Just ask God!

Our first send off!

   Getting use to (all over again) staying in contact via electronic media with my son and his family. With all that got thrown at me over the summer, I am beyond grateful that this was not the first send off for my son & his crew. I imagine it would have been overload for me.(But I’m pretty sure God knew that!)

Our unwelcomed visitor made a fatal decision the day it decided to crawl around the ceiling of our school room!

   At present they are caught up in a big training. However, it’s not taking place in the bush (remember those posts of my time in the bush during one of those trainings????? See above picture!) this time. This time the training is taking place in the village where the team’s basecamp is located. Not nearly as rustic and creature comfort deprived. 

   I share this because as I hear about their training, I can visualize them in their surroundings. I visited there in 2013 and became familiar with the surrounding physical features and quite a few of the locals. Especially the people they worked and lived with.

  God has been faithful to make it possible for me to make visits to where my children are. Years ago I prayed a prayer of release for my children to serve Him wherever He called them. I asked God to make it possible for me to visit them, if that led them far away. And He has done just that! 

   Financially, it would have been impossible for me to have come up with the finances for these many trips I’ve been able to make to be with my children. (Just returned from a visit with my daughter in San Antonio). Yet God made it happen!

   If your children wind up living quite a distance from you, I hope you will pray about visiting them. The memories made will sustain you when you are apart. For some of you, this will be a matter of traveling for a few hours here in the good ole USA; for others it will require an expensive airline ticket. Either way, it can present  a crisis of faith. The fiery darts of doubt attack and undermine our faith at times like these. But remember,  you have made a great sacrifice in releasing your children to God. Be assured He desires to bless you abundantly for your obedience. 

 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

So, just ask God and (oh yeah, make sure you have a passport ready if your travel demands)

Advertisement

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).

Lightening the Burden!

My husband and I just experienced another of God’s blessings in the life of missionary parents.  It seems that God ever so often will bless us with something that lightens the burden of being separated from our missionary children.

Shortly after my son and daughter-in-law moved to Africa, they discovered there was a young couple, who worked for another mission organization, about their age, living about an hour from them!  They soon became friend, and I believe this was an answer to prayer for both couples.

A few days ago, we had the extreme pleasure of hosting them in our home.  This couple was home for a few months raising their support (this is the way it works for many mission organizations) and they were to be passing through our area and needed a place to spend the night. (Got to meet the husband’s sister. Now that was a treat!)  And a double blessing was that accompanying them the newest member of our son’s mission team, another young couple, would be meeting up with them in the city near us and afterwards they would also need a place to spend the night.  You see, they were on their way to the East coast to enter a time of training before they leave for Africa to join the team.  I share these pictures (with their permission, of course).

Neighbors of our son and daughter-in-law’s, and the husband’s sister.
We were overjoyed to be able to meet them.

It seems that this sweet couple had been praying for God to provide someone for them they could relate to as friends.  But they had prayed for four years and this prayer remained unanswered.  Finally, they just released this desire to God and determined they would accept what seemed to be God’s will.  Shortly, after that release, God moved my son and daughter-in-law about an hour’s drive from them.  It has been a good match for both couples. Both couples had the need that God supplied, so they could abound in every good work.

“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”.  2 Corinthians 9:8

The second couple, we had had the pleasure of meeting shortly before our son and daughter-in-law left for Africa.  So we had a bit of a reunion.  We regretted we didn’t have more time to spend with them but our happy thought was that we would see them again when we went to go see our new grandson!  Yahoo!

This couple will be joining my son and daughter-in-law in January. What a blessing it was for us to have them in our home.

I’m sure you can imagine how we felt being able to bask in the presence of these wonderful people, friends of our son and daughter-in-law.  Somehow it made them seem closer to us and not so very far away.  The stories they told us of our loved ones, warmed our hearts, and it was gratifying to hear these stories for it gave us an added perspective on their lives there in Africa.

I wasn’t expecting this blessing from God, but in His goodness He gave us a gift He knew would be just what we needed to lighten our burden of being separated from our beloved missionary children.   God is so loving, so kind, and is so timely on the blessings He gives us.  My heart is full!

Here they are all together!