My team and I moved locations a few days ago. We are now living in a lovely little house on the outskirts of Saldus, a town of about 12,000 people. Needless to say, I feel right at home in the smaller community. I get to wake up each morning snuggled under a comforter in the upstairs room of an old wood stove-heated house. It’s marvelous.
This morning I was sitting at the kitchen table chatting for a few minutes with my gracious host, Jeva. She was telling me a bit about her life, how she became a Christian and eventually left her job as a teacher at a university to move back to Saldus because God called her here. She volunteers in a youth center teaching Bible classes one day a week, started a home church, and has a youth Bible study in her home on Wednesdays. There are a few girls she is especially close with, and every time these girls see her, they run up and give her a big hug. The funny thing is, Jeva says she does this because God told her to do it. It’s not what she would have chosen. When we told her that the kids seem to love her a lot, the way they run and give her a hug every time they see her, she was surprised. I think it’s hard to see the difference we are making in people’s lives while we’re in the midst of it. She says many of these kids don’t have good homes. Many don’t have people in their life to give them hugs and tell them they are loved. So that’s what she’s doing. And slowly and quietly, she’s seeing changes.
Jeva’s story makes me think of so many other people we’ve met this year. Hulda and Edison in India, who keep their door open and whose home is a safe, loving place for girls who come from not so great families. Kumar and Josephine in Malaysia who can’t even speak about Jesus in their center, but are making a big impact on their community through persevering in prayer and living lives that shine the light of Christ. All of the English teachers we met in Asia who are planting seeds that they might never see bloom themselves. Our contacts in Uganda who had so many kids in their house, many of them adopted.
I have a blog. And fancy little cards with my name on them. And I get my picture in the paper every now and then. But there are thousands upon thousands of Christians on this planet who are quietly working for the Kingdom. People who probably will never be written about or be recognized, who maybe won’t even see the fruit from years and years of labor.
I think about the people who have influenced my life so much. The people who quietly and faithfully answered the call God had given them. My first Sunday school teachers, the Andersons, who are both gone now. They not only made a difference in my life, but also in the life of my mom when she was growing up. The Vitters, who taught Five Day Club, where I became a Christian. My wonderful Awana teachers…I have God’s word stored in my heart thanks to your service. The great pastors and youth pastors God has put in my life. My fantastic Thursday night Bible study gals, who taught me so much and gave me so much love, I’m not sure I’d even be on this trip if it wasn’t for them. Not to mention my family, my mom, step-dad, sisters and brothers-in-law who have been great role models, huge supporters, and prayer warriors.
We talk about wanting to do big things for God. But that implies that everybody else is doing small things for God. And I’m starting to think there’s no such thing. Because behind every one of us who get to write blogs about what we’re doing for God, there are a hundred people who’ve poured into us, invested in us, changed our lives in some way. People who are slowly and quietly making a difference.
So I just wanted to say to all of the Sunday school teachers and parents and soup kitchen workers and church custodians and everyone else who is working for the Kingdom in some way:
YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE. YOU ARE DOING BIG THINGS FOR GOD.
Thank you.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1st Corinthians 15:58
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
