the answer to that is quite simple: no. missionaries are not superheroes. people have this concept in their minds that missionaries go out and change the world with these huge miraculous things.
plot twist: missionaries are doing the same things anyone can be doing anywhere in the whole wide world.
yesterday for ministry i swept dirt from a dirt floor. yes, you read that correctly. i didn’t build a house with my bare hands from start to finish in one day because that is merely impossible for me to do. i swept. dirt. from. a. dirt. floor.
here’s the realization that i am having: it is so incredibly easy to find Jesus in the big miraculous things of this world. but how many times do we do the mundane, simple things and find Jesus in that?
obviously when someone is healed, it is so easy to declare Jesus as Lord. but what about when sweeping a dirt floor? or cleaning a chair with an old raggedy t-shirt? where is the Father in that? i am not taking away from miracles or saying that they are not needed, because Jesus wouldn’t be Jesus without miracles. but finding Jesus in the mundane everyday things is just as essential.
think of it like this: if you didn’t recognize the little things in your spouse, why would they want you to be there to celebrate the big things with them? it’s the exact same with the Father.
last month my team and i sat with disabled adults for an entire month. we sat with them. nothing crazy or outrageous. but guess what? we chose to see the Father, His love, and His grace through these people and the “mundane”. it wasn’t necessarily exciting every single day, but that does not mean that the Lord isn’t there and over it all.
this realization is hitting me like a brick wall. i keep being surprised when i feel like for ministry “i’m doing nothing”. no i’m not. i’m spending time with the Father serving HIS people. doing what He called me to do. that’s enough. that’s all He asks. never once does He say “perform miracles for me to love you”. very few people would be loved if that were the case.
keep doing the mundane, friends. look for Jesus. he is everywhere.
don’t be discouraged when things seem too easy. be encouraged that God trusts you to find Him in the simple times, and that He believes you don’t need radical miracles in order to believe in His goodness and faithfulness.
there is no need to strive to be a superhero in this life. strive to be a disciple of Jesus and He will provide the rest.
