One of the things that has really affected me this year is not just the people who we are working to help on the field, but the contacts and missionaries that we are working with. It is strange how a lot of people, including myself, have this view of missions where they convince themselves that to go and work in a country full-time as a missionary you need to be someone special with some seminary education or amazing story about how you were called to the mission field. What I have found has been just the opposite. God has allowed me to work with ordinary people who just realize the simple truth that their lives are worth nothing if they aren’t following God’s call. Because of this they have thrown different comforts and pleasures from back home aside and I have never once heard them even hint that it hasn’t been worth it.
After about two weeks after being in Nicaragua, we heard that a woman named Barbara was going to come and live for a year in the place we are working. I knew her situation a little bit, but it completely changed my perspective once I met her. Barbara came from the states a couple of years ago on a short term missions trip and decided that she wanted to come back. Barabara is not the person that comes to mind when you think of missionary, infact she is a 60 year old retired nurse, who is just now learning spanish and even lost her husband a couple years back. Pretty much she is the prime example of when the average American decides to settle down and finish out their live on a beach or in a retirement community. I’m not saying those last two chioces are a bad ending to a life, but I am saying that she has proven that the end of someone’s life can be the beginning to a completely different adventure with Christ. She mentioned to me now how it has taken her awhile, but she now realizes that Jesus is her husband for the rest of her life, and a perfect one at that! She even said she loved traveling and now with Jesus she has gotten to do it more than ever. Through her life I have seen a great example of God giving someone the desires of their heart when they least expected it. Barbara really is the perfect example of what faith is. It is leaving somewhere that is comfortable and following God’s call into somewhere that is completely unknown. I can’t tell you how many times I heard her say that she has no idea what she is doing, but sometimes I think those are the most beautiful words that God can hear because they admit that he is in control of everything. Barbara is a true believer in our generation but what she and others of her generation need to realize is that our generation needs people like her. We need people to continually step out and not just tell us but show us who God is and how he blesses those who follow him regardless of age, background, family, or finances. For me, one of things that encourages me the most is seeing others completely rely on God for every provision of their lives especially if they are older than me. I know that people continually call out our generation to be different from the culture, but what I want people to realize is that there is just as much of a challenge for people a generation or two older to do the same things. I really pray that God doesn’t stop pushing me until I die because after all our lives really don’t start until we get to heaven.
