BIRTHDAY HUGS AND KISSES ACROSS THE MILES. . .

Happy Birthday my little man!

My grandson turns two today.

My trial in all this is not being able to be with him on this happy day.

 My blessing is that I got to video chat with him this morning,

  and without being prompted he called me by my grandmother’s name. We gave each other hugs and kisses, played peek a boo, and he even tried to feed me some of the cereal he was eating–all thanks to this wonderful invention called Facetime!

   All along I have prayed that God would make up for the distance between us by blessing our relationship with a closeness that would transcend the distance. Happy moments like we enjoyed today, inspire me to believe that is indeed God’s plan!

   So I will resist, by God’s grace, the temptation (fiery dart*) to feel sorry for myself at being so far away from my little guy on his birthday!

(What good would that do anyway? It’s a fiery dart meant to make me miserable and create a burden for my son and his family. Nope, that’s just not going to happen!).

   Instead, I will reject such thoughts and replace it with the ‘Truth thought’ of rejoicing that his parents love God and are willing to be obedient to His call upon their lives and make the most of every bit of communication that God blesses us with.

My heart is full of joy and there’s simply no room for anything else! 

*For more on fiery darts check out my blog:

http://fierydarts.wordpress.com

or my book entitled:

Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice.

You can order it from my fiery dart blog. Blessings!

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BACK TO THE BUSH: Making Memories?

February 19, 2013

It was time for the staff to recoup and return to base camp.

     Something that I had come to associate with delicious and expanded recipes, sleeping on a comfortable bed with the luxury of having the bathroom a few steps from that bed, living quarters inside a ‘real’ house protected from the elements, and a warm shower. I can rough it with the best of them, but having this break to return to a life more akin to what I’ve become accustomed to–we’ll for me it was restorative!

     On the way back, we had to stop at the open market in town.(You know, time to go to the grocery store!) An experience that put me in touch with my country roots for it reminded me in many ways of the farmer’s markets back home. There were the familiar red tomatoes, potatoes, corn, rice & beans, pineapples, bananas, etc. I was fascinated with my daughter in law’s skillful ease with which she moved through the market making her selections and hashing over the prices with the vendors with sensitivity and fairness. 

    However, in the short time I lived there I never reconciled myself with the cultural phenomena of our truck being swarmed by a legion of curious onlookers during these market experiences or each and every time we entered town and brought the truck to a stop.  I remember one time when our truck was swarmed by so many curious observers that we felt movement as they began pushing in to see inside the truck. An adult male came to our rescue; shouting and waving his arms commanding them to back off. Finally, we were able to ease pass them and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

     I realized that my son and daughter in law have come to see this life as “home”. Slowly but surely these sights and sounds that to me (and to them at first, I imagine) were strange and unfamiliar were eventually being transformed into the familiar and were becoming the stuff of memories for them. My son’s children’s ‘growing up memories’ will look nothing like their cousin’s and there won’t be those familiar memories that will bond and unite them as family.  

     Nevertheless, we will pray for God to guide us as to how we can find ways to bond and be united as a family living on different continents and within a vastly different culture. I am confident He has a plan and we will be trusting Him to reveal it to us.

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

 

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

It’s a matter of obedience!

Me & my boy! It’s a mom thing!

     I don’t know if you have noticed or not  that while my blog never plays down the struggles of living so-o-o-o far apart from my child, I always make it clear that God’s love, grace, and mercy champions me in those struggles.  Since releasing my son to the call of missions on his life, joy and peace have been my constant companions and have made what would have been an impossibility in my own strength a glorious possibility in His. (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13)

     I write this blog to encourage other parents who find themselves on a journey such as mine. I want to assure you that releasing your child to missions or whatever God has called them to is not something to fear. (Remember, the safest place on earth is in the center of God’s will!)

     Recently, a grandmother of a brand-new missionary shared with me that she had expressed to  her grandchild her heartfelt wish that she wasn’t going so far away. Her missionary grandchild responded with, “Granma, would you want me to disobey God so I could be near you?”  That grandmother began to understand with greater clarity the priority of obedience. 

     My dear parent, releasing your child to do the work God has called them to is hard, I know! But the pain of releasing your child should not be your focus. Instead, the obedience to release your child should be.  As you obediently release your child, God’s grace, peace, and mercy will wash over you as a soothing balm. Your heart will be comforted; joy and peace will be your constant companions as you make this journey. It’s a blessed life and you will be just as grateful as I am to be living it!

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

We had arrived!

Home Sweet Home!

Well, those words certainly have a variety of connotations but what they mean here in this blog is that finally my husband and I had arrived at our son’s home. We had left our home the day after Christmas and after a long plane ride and a few days in the capital city and a couple of sight seeing trips, we had finally arrived at the place our son calls home.  I was impressed at how well our missionary organization had provided for my son, his family, and the rest of the missionary team he is a part of.  Now when my son talks about his home and it’s surroundings and the people who come and go there, I now have a visual that comes to mind.  And for this mom, that’s a big deal!

This isn’t unique to my son, however, for I felt just as strongly about this when my daughters moved away from home and put down roots elsewhere.  When they talk about their friends, the house they live in, the church they attend, etc., it’s extremely important for me to be able to picture all this in my mind.  Helps me feel connected to them.  I’m sure you moms out there know exactly what I am trying to communicate here!

There were some adjustments that needed to be made for while they have electricity (provided by solar panels) they have to be miserly in their use of it.  There is no washer and dryer, but a couple of local ladies have been hired to help out with that.  This is a win/win situation for in providing the help needed due to lack of a washer and dryer, these ladies are able to earn a much needed boost to their income.

A shower is taken by warming up water on a propane gas burner (no hot water heater, you know), then pouring the water into a bucket that is hoisted by a pulley above one’s head in the shower stall. The bucket has a shower head attached to it which sprays out the water rather nicely for a very efficient shower.

Since they have a french press coffee pot (you know conserving on their use of electricity) I attempted to make coffee the following morning and actually I can’t say I did so good.  Was kinda weak!  But not to worry, for my daughter-in-law gave me instructions on how I could improve and my next pot was much better.

My newborn grandson was a big hit with all their friends.  Many of them had never seen a white baby so he was a novelty for all.  As he was passed back and forth among their friends, I beamed with pride at how well my little grandson behaved.  I think I was equally as proud of his mother.  God has given her so much grace to trust Him with the well being of her baby son.  She did not freak out over the cleanliness issue we American mothers would have been accustomed to.  These people are not on the same page as we are when it comes to personal hygiene of American standards, obviously, but my daughter-in-law, understanding the power of being sensitive to their culture so as not to offend took it all in stride.  She has a firm grasp of the importance of building relationships in order to prepare the way to tell her new friends about Christ.

He’s in Good Hands!

*      *      *      *

It’s not easy having a grandson that I can only see via a fb picture or video.  This is, I suppose, the hardest thing about being a grandmother of a missionary kid.  I realize the importance of finding  (God’s way) to deal with this harsh reality.  I tried as much as I could to build up a store of hugs and kisses and memories while I was with my baby grandson.  And now that I’m home, it does help to know that I had those precious moments with him.  But my sweet grandson is changing and growing every day and I’m missing all that.

I could dwell on that and make myself miserable.  I could, but I WON’T.  I’m relying heavily upon such scriptures as:

Philippines 2:13, “For it is God who is working in you. (enabling you) both to will and to act for His good purpose.”

AND

Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep the mind that is dependent on You in perfect peace, for it is trusting in You.”

AND

2 Corinthians 9:8, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

I am simply trusting on God to impart His peace and strength to me as I learn to live the life of a grandmother of a missionary kid (MK).