helping women connect with their world
From Dinah
I too traveled or moved a lot even before I got married to a wonderful man from America and became a PW here in Brazil.
I guess the most scary part to me was when I traveled to a giant country called the U.S.A. to visit my sister. I had traveled a lot around the Philippines and Thailand and Indonesia with our volleyball team. Travel was fun until I realized I would be traveling alone in the U.S.A. But I know God was with me, so it wasn’t that bad.
This is a season of change for my husband and me. Recently we were thinking about how many things have changed for us in the last few months.
The first change is into a wider sphere of influence. My husband and I have been overseas teaching for the last six weeks. For several years my husband has been offering me more opportunities to speak on these trips, but I preferred to be behind the scenes. This time I stepped out and taught on some subjects I’m particularly passionate about. From one of those sessions, I have been given the opportunity to write a series of articles for a local English language newspaper. It is a season of change that is bringing many new opportunities for touching others.
I was reminded this week of the value of encouragement. I spoke to over 300 people about Learning Disabilities. My husband commented that the number was way above my comfort zone, and it was. But I knew I had something valuable to say and felt it was a great opportunity to be an advocate for children who cannot explain their problem is or tell how to help them. God has done so much in my life and much of it came through the loving encouragement of my husband and family. I wrote the following article in the late ‘80s. It’s as true today as it was then. I hope it blesses you.
No matter whether we are living cross culturally or in our home culture, we have the responsibility to teach our children about money. Bonnie Nusbaum, a friend of mine, recently wrote how she and her husband taught their two sons financial responsibility. Although they were not living cross culturally, the principles she shared would work anywhere.
We didn’t have a formal plan with a workbook. Most of the training that we gave to our two sons came through role modeling and casual conversation at opportune moments. To quote Dr. James Dobson, “. . . values are caught, not taught.”
Let’s take a moment to think about Elijah, the mighty prophet of God. He had just participated in what sports announcers would call a rout! The false God, Baal, was no match for the Living God, Yahweh. As God’s chosen representative, Elijah was overpowering. After that victory, he should have been so up, but he was so down. When threatened by Jezebel, he ran like a scared rabbit. He even left his close companion behind, found a convenient tree, fell to the ground, and asked God to let him die.
You may hesitate to compare yourself to Elijah. I would. But the Bible says he was a man with the same experience that all of us have. In other words, completely human. Working cross culturally, we see victories that we can never fully describe to those back home. Then something happens that threatens us (it doesn’t even have to be a very big something) and we cave in.
