calling – Page 2

Total Commitment

2011, a new year is here! Last year’s triumphs and trials are history. We have a chance to start with a clean slate. It is a new year with new challenges and new blessings just beyond our reach.

I started off this new year in the Methodist Church my son and his family attend. We read aloud Wesley’s Covenant Prayer.

“I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will. Put me doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine, and I am Yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in Heaven. Amen.”

What a prayer of dedication! What a declaration of total surrender to God! As PWs, we’ve made that kind of surrender in the past. We said it with glowing faces, perhaps streaming with tears. Deep in our hearts we know this kind of surrender is what we should do, even if we don’t feel like it. But the realities of that commitment sometimes hit us with crushing force.

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Long Threads

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You know how sometimes you just have too many good, important tasks, and can’t complete them all on time? As wives and moms, I am sure you know just what I mean. Well, that has been my life the past couple months. My most challenging task was to rebuild our intermin.org website. Thankfully, it is done! There’s a great story behind this rebuild, one that reaches all the way back to my childhood. I want to share it with you to show you that God never forgets the desires he plants in our hearts, even if they come to fulfillment in a different way than we could have ever imagined.

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Remember Why You are Here

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Home for the holidays. That is every PWs dream. At this stage in our lives Mike and I get to do it every year. We always visit our family, parents, friends, and supporters. Almost everywhere someone asks, “Are you really happy in Asia? Are you OK there? How can you leave your grandson? When your granddaughter arrives in April, won’t that make it harder?”

I have a ready answer. It is not hard for us to live in Asia. We love the people, the country is peaceful, the food is great, and we have work to do that we enjoy. It is the truth! I am happy there, and I know that is right where God wants us, at least for now.

In less than two weeks we will be back in Asia. I know there will be good days and bad. There may even be seasons when I wonder what possible good am I doing there. On the good days and especially on the bad days, I need to remember why I am there.

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Icing on the Cake

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Single, yet called! It is a dilemma for many women working cross culturally. It would be nice to say, “God has a husband for each one so they can be safer and less lonely.” But that fits our romantic ideas more than it does reality. Over the centuries many single women have been among the pioneers in many hard places. We know that God sets the solitary in families, but it isn’t always with a husband, but rather a family of His choosing. Single women serving God model commitment, obedience, hard work, and contentment. They encourage all of us.

Shanna, one single-minded servant of God, wrote her story to share this month.

Before making the decision to become a single cross cultural worker, I first gave up my belief that I had to get married. I even went so far as to say that I’d never marry a national, and the Lord must want me to remain single, as He was sending me to a far-away country with no husband. I decided to let the Lord be enough for me. And He is.

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Do You Hesitate?

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I’ve been pondering the lessons for PWs from the story of Lot’s wife. We don’t know much about her life or what made her tick. We do know, however, that when she had a chance to flee from the destruction of a very wicked town, she had to be dragged out of town by an angel. When told to run for her life and not look back, she stopped and looked back.

Two questions stood out to me from the story of Lot’s wife. Has there ever been a time when you hesitated to do something you knew God wanted you to do? Do you look back with longing to something in the past?

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