You want to know something about me? I MISS the mission field. I MISS Africa so much it hurts. My friend Shonni posted some pictures from her recent trip to Uganda. My heart broke. There is just something about Africa. The way the people worship and serve the Father is unbelievable, something hard to understand unless you have experienced it.
You all know that I am South African. I met an American missionary in South Africa, fell head over heals in love, learned quickly that there was so much more to God than I ever imagine…and the rest is history. I posted about our journey here. Anyway, I miss the mission field. I miss the life of serving God out on the field. I miss it with all my heart.
Needless to say, over the years that we have been living out of Africa we have begged, and I mean BEGGED, God to let us go back. On a few occasions we have been so desperate to go ‘home’ that we have taken things into our own hands and actively taken steps to go back. Every single time the Lord has brought our plans to a grinding halt. Ever experienced that? When you move full steam ahead with something (of course justifying all the way that it is a “God thing”), only to have it all just fall apart before your eyes?
As much as I miss Africa (the place as well as my precious friends and family), I am learning that God wants us to live in the here and now. Not in the tomorrows. Not in what may (or may not) be on the cards in the future. Only in the here and now. We have a precious friend who always reminds us that we are not here by some mistake–we are here because God has us here. We are here (in the USA) because the Almighty Father has a plan and a purpose in it all. What He does with us here is not my concern–being obedient to STAY is all that matters. Sometimes it is so much harder to stay. There is no place I would rather be than right in the center of His will for my life.
I’m learning something, sweet friends. The mission field will always be appealing to me. There is just something about it that gets under your skin. But, here’s my reality–I AM on my mission field. This is my mission. Raising my children, right here in my own home, is my mission. It is what God has called me to do, equipped to me do and annointed me to do. How easy it is for me to want to do more, be more. How often I find myself taking my eyes off the purpose God has for my life.
I so often forget what an incredible call motherhood is. So often my heart and thoughts are somewhere else–not in my home, focused on the task He has given me. I don’t mean just the daily caring of my children, but the amazing responsibility of sowing seed into their little lives. The mission is huge…enormous! The mission of ensuring that, by the time they leave my nest, they will be equipped with everything they need to serve the Lord for the rest of their lives. The huge responsibility of ensuring they will have the Word of God so buried in their hearts that they [hopefully] will never get caught up in the things of the world.
So here I am today, willing to serve the Father with all my heart in this, my mission field. No, I may not be in Africa–but I am right where He needs me to be. There will always be a pull to do more, to be more, to get involved in other things. But this is it–my mission. Serving my Father in heaven with everything that is within me–and doing it with a cheerful heart.
May we always be mindful of the high calling that motherhood is. Our society has made children out to be such a burden, so much hard work. I would be rich if I got paid every time someone made a comment about how I ‘have my hands full’ with a look that said ‘you must be crazy, woman’. It drives me nuts. I would much rather choose to have my hands full, rather than empty. How blessed we mom’s are. We have the awesome mission of raising the next generation–there can be no higher calling for me right now. This is my mission, and I am so content in it.
This is my Africa!
