Ruth
and her family moved to be Workers in West Africa:
Yesterday
another M said I must be glad all my shipment had arrived from home.
I said that actually it was causing me a lot of confusion, because of
the great disparity between what I have and what all those around me
don’t have. He laughed and said, “Oh, you’ll get used to that
feeling soon enough.” The problem is, I’m not sure I should.
*****
Ruth's
uncle was killed in a motorcycle accident in W. Africa. His wife told
Ruth,
"These
are very expensive lessons. Don’t let us waste them.”
Aunt
Lois was right. These were expensive lessons. Whatever He wanted to
say, I didn’t want to have to hear it twice. So I said, “Jesus, I
can’t really thank you for the accident or the robbery, but I will
thank you for what you want to show me in all of this. Only let me
learn well, so I don’t have to go through it again.”
*****
Ruth
quotes from a song:
In
the second verse, the singer repents and tells God how eager he is to
do whatever big and noble things God requires of him. Then Jesus
answers, in effect,
“If
I give you a cup of water, then all I ask for is a cup of water.”
That
line arrested my attention. “God, you couldn’t possibly have sent
me all the way to Africa just to pass out water to those kids at my
door every day, could you?”
“And
what if I have?”
“But,
Lord, that’s nothing. I’m ready to do so much more.”
“Would
you pass out water?”
“But,
Lord, there’s nothing spiritual about that. I can’t even speak
their dialect to tell them about You.”
“Would
you pass out water, Ruth?”
“But,
Lord, how can I explain it to my supporters? ‘What do you do in
Africa?’ ‘Pass out water.’ ‘Oh. I see.’ It will never work,
Lord. They expect a lot more for their money.”
“Yes
or no.”
“Why?’”
“Inasmuch
as ye have done it to the least of these My brethren, ye have done it
unto Me. Will you do it as if it were Me?”
“Okay,
Lord. But I don’t think anyone else will understand.”
So
that’s my assignment. It does seem awfully small. You never knew
I’d have such a smashing career, did you?
Dear
Mom and Dad, I’m muddling along, passing out water and rice, not
seeing any wonderful spiritual breakthroughs. At least now I know
that it’s okay to be ordinary, if that’s God’s will.
God
pin-pointed another one of my problems while I was reading Romans
12:1, 2. In the Phillips translation it says,
“Don’t
let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let Him
renew your minds from within. Then you will prove in practice what is
His good and perfect and acceptable will.”
I saw
again that my sense of failure stems from trying to live up to my own
idealized image of what I should be as an M. I also want to be what I
think others think I should be, including you. I’ve been squeezed
by a whole world of images. But God is saying that if I do exactly
what He says, even if it’s just passing out cold water, in time He
will prove to me that it is His good, perfect, and acceptable will.
*****
I
also remember what Dad said before we came: “Ruth, you’ll do a
whole lot of seed planting. Sometimes it may look as though none of
these seeds are growing, but keep planting. When you look back,
you’ll see some trees. You just never know while you’re planting
which seeds God has chosen to grow into trees.” Somehow all these
things have made it fun to do the ordinary and believe God will make
them into the extraordinary as He sees fit.
*
This
really spoke to me and encouraged me. We're not doing anything
fantastically exciting here, it really is a lot of seed planting and
giving out of water (and drinking a lot of tea!). Especially at the
local fellowship meeting, it's often just men who come so the children and I
do a lot of tea and coffee making. J gets to do the more 'exciting'
side of discipleship. I read this part of the book on an evening when
J was out late with the men and I was at home with the children. It
seemed incredibly relevant! Thank you Lord that how I do the ordinary is important to you.
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