were standing there. He shared with her that he offered to store our trailer for us, but he said: “we can’t charge them for that can we?” To which his wife quickly replied, “No we can’t.” So, now we have a safe place to store our trailer free of charge! Praise the Lord! After getting off the phone with his wife he told us he would take a look at our trailer, let us know if there was anything else that needed to be taken care of and give us a total cost before he did any work. We didn’t want to end up with a huge bill and wonder how we were going to juggle paying for it when it came.

About a week went by and we hadn’t heard from the RV shop and we were getting a little worried. When the phone call did come the RV shop owner ran down through the extensive list of work he had done to the trailer. This made my husband extremely anxious because we had specifically asked to have an estimate before the work was done. As the owner finished out the laundry list of items he concluded with this… “And your total comes to a whopping ZERO!” My husband was speechless. The RV shop owner had taken care of all of the things we needed to be fixed on the trailer plus did some things that we hadn’t expected all because he wanted us to be safe on the road! Wow! If that is not the hand of God, I don’t know what is. The total was over $800.00 but the bill said paid in full! It still makes me cry as I share this story with you all. Our God is so awesome! “...He will never let the righteous fall.” Psalm 55:22 (NLT)

When we were on the road time and time again we had people who give directly to our family rather than through the organization we are with so that they could help with food and gas. It truly was amazing to watch God’s hand of provision rise up. There was never a need that did not go unmet. We never lacked for a single thing. This is when you can be certain that you have heard the voice of the Lord correctly because “my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Heavenly Father, I thank you that you meet all of our needs according to your riches in glory. I thank you that when you ask us to follow you that you will always provide for us, you are never going to let the righteous fall or your seed begging for bread. Thank you for taking care of us in the calling. Your hand is never too short! Our needs are always taken care of, even those needs we did not see coming or were not asking for, you have already provided a way for. Thank you! Help us to hear your voice when you call and not to question, but to follow without hesitation just like Simon, Andrew, James, and John. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus.

Under Attack

We recently sent out a newsletter to our friends and family updating them on everything going on with our family and Liberia. In that newsletter, there was a quote by an unknown author that reads:

“Faith can move mountains, but don’t be surprised when 

God puts a shovel in your hands!”

We all will face mountains in our lives, some small, some big, and some astronomical. Whatever the case, we are never ill-equipped for those mountains, even though, at times, it may feel as if we are. The mountains in our lives are no surprise to the Lord. He knew they were coming. He has the tools we need to conquer those mountains. The Lord equips us with everything we need to face our mountains.  

As you know, my family has been called to the mission field of Liberia, West Africa. We have spent the last year traveling the United States raising funds and I am excited to announce that in one short month from now we will depart for this sweet country. As we have been diligently packing bags and applying for visas, satan has been setting siege to our family. My extended family has undergone a flood of attacks some of which include heart attacks, car accidents, dog bites and our most recent news a diagnosis of muscular sclerosis (MS). Part of me is outraged, the other part of me just has to chuckle because the attacks only mean one thing, we have satan so upset and in such a state of panic that he has no other choice but to throw a temper tantrum. Please don’t get me wrong, I am in no way happy that my family is under heavy attacks from the enemy. But I am reminded of the words of Paul: 

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And perseverance must  finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

I can either choose to ignore this passage and get angry and bitter, or I can stand on the word of God and know that coming out the other side of these things, my family and I will not be lacking anything. I much prefer standing on the fact that we will be made mature and complete and not be lacking a single solitary thing.  

As I have been praying about all these situations, I asked the Lord “why?” (Yes, I know, faith is the crucifixion of the question why, but I believe that sometimes a heart can ask this question in a truly honoring way.) The response I got back was “in order for your faith to grow.” If the Lord simply takes away the attacks before we have to walk through the trial, what have we gained, how has our faith grown? I am a firm believer that the Lord will put a shovel in our hands in order to not only move the mountain but to build our faith in the process. 

Quite a while ago I read a devotional from “Our Daily Bread” that talked about a man who was in desperate need to have access to hospital care for his wife. (Please note that this story was coming from a time before there was access to planes and cars.) The only way to get to the hospital was to go over a mountain that lay between his village and the hospital. As the man frantically attempted to get his wife safely to the other side she passed away before he could get her the help she needed. Upon returning home he had determined that he would make a way to have faster access to the hospital for others. After much deliberation, he began to dig. The townspeople assumed that the death of his wife had caused him to lose his mind. However, despite their best efforts, they could not convince him to stop digging. As the weeks and months went on, people in the town began to understand the need to have access to medical care. Little by little, they began to join in the digging. And after several years of digging day in and day out, a tunnel had been dug through that mountain!

Our faith starts out as a mustard seed, but this does not mean that God wants it to stay that size. He will ask us at times to put in some blood, sweat, and tears in order for our faith to grow. Our faith must be made “mature and complete” in order for us not to lack anything. As my family remains under attack I take comfort in knowing that despite satan’s best efforts to shipwreck our faith, we persevere. Our faith may start out as a mustard seed, but with stubborn perseverance, it will grow! 

Related posts: The School of Trial, Falling Into Place, Touching The Hem Of His Garment, My By Faith Shoes

Heavenly Father, you know the needs of our hearts. You know the trials and mountains that we face. Thank you that your plans are to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11) in the midst of our mountains. Things might not go according to our plans, but our trials and struggles never surprise you. You saw them coming long before we did. Give us this day the things we need to accomplish today’s mountains or even today’s section of the mountain. Help us to remember that just because our mountains get bigger, does not mean you love us less. Your love is not a yo-yo, up one day and down the next. Please solidify in our spirits that our mountains are not an instrument to measure your love for us. Lord, seal all these things upon our hearts in Jesus precious name.

Dodging Bullets

I had shared in previous posts about our trip to Liberia, Africa. This trip has hurled us into a much larger plan that God has faithfully been revealing to us little bits and pieces at a time. We recently  found ourselves packing our bags for a whirlwind trip to Florida for an interview that would directly affect our ability to raise funds more on a full time bases for Liberia. I can only figure that satan felt directly threatened by this because he desperately tried all he could to distract us from the greater picture. He was shooting bullets at us left and right and all we could do was dodge them as they came and try to keep a good attitude while it was all happening. I wanted to share with you the events that took place surrounding trip so that you could see just how hard satan will work in our lives in hopes that things will go his way, as well as share with you a heart lesson that was learned in the process of being shot at.

The attack begins

Two days before our flight my husband was in a car accident. Praise God it was nothing too serious, but enough that caused us to recognize the attacks of the enemy when we saw them. That same night someone smashed our mailbox with a baseball bat, while this may seem unimportant and unrelated, we recognized that satan was kicking into high gear in hopes to distract us from the plans and purposes of the Lord. Unfortunately for him, we had already made up our minds, so we towed the car to our mechanic and straightened up the mailbox and headed for Florida. Once we got there, the attacks did not stop. I ended up leaving my purse on a chair in the airport, of which we quickly had to run back and snatch up before someone else did. By this point I was starting to get weary in the attempts to derail what God has already orchestrated. Once we landed in Florida we got a taxi from the airport to our hotel. While in the taxi, my purse fell off the seat onto the floor and I did not realize until several hours later that my phone had fallen out and was riding around in the taxi for the remainder of the afternoon. Upon discovery, we called my mother in law who was able to locate my phone using a simple app. We were even able to set an alarm off on my phone which then alerted the driver to call my husband's cell phone. We were able to reconnect with the driver and my phone was back in my hands by the next morning.

Round two

The interview came and went and you would think that by now satan would have given up. Nope, he was stubborn enough to keep shooting the bullets right at us. Our return flight was canceled due of a major snowstorm on the east coast. This forced us to reschedule our return flight and stay another night in Florida. But instead of being able to stay in the hotel that we were currently staying in, we were forced to find other accommodations because along with our flight, over 1,000 other flights were also grounded, so needless to say we were in a race with many other passengers to find a place to stay. We decided to book a room closer to the airport. Now, we just so happened to be in Florida over spring break, and the closer we got to the airport, the closer we got to the beach. And the closer we got to the beach the closer we were to unsupervised college students who were foot loose and fancy free to say it kindly. Now, I was a college student at one time. I did not enjoy the party scene then, and I have found that I enjoy it a whole lot less now that I am older. However, our new accommodations found us smack dab in the middle of a party we did not want to be in. I guess satan figured that by now, the interview was over and decisions had been made so now he was just going to torture us. We lay in bed listening to screaming and yelling college kids until about 3:00 a.m. At 1:30 a.m. one guy actually tried quite vigorously to get in our room, by pounding on the door and yanking on the door handle. I guess he thought it was his room. My husband forcibly reminded him without opening the door that he had the wrong room. (My hero).

The REAL Battle

As I laid in bed that night, all I could do was think about all of the emptiness that these young people were more than likely experiencing. They probably would not be able to remember what they had done that night or whom they had done it with. One guy walked past our room yelling “I don’t know where in the world I’m at. I don’t know how I got here.” That young man had drank himself right out of his cognizant mind and was left wondering around unable to navigate life in the slightest. My heart hurt for these young people who will more than likely spend eternity separated from the saving grace of our loving heavenly father. I prayed earnestly for their eyes to be open, for their hearts to be broken and for their lives to be transformed in the name of Jesus. As I lay there, I knew there was nothing I could do to save them from the choices they were making. My heart ached for them. I wondered if this is how our heavenly father must feel as He looks upon us when we make the conscious choice to choose sin over Him. Oh, how his heart must break as He watches his creation choosing the worldly idols to worship over their own loving creator. Yet, despite the scorn, rejection, and scrutiny the Lord still loves and desires that one day each one will look at Him with adoring eyes rather than eyes of disdain. I can’t even begin to imagine how bad that must hurt Him.

Our battles truly are not against flesh and blood, but the battles we face are in the spirit realm. We are called to battle for the hearts and souls of this generation, for a lost and dying world, a world that does not even realize they are lost and ding.  Our Lord does not want any to perish, but all to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9). We are to stand in the gap in prayer for these people!

While this trip started out causing me to dodge one bullet after another, it ended up with me learning so much more about the heart of my Heavenly Father. This trip allowed me to see a world full of brokenness, hurt, and emptiness, a world desperate for the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. My heart will forever be impacted by the faces that I saw bowing the knee to their own selfish ambitions. My heart was broken as I realized that the path these young people were on will never satisfy them, in fact it will do just the opposite. It will leave them more tormented than ever before.

Father God, I am so thankful that you allow us to have trials and hurdles come into our lives so  we can see the things of your heart. Thank you for showing me just how much this world needs you. Please continue to deepen my heart of compassion for those who do not know you.  I pray that each of us learns what it means to have your heart of compassion. Fill us with your love for the lost because we know it is not our desire that anyone should perish. In the precious name of Jesus Christ we pray.