Diary of a Missionary's Wife #2

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It's funny, most people that know us thought it was a no-brainer that we were going to the mission field. Only, it wasn't. It was one of the most difficult decisions we've made so far.

Paul and I both grew up in foreign countries as missionary pastor's kids. Missions has always been a part of our lives. And always something that's been dear to our hearts. We had planned on being missionaries even before we were married.

Once we started having kids, we home-schooled. It was for many reasons, but one of my biggest, unspoken reasons was, so that we would be ready to move overseas at the drop of a hat. (When I say overseas, I really mean Asia, which is what was familiar to us.)

But... that never happened... not until our kids were mostly all grown.

We had lived and worked for most of twenty three years in Southern California. The longest time either one of us had spent in any one place. Our oldest, our Daughter was twenty and finishing up college. Our second daughter was eighteen and just finished her first year of college. Our youngest, our son was fifteen with only one and a half years left to graduate and grand plans for university and his career.

Picking up and leaving then, would mean that either our adult girls come with us or they would be forced to move out earlier than expected. And our son was at the crucial age where life altogether just wouldn't be easy.

I remember when I was a kid in Hong Kong and a new kid came to youth group I attended. His parents went to Hong Kong when he was about the same age as my son was and I will never forget how miserable he was and how slighted he felt and how he hated one of the most fabulous cities in the world because of the "injustice" done to him of making him pack up and leave his home at such a crucial age... and I was terribly afraid of the same thing happening to my son.

I had already resolved to stay in our house, have my (future) grand kids come stay with me in my house and to take them to the same park my kids' grandparents took my kids to. I was comfortable with our life and ministry and didn't have any desire to go anywhere. It was easiest and most comfortable to just stay put.

Is being comfortable really the best place to be?

It definitely wasn't the easiest thing being in a new and very different country and culture in that particular season of our family. But I can't say it wasn't worth it...

A friend of ours that had been going to the services we did on Sunday mornings had been struggling with nicotine addiction for quite a while. She'd also been noticing different things in her life that needed to be changed. I didn't tell her those things. The Holy Spirit did. The more she focused on following Jesus and pleasing Him, the more He showed her what needed to be changed.

We had a guest preacher and his wife with us one Sunday, Don and Liz McPherson. As he was praying for my friend after the preaching, she handed me her pack of cigarettes. It took me a second to figure out what she was handing me and when I "got it," I wanted to do the happy dance! She handed me her pack of cigarettes. We'd been praying for that.

It may seem little, and maybe it is a little step, but for her, it was significant. I hung onto those cigarettes as a reminder of what God allows us to be a part of when we are obedient to his call. Obedient to His call to GO and obedient to His call to GIVE and obedient to His call to FOLLOW, and to PLEASE Him.

Deciding to leave our home, family, church, and ministry wasn't easy and definitely not comfortable, but it was right.

I tell you this in hope to inspire you to step out of your own comfort zone. If I did it...you can too.