The Currency We’re Dealing With

Hello, Danielle here. I’m hijacking the blog from the normal author for a few moments because something is pressing on my spirit. We as a team are desperately calling to Jesus. Our airfare money is due in 7 days exactly, and if the money is not in—then we will as lovingly as possible be drawn off our mission team.

I’d like share a story from the book, Voices of the Faithful.

“Fourteen women stood in a circle as we prayed for the young Costa Rican woman who was about to leave as a missionary to a Muslim country. All of them were committed to pray for our church’s first international missionary. But what brought tears to my eyes that afternoon was not their commitment to pray.

In many evangelical churches across Latin America, God’s Spirit is raising up a missionary movement from areas that have traditionally been our mission fields. From our small church in San Jose, Costa Rica, He called out “Farisa” to go to one of the darkest corners of Central Asia.

When Margarita’s turn came to pray that afternoon, she prayed, ‘Lord, You know our family’s commitment to the faith promise offering so that Farisa can go to another land. As I’ve told my children, ‘First, we will give the offering, and then if there is anything left, we will eat.’

She continued her prayer, but I didn’t hear the rest. Tears flowed as I realized that this woman, whose husband was dying of cancer, was truly committed to the high cost of reaching the world for Christ. She was teaching her children where a Christian’s priorities should lie.

In the United States, the vast majority of those who support missions do so out of relative wealth. But the missionary movement from the Two-Thirds World (outside the U.S., Canada, England and Europe) is being supported in most in most cases out of dire sacrifice.” – Wilma, pg 305

WHAT DOES THAT STORY DO TO YOU?!

When I read it I immediately felt God telling me that the vision for this Missions Ministry is still much larger then we have made it to be. We are in obedience of God by pursuing this vision. EVERYTHING so far has been set in place by his hand. I have NO interest in pursuing my own plan. I only want Jesus’ glory to be made magnificent among us and the whole world in huge, glorious ways. The question that we are asking ourselves is, “Is our missionary work worth Margarita’s family’s food?” Is our work THAT valuable, that we could accept an offering like that?

The honest truth is that as a follower of Jesus—redeemed fully by him. Our body could die tomorrow and we would be okay because we would finally be with Him, but there are lost nations. There are pre-redemption stories everywhere we look. Don’t think that this mission work is not valuable… I would be hesitant to accept Margarita’s offering, but she understands something about the dire need to further the kingdom of God through the world. She understands it so deeply, that she will not feed her family until it happens.

How do we make this personal? Please pray and give generously and sacrificially to these mission efforts. Allow the Holy Spirit to “break your heart to the point of giving to missions with exuberance, not only because of the vast lostness and depravity of the peoples of the world, but because the supreme sacrifice of redemption has already been made for their salvation, of only they hear. Amen.”

“For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”
2 Corinthians 8:3-4

These are orphans at one of the poorest orphanages in Liberia.

PS: If you don't know how to give please e-mail liberia.we@gmail.com

meeting 2.

Sitting in the cold upper room of the library where I sometimes work, I'm thinking through everything that has happened in the last 6 weeks since my last appearance on this blog. The list seems mountainous, full of milestones and important moments for my life and for the Liberia team as a whole. The speed at which life urges us forward seems just too fast; how on earth could I write down every marking thing that takes place? And yet I have been taught to live in the crux between "speed of life" and "speed of soul." The place in which those things mingle is where it becomes possible to live happy and live well, which of course implies that it's not such an easy balance to obtain.

I think one of the sweetest things about being on the Liberia team thus far is how frequently it can pull me back into the current of "soul," reminding me of God's irrevocable love and His desire for us to hear Him say our names. I am being invited into community with other followers of Christ who are letting Him lead them all the way across the world, letting Him re-shape their hearts to look like His, letting God's provision melt away their anxious fears. I am being covered in prayer by friends and family members, by leaders whom I trust and adore, and by people I don't even know who have been asked to cover our team as a whole. I get to watch as God writes stories for us to marvel over and tell later. I get to jump on a plane to go wrap my arms around orphans and widows across the planet. I even get to be the scribe who captures it all in sentences, letting other people in on the adventure! Could there be anything more reviving to the soul, anything that better speaks the language of my spirit?

But life almost always provides a contradiction just when you think you're home-free. Keeping back the extrinsic forces of classes, jobs, homework, and relationships feels like wearing a backpack full of bricks while walking uphill and holding a small child: difficult, delicate, and at times devoid of purpose. Adding in the necessary clause, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!" just feels like busywork to the soul that is living only at the speed of life. I know this because, more often than not, I am that soul.

So, I have the knowledge of this beautiful soul-life that's lingering in my peripheral vision, and I have the weary confession of a life that's just too full of things to do. Jesus, what can I do?

1 Peter 5:6-10 (Amplified Bible)

"Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset--rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you."

I have a feeling the answer is in there somewhere, and probably not that hard to find. If you are praying for this team, pray that those emboldened commands would be true for each and every one of us. Part of me feels like it could take a lifetime to cultivate that kind of spirituality, but whom are we talking about here? Scripture says, in not so many words, that God can do in a minute what I could never do at all on my own. Even when it seems like He is a million miles away, my own breath couldn't be closer than He is to me, and His Power is just as perfectly present as His Person. Gets pretty hard to wrap my heart around that one, that's for sure.

Anyway, all of this leads up to what I'm technically supposed to be saying which is that...

We had another meeting! All four teams met together last Sunday night to worship, listen to some great teaching, and have some good team time. Katie led us in worship again, and it was so refreshing. Miles spoke about "the seven opportunities of a short-term mission trip," which is a sort of academic way of saying "all the incredible things we can pray for and set our hearts towards in the next three months." During small group time, each group had all the members share stories about their experiences in life and faith. Our group is the smallest of the four and we couldn't even get to hear everybody's testimony because we were so caught up in listening and talking (and laughing). Overall, the night was a wonderful success.

Pray that every financial need will be met and overwhelmed- that God would more than provide for every person on the team. Pray that He would old up doors for beautiful stories to form in the arena of financial support. This is something I think we forget to do sometimes. We're so bound by the anxiety of trying to get all the money in on time that we forget how effortlessly God can both provide the funds and author a mind-blowing story to go with it. Pray that both of those things take place.

Pray that the Spirit of God would combat all anxiety on our behalves. Worry over money, over travel, over life calling; all of these things are cares to be "cast on Him."

Pray that God would expand our hearts for each other before we are ever sent out to have compassion on other people. Pray that He turns our hearts to feel like His even now in our everyday lives.

Pray that these seven opportunities become realities for every member of this team...

1) the opportunity to expand our spiritual horizons; to minister to God's people in new ways and new places.

2) the opportunity to re-clarify or re-surrender our lives' callings to Him.

3) the opportunity to have our hearts break for what breaks His heart.

4) the opportunity to experience God as a present, active, vocal Father (a provider).

5) the opportunity to grow in our understanding of what it means to be a servant.

6) the opportunity to deepen and sharpen our prayer lives (to pray specifically, and honestly).

7) the opportunity to renegotiate my lifestyle at home (to realize that I am not entitled to everything that I've been given).

That's all for now. Thank you for reading and thank you for praying. :) More soon.