Growing Missionaries

I love reading and my favorite thing to read these day is biographies of missionaries. When I was younger I found their stories interesting and entertaining but now I find them amazing and inspiring!

The first missionary story to make a really significant impact on my life was the story of Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China. At the time that I read it (actually re-read because I had read it before), I had two little babies and I was feeling like I wasn't accomplishing much in life. Staying home, not coming into contact with other adults much at all, really not fitting into the churches we tried even though I'd make the effort to get involved. The only adults that I talked to about life, other than my husband, was my mom (by phone) and his mom! I was feeling a bit depressed about things when I read that book.

A small part at the beginning of this book permanently changed my perspective on my job. I read about Hudson Taylor's parents praying to God before he was even born, that their child would take the gospel to China. He never knew about this until he was a missionary in China as an adult. Suddenly I realized that God used those parents to change the eternal destiny of multitudes of souls in China! Not through going out and doing amazing things that everyone could see and call amazing, but by doing the quiet little thing of raising their child for the Lord! It's not a job with lots of glory, but when you look down the road and see what God could do with your service... Wow!!

To me it would be a great thing if God chose to use one of my children as an overseas missionary. Not that I would like my children to be far away, but I would definitely love to have my children play a part in spreading the gospel to all the world. At the same time, I pray that God will use all of my children in a significant way, drawing others to Christ and supporting other missionaries, no matter where they end up.

With that in mind, I've not had another day of feeling like my job was pointless. I'm preparing little missionaries to love and serve the Lord. No other job could have greater, longer lasting significance!