Welcome to what could be the best years of your life. Jump all in! For us, the youth ministry was never a stepping-stone to anything else. We were fully here and loved it. As the Lord has led in varying directions, we’ve striven to be 100% invested in each area of life, and it has proven to be an impossible task. So here we are, stretched between 6,000 miles and pray through this process, we leave them with a new perspective of missions, among other things. While we are leaving this role, there are others who are standing in the gaps. This is for the first year YP wives, the newly assigned Sunday school teacher, or wherever that applies. I don’t have much to offer other than what I have learned myself, often the hard way. Nothing deep or revolutionary, just basic, common, tried-and-true principles. You won’t experience all the same things we did, but the following principles will stand true in whatever situation you find yourself in.
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Luke 9.57-62, And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
So, will YOU be passionate? Will you take diligent heed to... love the Lord your God, walk in all His ways, keep His commandments, cleave unto Him, serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul?
Joshua 23.14-16, “And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.”
Will you be faithful?
Are you going to follow God and seek His will for your life? Will you diligently seek Him now and twenty years from now? Are you making Him and doing what He says first priority? Do you love Him with everything in you? And your response is, “Obviously, yeah. Why is that even a question?” I am sure the majority of us would say, “yes.” But as these passages of scripture have held up a challenge to my heart, I hope you truly consider this thought. I hope upon consideration, your response is an even more resounding YES! That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. Isaiah 45.6
All along the way, God has gently directed my heart toward missions. He has sweetly softened my heart and desires through influences beyond my doing. Moments beginning when I was four and five and “adopting a missionary family” shaped my thinking. I distinctly recall the framed picture and sitting around it as a family (come to find out, I ended up going to school with some of those kids years later). Plastic white church-shaped banks in our Sunday School classes where change would be collected for the missionaries each week where, even as an eight-year-old, Faith Promise Giving was being taught. I remember having widowed missionary shut-ins and listening to their stories frequently. I had close contact with the missionary families that would come through, was encouraged to write a letter to a missionary wife as a teenager and became pen-pals with her until they left the field, having friends who surrendered to missions and are now serving on their respective fields, being gifted a roommate in college who was a missionary kid herself and hearing her desire for Germany, as well as the classes taken with Bro. + Mrs. Hainline and witnessing their love and passion for missions first-hand. Through the process of time, I was led to see closely God’s heart for missions. I know that despite feeling like there has never been a time we weren't together, my husband and I are probably still considered "new" to this whole marriage thing. I have limited experience. We are looking at 4 years, 3 homes, 2 kids, and a dog. However, even if my experience and wisdom is limited, the answers to every stage of life are easily and freely accessible to all in His Word. John 15, (1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.... (4)Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing... (11)These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. Galatians 5.22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Psalm 16.11, Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. What is a negative experience or circumstance in your life that holds you back or that you believe defines you? “If it weren’t for...” “My life would be so much better / easier if...” “My life would be so much better if I had a different family. If this didn’t happen to me when I was little, if I didn’t have this illness, if we hadn’t moved, if we had more money, if .” “I could be used by God if....” “I’m this way because ____.” What is something that defines you. If it’s been allowed to define you, it hinders you. Joshua is one of my favorite books. I say that, but I have a lot of “favorite” books of the Bible. If you are unfamiliar with the story, go back and read the first four chapters of Joshua. Just an incredible account of God’s leading of Joshua, the new leader of Israel, to take them over Jordan. Joshua courageously headed the command, and in the end, Joshua and all of Israel pass through an un-crossable river on dry land. In the midst of this, a representative of each tribe of Israel is to collect a stone and they placed them in Gilgal so that the next generation would see them and ask, “What mean these stones?” They were to tell the next generation what the Lord had done for them so that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.
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Lizzy parkerMarriage.
Motherhood. Ministry. Missions. Archives
January 2023
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