We just hugged our treasures goodbye 12 days ago, as they flew away for another season of loving and serving the very dear people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
My mother’s heart wants to quake with fear as I kiss my children and the precious face of their 4 month old treasure, little Hudson, nestled in the arms of his loving parents for the long journey overseas. I think of the rumors I hear of the growing threat of the deadly ebola virus in various parts of Africa.... and of all the other dangers lurking in many of those foreign mission fields, threatening life and health...
Then I remember the dangers that lurked in this dark world when Heaven waved goodbye to the One who came to earth-- also a helpless babe and Heaven’s most priceless treasure... and my heart melts with yearning to give my best and lay all my treasures on the altar. It is my reasonable service! How could I hold anything back?
My thoughts turn back to a letter Chantée wrote to her sister from the DRC in January of this year, as she was recovering from malaria while pregnant with Hudson. During her convalescence she read the book When God Writes Your Life Story. Inspired and challenged she wrote to her sister:
“I was deeply moved by this prayer by a man named Walter Wilson, when he sold himself out to God: 'Lord, I give You this body of mine; from my head to my feet, I give it to You. My hands, my limbs, my eyes, my brain; all that I am inside and out, I hand over to You. Live in and through me whatever life You please. You may send this body to Africa, or lay it on a bed with cancer. You may blind my eyes, or send me with Your message to Tibet. You may take this body to the Eskimos, or send it to a hospital with pneumonia. This body of mine is Yours alone from this moment on.'
Oh Tashy, it’s so easy to sing, 'I’ll go where you want me to go', but what if that means He wants a little girl to become GYC president? Or a contented farmer’s wife to preach Christ on the streets of Bristow? Or what if an eager and (seemingly) brave young couple have to give up their first little one to the grip of malaria because God has called them to work in a place where disease often claims life. I might be willing to work half my life in Africa, but am I just as willing to have my sight removed if that best accomplishes His purposes in this world?
The exchanged life.
It is what I want to live, every day. Whatever it means...”And so with tears I thank the Giver and Sustainer of our lives: Thank you, precious Lord that our children count not their lives dear unto themselves (Acts 20:24) or too precious to risk while reaching the precious souls of simple people in far away lands, for whom Jesus came to live and die....
“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” Phil. 1:20
Beautiful letter
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