A few months ago in Estonia our contact was talking about the struggles of being a long term missionary and how we could best pray for her and others like her. She told us that many missionaries get discouraged during their first few years away from home as they do everything God has asked of them and see nothing come of it. She then explained that is why many of these missionaries plant gardens so that they can see something they are working on grow. I sympathized with this idea. I could see how discouraging that would be but I didn’t actually understand what she meant until this month.
For the past four months, I have been involved in ministries that are wonderful. Ministries that are following after the Lord and doing what he asks them to do, that are lights in the darkness, that are run by spirit filled people, but the work we did seemed fruitless. We prayed for people in Mozambique but no one was miraculously healed; we reached out to people in Europe only to receive a cold shoulder; we told our stories, what God has done for us, in a women’s prison and to others but saw no salvation; we taught children their ABC’s but we weren’t allowed to witness to them or even talk about the Lord; and we handed out cards for a church in the least religious country in the world. It was hard.
By the time I arrived here in Thailand I was exhausted and discouraged. Though I have only been struggling to see what impact I’m making for a few months I felt the effects of it. I didn’t even know how deeply it ran until this week. During this week, I experienced my favorite day on the Race so far. It was not a day full of adventure or celebration, one working with widows or orphans, nor a day that really stands out among the rest. In fact, the day looks completely ordinary and even boring when I look at what I wrote in my journal, but I have not been happier on this Race than I was that day.
The day began normally enough. I woke up late and only had ten minutes to get ready for ministry. We hopped in the car and picked up coffee on the way. We then arrived at a church, and they showed us what we’d be doing that day. Some of the team was assigned to painting the basketball goals, but I was given the power washer. During the rainy season in Thailand a thick layer of mold covers everything outside and it was my job to blast the sludge off of their porch, driveway, and concrete furniture. I got to work and found out I loved it! Not because I was doing something radical and unheard of but because I could watch my progress. I did that all day, breaking only for a cooking lesson and then lunch and then straight back to work. After we finished we were taken to the beach.
It is truly amazing what that little bit of encouragement has done to me. Being able to see how what you are doing makes a difference, however small it may be, encourages you to keep going. We kept working even when the job got harder and uncomfortable (doing it in the pouring rain) because we could see the light at the end. That moment of encouragement has allowed me to pick up speed and go forward all in. It has allowed me to look back and see how Jesus was working in the previous months, and it has allowed me to look forward not just to the end of the Race but whatever comes after it. I know I will not always see how following the Lord is making an impact but I can walk forward with joy knowing that it does.
If you have a Racer on the field or a missionary that you or your church supports, I would encourage you to encourage them. A little well-placed encouragement can keep someone going for quite some time. I have been blessed with a community of about 50 people who are constantly encouraging one another but not all missionaries have that. Consider being that for them.
