lessons learned on foreign soil

Foreign missions has been on my mind. And all this thinking has brought back a flurry of memories from my short-term experience in that great ministry. SO (lest I explode in smithereens for keeping them inside) here's four simple lessons I brought back from Asia, and how they still affect my life today. 

#1 Don't expect slow motion, tug-on-heart-strings moments with soft music.

It's not like I was expecting them. That much. It's just that most missionary presentations I'd seen had moments like this. But although I found myself falling in love with this Asian country, and even though I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had led me there by His own hand, I never had that moment. You know?

Any presentation of human life (think missions) would be incomplete without an emotional element. I get that. But when we grow discontent or uncertain in what God has led us to because we don't feel it or have that moment, something's wrong. So don't be like yours truly who took longer than she cares to admit to realize...

God's will doesn't need the validation of emotional moments.

#2 Missions is a lot like doing normal life on different soil. 

Spiritual disciplines take work. But my first morning in Asia, I sat with my Bible in a missionary's back room thinking: This is IT. I mean, this is going to be all Amy Charmichael-Elisabeth Elliot-ish. I'm on foreign soil after all. I've got coconut trees fluttering outside the window, and a strange cacophony of life happening just over that cinder block wall...But when I began to read and pray, it took work.

In the months to come, I found many things took work. And surprise! They were the same kinds of things that took effort Stateside. And what I enjoyed? How I ministered? Struggled with? Yep, down to the nuances of my personality. It was all the same. (sigh)

Change is no miracle pill that makes life a scintillating adventure and us Christians of Pauline proportions. So no matter where God has us now, and where He will lead in the future...

Prepare for the unknown next by learning to live righteously in the normal now.

#3 There is tremendous value in watching.

I'm a doer. And I landed in Asia full speed ahead. But how can you do when you can't even walk down the road without looking discombobulatedly foolish? I quickly realized most doing would have to be replaced for those two short years.

I replaced it with watching. 


As I slowed down, I watched what church worship looks like without four walls, chandeliers, air conditioning, bulletins...and found the body of Christ the same in it's great foundation and thrilling beauty. I saw living conditions more comfortable than my own and some more poor than I thought possible. Finding in both a vibrant spirituality. I watched Bible college students strain every God-given resource to apply what they were learning. I observed bold men of God bend toward each other in gracious humility for the cause of Christ. I saw God answer prayers for outrageous needs. My own and others. I noticed His protection in a daily deluge of tiny details.

Since returning to the States, I see God at work in ways I hadn't noticed before. Because before I was always doing. But you don't have to travel outside the country to learn...

If you slow down enough to look for God's hand, you will find it and it will change you.

#4 Many will not respond to God's personal work the way we want them to. 

I came home from Asia full to overflowing, but I quickly learned that I had about 2 minutes to stuff 2 years of life into when people asked. This was disheartening. And I started to question, was my time there really worth it? Are these lessons actually true? Maybe it's not such a big deal.

This can happen. There's not the leaning forward and baited breath we want to see when we share what God is doing in and through us. Truth is, very few are skilled at listening in a way that communicates the value of what is being heard. And that's ok. It doesn't change the reality of what God is doing. So don't stop sharing God's personal work with others. But...

Don't weigh God's work by others' response to it.
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At some point I'll blog about the outrageous (and hilarious) adventures I had during those two years. But for now, it's the lessons that loom largest in my mind. Lessons learned on foreign soil that can bear much fruit when planted on home ground. 

Beth