It’s easy to be enthusiastic when you see results, when you get affirmation, when the ‘sun is shining down’ so to speak. It is more difficult when you don’t see the end goal, when you don’t get any affirmation, when it seems dark. Romania was a difficult month in many ways and I couldn’t fully process through it or appreciate it until I was here in South Africa. At the beginning of the month I realized that if anyone from the other teams asked me about Romania, all I said was that it was hard and that the missionaries in Draganesti had my full respect for how they preserve in a difficult place to do ministry. Their love for the people and their joy in the Lord is remarkable.
Then I felt the Lord say what if I call you to a place where it is difficult to minister because that is where My love is needed the most. What if I call you to a place where you don’t get encouragement from parents, where you don’t get “I love you, Miss Ginny”? Are you still willing to follow Me into those places? You tell Me that you want to love those no one else does, that you want to speak up for those who have no voice, but those are difficult places. Are you willing to follow Me there?
As we leave South Africa, these words come back to me. God gave the seven of us who served at the small school in Harkaville such love for the children there. Sometimes it was difficult, we faced circumstances that were hard to walk through with them, and we leave them in situations that are less than ideal. I asked God “Do these children even have a chance?” But yesterday as we walked down to say goodbye I saw Abigail, her smile, the light in her eyes and I felt hope. I saw Michela and her family and felt the peace that surrounded them and I felt hope.
As I rethink about the question God asked me about following Him to hard places I remember that I can only do so much, but our God can do more. Honestly, it’s still something the Lord and I are talking through but I do feel that if He calls me or any of us to hard places, He will be faithful and the risk will be worth it. We don’t walk alone, we walk with one who can do more than we can hope or imagine. I don’t always understand why things are the way they are. Why some children grow up in loving homes and others do not. I don’t understand, but our God does and if I can’t trust in anything else I can trust in Him and His promises.
