A Surviving Story!

I was struggling with people telling me that I should get a job not only to help support my family but because I would be good at it. I know there are many opportunities out there that I would excel at out there, but my heart felt like it had a ton of weight on it even thinking about it. I went on facebook and went looking at others posts for the day and I first came across this verse: trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take ♥ Proverbs 3:5-6. I felt like God was telling me not to worry about a job in that verse. Then I had received an e-mail from a friend that I had not yet read, so I read it. This is what it said.

For young ladies: A Survival Story

After hiking up with my pack the night before, I arose and made my coffee and worshipped the Lord, enjoying the sweet solitude of the morning. I was up here alone to watch the place, as all of our co-workers had obligations in town this week, as did my own family. After feeding all the animals, I made my breakfast of fried eggs and toast, washed the dishes, and picked up things around the house I had scattered yesterday. I heard a whistle and went out to find an Awa boy on the porch, with a piece of meat his dad had shot the night before. I thanked him and then went back inside to put it in a pot for lunch. I gathered my dirty clothes from the hike up and took them down to the stream to wash, and after washing them out I carried them back up the hill to the house where I hung them up on the line. I then gathered the clothes that had been hung up before on our last trip and folded them and took them to the rooms where they belonged. After this I noticed the water filter looked a bit dirty so I cleaned that. I caught up on a little email correspondence for a bit, and then went to the garden to see if there were any sweet potatoes large enough to have with my lunch. Finding them all too small, I came back in and washed and peeled some potatoes we had brought up the week before. I took the skin off of the meat to make pork rind, and cooked the meat in the pressure cooker. After enjoying a good meal when all of this was done, I spent the next half hour cleaning up. By one oclock, I was done. So in the morning hours since I had gotten up, I had worshipped the Lord, fed the animals, cooked breakfast, washed dishes, done the laundry, answered a few notes, worked a minute or two in the garden, prepared lunch, eaten, and done the dishes again.

And that was all I did.

As pleasant as the morning was, all I really did was survive.

That is, all I really did was what my faithful wife always does for me, every day, every week, every month, every year. Furthermore, I did no banking, no homeschooling, and no household management like she does. I only managed to take care of myself. I baked no cookies, taught no literacy, nor did any schedule planning on the calendar. All I managed to do was to eat and keep clean. Today, not a verse of Awa Scripture was translated, not a phrase for one Awa lesson was prepared, taught, or even thought about. Pleasant as the morning was, all I really did…was live.

Young ladies, listen to me. It may be that God has some very exciting and exhilarating ministry waiting for you out there. It may be that you will be the next Amy Carmichael or the next Elizabeth Elliot, writing books and speaking to thousands on the radio. But it may be that God wants nothing more and nothing less from you than for you to take care of a man and his children, and impact the world through your family. Or it may be that He simply wants you to do all the same things you would normally do every day, but to do so in another part of the world so that your family can share God’s Word with a group of people who couldn’t have it otherwise.

My wife Dorcas has been involved in many aspects of the Awa ministry. For the past twenty years, she has hiked many trails, counseled and encouraged women, prepared countless meals, and taught people to read and write. But by far the greatest thing she has done has been to multiply her ministry through her family. She has done that by taking care of me, and through raising and educating three godly children who are also now serving the Lord in different ways. All the hundreds of Bible lessons I have prepared have been her lessons. All the verses of Scripture translated are her translations, and all the people taught and nurtured in the Lord, her disciples. Because none of it would have happened without her. None of us in the family would be where we are, nor would the budding Awa Church be what it is, had she not been willing to leave her family in the States so she could wash diapers in a stream, live in a house made of chainsaw boards, and cook noodles and rice on a little stovetop burner. One day she will hear her Lord say to her, “'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.'” Matt 25:21

What does He want you to do with your life?

The verse and this story put together was a clear sign in my heart and mind that God made me for a purpose. He has given me all sorts of jobs before and He will continue to do that in my life. But for now that is no greater responsibility or purpose in my life that will replace my job as mother. It is the most important and what God is telling me to do. So I will say no to all the other jobs out there for the time being. If there was a way that I could be at home still being a mom and have a job I would welcome it. but for now home is where my job is and I will trust God with our finances and other things knowing I will be following His will.