Thrive_Autumn 2019 digital issue

thrive-magazine.ca
thrive / 7
RUNNING DRY
SOME OF OUR MISSIONARIES SHARE HOW THEY STRIVE TO STAY
CLOSE TO THE LORD IN THE MIDST OF DAILY MINISTRY DEMANDS.
*Some names have been removed to maintain anonymity.
Kathryn Fleming, Fellowship
International missionary
“You must arrange your days so that you
are experiencing deep contentment, joy,
and confidence in your everyday life with
God.” —Dallas Willard
When I was a child I was in a church
club that required me to learn a lot of
Bible verses. If you memorized enough
Scripture you could win prizes. I liked
the prizes as well as the attention.
One day, after procrastinating and
only having a couple of hours before
the reciting, I put a verse to song.
Colossians 3:16: “Let the Word of Christ
dwell in you richly...” Little did I know
that years later this would be one of
the ways I nourished myself and my
family spiritually. God speaks to me all
day long through passages of Scripture
that I have memorized through song.
I swim regularly, and often the Holy
Spirit brings passages to mind and I get
to sing them while exercising. When
I feel anxious and fearful the Spirit reminds
me of the Lord’s presence with
me and I am comforted. Sometimes
I look for other ways to calm myself
down but God graciously and tenderly,
through His Word, brings me to back
to His reality-the only true source of
peace. In Japan, feelings of inadequacy
and fear often grip me just before
meeting people. I would like to turn
around and go home, but God reminds
me through my Scripture songs that
He goes ahead of me and will strengthen
me. “But we have this treasure in jars
of clay to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us.”
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV).
K., Fellowship International missionary
While trying to help other people establish and maintain a growing walk with Jesus,
it is easy to fall into a pattern of coming to the Word in order to teach it, rather than in
order to deepen my own walk. I have done various things over the years to make sure
that I was listening to the Spirit.
One thing I have done is to keep a jar in which I place sticky notes of thanksgiving for
what God is doing in and through me. Then, on New Year’s Eve, I take them all out and
remember God’s faithfulness throughout that year. Reading through the Bible has been
another way to keep the focus off of ministry and on Jesus.
I have also tried to learn to obey when God
reveals something new to me. I can’t expect my
relationship to grow if I am not willing to put
into practice the things I already know that I
need to incorporate in my life.
One final thing that helps me is to read
Scripture in different versions of English,
Spanish, and Portuguese in order to really meditate
on a passage, especially when it is one that
I have read often. Slowing down and hearing
it in a different way often allows the Spirit to
speak in fresh ways through a familiar passage.
M. Wall, Fellowship International missionary
SLOWING DOWN
AND HEARING IT IN
A DIFFERENT WAY
OFTEN ALLOWS
THE SPIRIT TO
SPEAK IN FRESH
WAYS THROUGH A
FAMILIAR PASSAGE.
Following Jesus allows me to navigate various cultural landscapes. Here is one thing
that helps me to stay fresh: I am learning to listen. I pray as I eat, and eat as I pray. God
comes to remind me in strange ways that He is with me. A little bird lands on my window
sill as I contemplate God’s wonder in the quietness of the morning. My prayer is
full of burden. Through the sparrow, God reminds me that He’s got my back. The burden
lifts and I can move on with more lightness. As I travel cross-culturally to teach,
I am usually over-prepared. But then in the midst of trying to communicate a new
concept, one local leader says, “Here, take my eyes.” Seeing through the eyes of others
and learning from their embodiment of what it means to follow Jesus rattles me every
time, but God speaks through this. These new eyes help me to question what I have received
from my previous cultural experiences. They are God’s way of keeping me fresh.
I am learning to listen.