Hello and goodbye!

The Luxury of Having Them Home!

   As I keep up with my son and his family on Facebook, I am happy to see that they are getting that physical and emotional rest they need to prepare them for their next venture. We got to see them a couple of weeks in May, which could only be described as glorious chaos! Since then they have spent time with my daughter in law’s family and are presently spending time at a place that, for them, is also home. Then a week to debrief with their mission organization. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I will be traveling there to get in an extra week of time with them. Then in August they will be making their way here to spend their last stateside month with us before they leave the country so my son can work on his master’s degree abroad.

   Being able to pick up a phone and call them, or communicating with them easily via FaceTime, email, etc., I now see as a luxury. For while they were out of the country, our connections weren’t always good and often their internet was down. But not so here in the good ole USA ,and I am grateful beyond words.

   I so look forward to their month long visit in August and, of course, dread the day we will have to say goodbye again. But even then God has given us a lot to look forward to  before they actually have to return to Africa. Visiting them in the country where my son will be studying is definitely something I am making plans for, and my son’s last term is a research semester where they will return home for 3 months to wrap things up. And the fact that they are planning on coming home for Christmas, cheers me up immensely!

The Reality of Saying Goodbye!

   In all this coming and going since my son and daughter in law left home 4 1/2 years ago, God has gently guided me every step of the way! He has empowered me to manage the pain of releasing them to live their lives apart from us without it overwhelming me. I recorded that lesson in a blog I wrote on 10/7/14, Just Keep THAT Door Closed. From that lesson I learned I could choose not to open the door where painful emotions resided. By refusing to open that door, I was choosing to focus on receiving all the grace and mercy God had in store for me as I obediently released my son and his precious family to God’s calling upon their lives. 

   I am discovering that while it still hurts to say goodbye, I know because I’ve experienced it, God has some exciting and extraordinary plans for those of our family who must release, as well as for those who go. And as those plans unfold, we all are blessed beyond what we could have imagined. For when God gives us hard things to do, He faithfully provides rewards along the way that makes the hard thing doable!

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Sacrifice brings glory?

Maridith's washing machine!

A few days ago Bobby & Maridith posted this picture.  They had been visiting the people who are living in the house they hope to be moving into in a few weeks.  Maridith is preparing the washing machine they will be using for 4 adults and 3 small children.

A sweet lady at my church, after seeing this picture made the following comment, “I now have a whole new appreciation for my electric washing machine and dryer, and for the sacrifices Bobby & Maridith are making.”  This lady loves Bobby & Maridith and supports them in prayer and various other ways, so I knew that God was doing a work in her about sacrifice.

Her statement prompted a thought of my own.  Sacrifice is something we are all called to.  What it looks like for others may be different than what it looks like for us, but we can’t live for Jesus as we should if we aren’t willing to make sacrifices.

AND THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM!

The issue of sacrifice is completely foreign to most Americans, given the luxuries that are ours in abundance.  For those of us who are Christians, this abundance makes it difficult to keep the concept of sacrifice in balance.  Here in America materialism makes sacrifice an unattractive concept.

And for some of us it’s not so much the material things we would have to give up but giving up our children and grandchildren to answer a call that would lead them to a far away place becomes the greater challenge.

But does anything of great worth in this life come without sacrifice?  I think not.  My mind ponders the gripping pain of contractions that brings the birth of a child.  You ask any mother if the sacrifices her body endured during her pregnancy was worth it and you’ll hear a resounding yes!  Great sacrifice brings great rewards.

And, of course, the most powerful of all sacrifices was made by Jesus when He paid the price for our sins on the cross.  The Bible gives irrefutable evidence that Jesus thought His sacrifice was worth it!  Your own salvation says as much!

Here’s the deal.  It’s all about perspective.  A mother willing makes sacrifices during her pregnancy because her focus is on the baby that will be born. Jesus was able to make His sacrifice because He looked beyond the cross.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – (Hebrews 12:2)

So when we are called upon to make sacrifices (like giving up your children to go live in a foreign land and having to become a long distance grandmother when those babies start coming), we have to avoid focusing on the sacrifice and instead focus on the glory.  Just think of the souls that will be introduced to Jesus because your child was willing to make sacrifices so those souls could hear the Good News. (When you get to heaven, that’s going to be a really big deal!)  Just think of the adventure and experiences they will have and don’t be surprised if God includes you in some of those along the way.  If we can get ourselves out of the way and start focusing on how our children’s lives will be blessed and benefited, (and ours too) because they answered God’s call upon their lives and we were willing to give them up, then the sacrifices made begins to dim and the glory we and they will experience  grows brighter.

Now, take a look at this picture:

How would you like to wake up to this view every morning?

 Bobby wrote the following words after being inspired by such a view,

….I have found a new peace here. A peace that comes not from the serenity that surrounds me, nature can be deceiving, but from my God, the One who brought me here. What is it that You have brought me here to do? Am I ready? Will I be strong enough? God help me to trust in You for all of this. It is You who brought me here, it is You who will keep me.

The God that created the beauty surrounding them, will tenderly and lovingly provide for my son and daughter-in-law’s every need.  They are willing to trust Him and follow Him.  I will do no less!  Was their sacrifice and mine worth it?  Already, I can give a resounding, YES!