Tomorrow I will willingly give my treasure back to Jesus. We are sending our middle daughter, Bonnie, to Guatemala where she will live for five and a half months as she goes through discipleship training with YWAM, Youth With a Mission. After she finishes the discipleship training, she will prepare to go to Austrailia to go through midwifery training. However, this midwifery training will not prepare her to be a midwife in the US, it is for becoming a birth attendant in 3rd world countries.
So, the reality is that we are sending Bonnie off to become trained to live a life away from the US. This isn't news to me. God has been preparing me for this time her whole life. When she was only 3 months old, and I was a brand new Christian who didn't know much about hearing God's voice speak, I heard him ask me as I rocked her, "I want you to give her back to me." I said "Of course," not realizing at the time that I was saying yes to a life of being separated from her.
Bonnie delights me. She lights up a room when she is in it. She seems to know my thoughts and cares about what happens in my day, as well as what my dreams are for life, the future, for Missio Lux. So, this departure hurts my heart as I will miss her terribly.
But, at the same time, I want to say that I willingly give up my treasure to God because I trust him to take care of her, to fulfill the dreams in Bonnie that he put within her, to meet me in my place of grief.
It is a great privilege to send a child into a poor country to live out a justice ministry. Having proper health care for pregnant mothers and babies is a reality that the whole world should have.
So, Jesus, take my treasure and use it for your purposes to love the forgotten, the poor, the scared and the vulnerable.
Do you trust God with your Treasure? I pray that we can support one another as we grow in this area together.
5 comments:
As I get older, or perhaps it is really has my kids get older, I tend to treasure time with them more and more. When they were little, there was so much time that went into care and feeding that the "quality time" seemed to be intertwined and part of the package deal. Now, with a freshman in high school and the younger ones no longer little ones, they need less care and feeding and getting the "quality time" must be done more deliberately in order to have it happen at all. Even with a deliberate effort, I am now competing with other friends and interests and am finding that I am not as competitive as I once was. It does not seem fair; at the same time that the grains of sand in the hour glass have started flowing in an accelerating avalanche; I am realizing how valuable time is and finding it harder to find a foothold of time on which to stand.
A few years ago I would not have thought that time was a treasurer. I worked on church committees, sang with the praise team, and worked in other ministries; all things that took time away from being at home with the family. I do not regret that investment of time and believe that God used the offering of time and talents for His purposes. But, at this point in my life and the life of my family, I would not spend all of my treasure of time on church business as I once did. I will still lift up my time as an offering but I will be looking to spend this treasure walking the ancient paths and seeking the good way and to do so with my family as much as I can.
Tamara, don't be sad. While Bonnie is acting out Gods will, she has not forgotten the earthly love and support you have given her throughout her years. Parents provide the example. You helped to plant the seed of God in Bonnie and she found Him. I am sure you also helped her hear His voice. I know you have helped me with this. God will take care of Bonnie and you. Although your heart may hurt, Bonnie is thinking of you always. As a child of very loving parents, I can promise that.
HI Curtis,
I love your description of the hour glass flowing in an accelerating avalanche. It's a wonderful word pictureto help us remember that time is a gift that we need to use wisely so we don't come to the end of our life full of regrets.
HI Andrea,
Your care and concern touches me. Bonnie is in Guatemala now and the most amazing thing happens to me when she gets to her destination, God fills me with joy and anticipaton for what he's going to do!
Curtis,
I cannot add much more to what you stated..."the grains of sand in the hour glass have started flowing in an accelerating avalanche", as this is how I also have viewed these past few precious years that have flown by with such alactrity with our children.
Yes, our "treasures" are what we have stored in our children and the values that have been instilled in them; to live on through them. It is by the Hand of God and His Grace that our children will take these "treasures" and see their true value and invest them wisely in the next generation to come.
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