What
a blessing it is to be a missionary in the beautiful country of Brazil. We have such a love for Brazilians and this
wonderful culture! These last 8-1/2
years we have seen God do some amazing things here on the field! So many miracles…
If
you would have asked us 10 years ago if we’d be involved in some of the things
we’re involved with ministry-wise today, we might have laughed in unbelief! But NOTHING is impossible with God! He has given us amazing ministry opportunities
and even more opportunities to share the great love of His son Jesus and the
price he paid for each of us on the cross!
We’ve
always enjoyed opening up our lives, home and ministries that we’re involved
with and receiving people who want to come and have an overseas missions experience
here in Brazil. We do so because we’ve
seen God use many of the teams and individuals that come. As well, we’ve seen them impacted greatly!
This
morning, we received a brother-in-Christ to serve with us for 7 weeks. Pray for him!
It won’t be easy and he will have feelings of loneliness. Usually when people come they begin to feel
alone. They have left all that is
familiar---country, home, language, family and work. They begin to learn Portuguese and realize
how difficult this beautiful language is!
We
wish we could make it easier. God doesn’t
promise us “easy” though….does he? He promises us that He will be with us through
it all!
God’s
calling on our lives to come to
Brazil years ago started us on a challenging, yet invigorating journey. From the minute we said yes to God's call to missions, life
suddenly got hard. This was difficult to
believe! If we were following God’s plan
and the leading of the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t pursuing our God-inspired call
have been easy?
NO---our
calling was never meant to be easy! Many men and women in the bible with great Christian faith
experienced great difficulties. God told
Abraham to go to a land he wouldn’t know until God told him while waiting
more than 20 years for God to fulfill the promise of a son. Noah was told to
build an ark, put two of every animal on it and save the last of humanity
before a flood would destroy the whole earth. Queen Esther risked her life and the lives of
her people when confronting King Xerxes.
When we do great things in the name
of God, we can be sure that while His ways will always be the best, they
definitely won’t be the easiest. We need to remember that although we
feel like it, we are never alone!
God told Joshua He was with him right
before Joshua lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Maybe because being
called by God can feel like we are alone?
When we answer God’s call,
well-meaning people don’t always understand our specific calling, and that can
cause some people (even friends) to turn away.
God’s voice led Abraham outside his
comfort zone of a land he knew. Even Sarah didn’t understand the weight of
God’s promise on their lives.
God’s calling can set us apart,
whether for a moment or an extended season.
In the same way that God promised Joshua he would never leave him nor
forsake him, he makes us that same promise. We have been given the Holy Spirit
with us and within us. God’s Spirit instructs, guides, comforts and testifies that
we are heirs to God’s kingdom.
If there are moments on your journey
that you feel alone while following God’s calling, remember you have the power
of the Holy Spirit in you and with you. You
are not alone.
A call from God maybe difficult at
times and may require more than we ever expected. But, we can trust in God’s character. God is
faithful to provide ALL we need!
We need to remember as well that the calling
is not the ministry. The calling was in
the work already done on the cross! Philippians
3:13 says, “But I press on to take hold of that for which Jesus took hold of
me”. The calling God has given each one of us won’t always be easy but
we can be encouraged that our TRUE calling has always been and will always be
at the cross!
Pressing on,
Diane and Jeff
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