I love (and actually crave) books, articles, stories, and accounts of missionaries to foreign countries. Even now, Joy and I are thoroughly engrossed in
Kisses from Katie (more on that on another post when we finish it). And sometimes I even dream of doing great things for the Lord in a foreign land.
But as great, exciting, and adventurous as the thought of sharing Jesus in a foreign land is to me, I know God has me right where He wants me. Sometimes we don’t have to go far to find God’s calling for our life. We don’t have to travel across the ocean. It can be in our own country. In another state. In another city. It can be in our own town, as close as our local nursing home or homeless shelter, or even at church. And sometimes we never even have to leave our own home.
God has gently reminded me that I’m where He planted me. My ministry is my family. Loving my husband and children and providing them with the love and security of home, and teaching them to love, honor and serve the Lord is just as important as being a foreign missionary to another land.
Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:7 (NIV)
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)
Proverbs 31:10-31
Does God use me outside our home? Of course. My ministry does extend to children and elderly people. I believe God gave me a love, passion, and ability to relate to these people. This passion came to me even as a child and through my teenage years.
But, God has shown me my ministry right now is my family. Maybe that sounds unfulfilling or even boring by our society’s standards where life is about “having it all” including a successful career. And please know that I’m not putting down or judging anyone who does….I’m just speaking about my life….my calling. I know that even at an early age God gave me the desire and the insight to know that His plan for me included marriage and a family. And that He wanted me home with my family. So I prayed for a Christian husband (no need to date around…I was looking for that one God was going to give me and that God would send him my way and I would be wise enough to recognize him). And then to wait and pray for the children I knew He would give me. And a journey of faith it was. But bless He did with our three children each becoming part of our family in a different way. And it most definitely was not in my timing (I wanted it all right then, right away), but in His timing. God’s way is always better because He knows.
I’ve always known I’ve been blessed. But it’s even more than that. This life. My family. It’s my ministry. My calling. And although I may never know what it’s like to serve my God on foreign soil (though I would if He called my family there), this calling of mine is huge and just as important as that foreign missionary.
Who knows what God has in store for my children? I know He has plans for each of them. And who knows, God just might call one of them to a foreign land or to just do great things for the Lord here or within their own family one day. But then again, my children may be the ones to reach millions for Christ. Still I’m playing my part of God’s Big Picture.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
So I’ll play the part I’m meant to play in God’s Big Picture, and that is right here at home, raising my family to His glory. That’s my ministry. And for that I’m grateful.
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If you would like to participate in Faithful Friday, which is a day set aside to share a snippet of our Christian walk, please leave Joy a comment
here letting her know you are participating, so we can visit. And speaking of Joy, she has a wonderful post on today for Faithful Friday regarding wholesome movies for the family! It's a post I've been wanting to get around to doing myself. Check out just a few of the movies our family has enjoyed! And have a wonderful weekend!
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