“Come, follow me.”
This invitation given by Jesus to the
rich young man has always pulled at my heart. In Mark's gospel, it
adds that Jesus “loved him” when he looked at the man and invited
him to be His disciple. (Mark 10:21) Imagine Christ, looking at you
lovingly and saying to you: “Come, follow me.” His invitation is
to all of us, individually, personally.
I have sought to respond to this
invitation throughout my adult life, sometimes much better and more
intentional than others, and now I'm embarking on a new path that I
haven't seriously considered before: foreign missionary. This is a
call that my husband, Robert, has felt for many years, since his childhood in fact. Over the years he'd ask me to pray about whether God might be calling us to foreign missions and I said I would but to be honest I never really did. I had zero interest in foreign missions and felt like if God was calling us to that, He would put the desire on my heart, too.
About two years ago, Robert called me out about this and said, "You've never really prayed about this, have you?" and I had to admit I hadn't. So, I told him I really would take it to prayer this time, and I did. Over the course of several months, I started praying with the daily readings and specifically asked God to speak to my heart and to give me the desire for foreign missions if that was His will for our family. And He did!! He spoke to me through Scripture over and over again. It felt like almost every day (and sometimes is was), Jesus was inviting me to come and follow Him more intentionally, and was calling me to look beyond myself and my own little world and to see Him in others. My desire for foreign missions grew so much during this time that it was an obvious answer to my prayer.
About two years ago, Robert called me out about this and said, "You've never really prayed about this, have you?" and I had to admit I hadn't. So, I told him I really would take it to prayer this time, and I did. Over the course of several months, I started praying with the daily readings and specifically asked God to speak to my heart and to give me the desire for foreign missions if that was His will for our family. And He did!! He spoke to me through Scripture over and over again. It felt like almost every day (and sometimes is was), Jesus was inviting me to come and follow Him more intentionally, and was calling me to look beyond myself and my own little world and to see Him in others. My desire for foreign missions grew so much during this time that it was an obvious answer to my prayer.
I wondered, though, how we could go as
a young family...of six kids! One night, Robert came across a website for an organization called Family Missions Company. They prepare and send out families just like ours - big in size but small in age - into foreign missions. It was another answered prayer, for me. I poured
over their website that night and watched the testimonials of the
couples who answered the call to a missionary vocation, and read the
blogs of families in missions. The desire I had for foreign missions turned into joy and excitement at realizing this was a real possibility!
We learned that we could come down to
Louisiana, where Family Missions Co. is based, for a “Come &See” weekend to learn more about the organization and to work and
pray with the staff and missionaries in town. Because of certain
circumstances, we had to wait over a year before finally being able
to attend a Come & See, which we did last August. Being able to talk with
the missionaries and work and pray with them was invaluable in our
discernment. The kids made quick friendships with the missionary
kids, and we were able to talk with some of them, too, about their
experiences in missions. It was a weekend filled with joy and peace, and
the last piece that confirmed the calling and invitation we both felt in
our hearts.
Soon after coming back home, we decided to apply to join FMC as full-time missionaries. We heard back from them mid-December that we'd been accepted. We'll be starting a 3-month Intake in September and then leaving for our first mission in January 2019. It seems like a long time away but we have so much to do in the meantime that it's going to fly by.
Please pray for us as we prepare for this new chapter in our lives!
In Christ,
Tami
In Christ,
Tami
Some pictures from the Come & See
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