Our story in God's story

On a recent flight I was alone and was seated by a retired woman who easily began conversation with me.  I’m usually the one to initiate conversation but actually intended to sleep most of this flight.  She began sharing with me that she and her husband had been missionaries in east Africa for 35 years only to retire 6 years earlier.  I asked her how she got to Africa and this began a beautiful almost 2 hour story.  She shared about being a missionary kid to Hawaii during her childhood, and knowing she was called to be an international missionary at the age of 10.  Her family moved to Oklahoma and after college she went to Ft. Worth, Tx to seminary. 

She told about meeting her husband for the first time and how it was love at first sight.

Pure.  Beautiful love.

But they had a problem…he wasn’t interested in being a missionary overseas.  He wanted to be in youth ministry.  In her sweet kind words she said, “That was a struggle for a long while.  I just kept praying for God’s direction.” 

Then he spent a summer as a youth minister in The Dalles, Oregon and everything changed.  He wrote to her saying he was open to being a missionary and surrendered his life to preach and pursue being a pastor.  I asked what she thought when she read that letter…

She smiled really big and got tears in her eye and said, “oh, I was thankful and yelled in celebration!”  After all these years, telling about this moment still brought joyful tears to her eyes…lovely.

Kind of wish I could have been there to see that.

She went on to tell me how she remembers the first time he held her hand.  And after they were married, how they served at a church for a few of their young married years, then she went to a missions conference that was highlighting missions in Eastern Africa.  She said, “they were giving out the Comission magazine so I took one and brought it home.”

Apparently he read it.  Because he came to her and explained the article he read and she even told me the picture that he was looking at in the magazine that God began to use to send them to Africa(men holding a log with 9 on one end and only 1 man on the other end).  The article said something like who needs your help? 

He told her we need to go help that one man in East Africa. 

I asked her what she felt in that moment…she said, “Thankful and excited.  We were going overseas…where I knew God had called me to go long before.  God had given me peace to wait and now we were going.”

She told of discovering they weren’t able to have children and how God orchestrated them to adopt two children, just coinciding with their visits to the states.  She told me how both of their boys had loved God and how they had walked away from God at times, but one is walking with Jesus now.  She spoke tenderly about the son who asked them years ago not to talk to him about God anymore. 

She had tears in her eyes again.  Because of her love for her son and her Jesus.  She simply said, “We keep praying for him even though we can’t talk to him about Jesus.”

I cried with her.  We had a mom heart-to-heart moment.

We continued our conversation until we landed…Becky and I.  A woman whose heart was gripped by Jesus at a young age and never looked back.  A woman whose life is rich because she followed Jesus where He asked her to go.  A woman who encouraged me with her story and whose faith was evident even when life didn’t make sense.

I had been at a large Church planting conference that week and as we talked she shared that she lived in the area and had attended some of it as well.  One of the speakers quoted someone saying, “what matters at the end of your life is what continues when you are gone.”  Her life mattered in Africa and continues to every Sunday they drive to a neighboring city to pick up their grandkids to bring them to church.  No matter where she lives her life matters.  To Jesus and for Jesus.

I want God to use my life to matter.  I want my life to matter.  I want to be retired and encourage someone with the ways I have experienced God in my life…simply by telling my story and how it’s really a part of God’s story.  God is weaving and has been for over 2,000 years a greater story with Himself at the center of it. 

I want my story to really be a story about Him. 

The Beginning of my Grandma's Forever

June 10-11, 2015

My sweet Grandma Beth is getting ready to meet Jesus face to face and see Papa after eleven years.  This is a mixed up sort of emotional evening.  Her blood pressure if fading…increased meds to stabilize stopped helping this evening…bp was 69/37 at 7:40pm…at 10:40pm is was 54/29, pulse oxygen at 80…she’s leaving this world.  When I think about her uncomfortable, confused, throwing up…I’m anxious for her joy to come quickly…when I think about her getting to fall at Jesus’ feet, I can’t even fathom.  But when I think about what I felt when I’d see my Grandma Beth’s car pull into the school circle to pick me up and take me to ice cream or when I think about sitting on her front porch swing with her singing kum ba yah my Lord, or when I think about her telling me “I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,” my heart aches.  I’m just sad.  I had the privileged joy in my childhood to grow up in the same town as one set of my grandparents.  My grandma was always present.  It’s weird that Baby K, my youngest will never remember meeting her.  Never know her.  I cried when I received word that she was being taken by ambulance to the hospital, she couldn’t walk, her eyes were stationary and she wasn’t talking…I asked Handsome K if this is the end? That was two days ago. 

Makes me think what a vapor our lives really are.  I walked in and laid my hand on each of my kids tonight, watched them breath a few moments and prayed that I’m half the serving, generous, loving woman my grandma was.  Prayed that my kids would know how much I love them everyday, so they would never doubt that. 

For the past three years, my Grandma has often asked, “Where’s James?”  James is my Papa, who met Jesus 11 years ago.  But when my Grandma’s dementia would take over her safe place was where Papa was.  She’s asked my mom and I’m sure everyone at the nursing home, “Where’s James?”  They would tell her he died and she would say, “oh, ok” or “he did?” She’s never quit asking about him.  A few hours ago she asked my Mom again, “Where’s James?”  Mom usually tells her he is gone.  Tonight she told her, “He’s at home, he will be here soon.”  Mom said she just couldn’t tell her again.  We decided it’s true because Papa is at home in Heaven and Grandma will get to see him soon. 

I cried as I talked to Handsome K on the phone, seemed so childish of me but I wanted one more time to tell my Grandma, “I love you a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.”  Why in the last moments would it be so comforting to say just one more thing to those you love.  I just wanted her to know again that I love her.

Mom and I talked at 11pm tonight.  Quickly.  I wanted to be with her.  Grandma’s life on earth is almost done.  Fading.

A little after midnight for me (2am in Texas) I got this text from my mom…

“Surrounded by your glory

What will my heart feel

Will I dance for you Jesus

Or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in your presence

Or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah

Will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

I can only imagine”

Mother is in awe of our Heavenly Father.

She is wrapped in the arms of our

Heavenly Father. She is at peace.

And now she knows,

"Where is James?"

As soon as I saw the first line I started to cry because I remember sitting in my grandparents dining room playing that song for Grandma when we searched and decided songs for Papa’s funeral.  I knew immediately she was gone.  I read it three times and sobbed like a baby…loud while rocking back and forth alone on my couch.  I deeply love my Grandma.  Her first name is Golden, and that she was.  It doesn’t seem real.  I know it is.  I’m grateful that I can be joyful in where she is now…no pain, no sorrow, no hospitals, no confusion.   But death is so final for us left here on Earth.  She is beginning the rest of her forever in the wee hours of June 11, 2015. 

Do I believe we will know people in Heaven just like we do on Earth?? Probably not because we won’t remember sin.  But I choose to think about knowing people deeply in Heaven.  God made us relational.  Primarily so we can have a relationship with Him and for Him to be glorified.  My Grandma’s life glorified God.

You’re right mom, she will never again ask, “Where’s James?” 

She knows.

I choose to visualize Grandma and Papa having a cup of coffee and singing It Is Well With my Soul together loudly praising our Heavenly Father forever in His presence as only those in Heaven understand.   While I’m back on Earth and looking forward to the day that I can right now only imagine.   

After getting back home I heard this song as if for the first time…it is a beautiful reminder that our time on Earth is so short really and our forever home is waiting for us. 

I hold your hand and watch as the sun slowly fades

Far in the distance the Father is calling your name

And it’s time for you to go home

And everything in me wants to hold on

But I’m letting you go with this goodbye kiss and this promise

I’ll see you in a little while

I’ll see you in a little while

It won’t be too long now

We’ll see it on the other side

The wait was only the blink of an eye

So I’m not gonna say goodbye

‘Cause I’ll see you in a little while

Maybe you’ll teach me all the songs they sing in heaven

Maybe you’ll show me how you can fly

And I’ll hear you laugh again

And we won’t remember when

We were not together and this time it’s forever

                                       (Stephen Curtis Chapman)

God I pray that I am a servant and love people deeply like my Grandma did.  Help me to be that with my life…no greater joy than knowing you…in life and in death.

Around the World

I recently had the opportunity to follow God to the other side of the world.
I prayed before leaving

that I would be ready to give an answer for the 

hope that is within me, easily and freely. That I

would meet university students that could speak 

enough English to talk with.

We arrived after two days of travel and I was ready

to have some conversations, learn about the

local culture and share with people hope and truth.

The first night I was at an English corner coffee 

shop....genius by the way, everyone there came because 

they wanted to better their English, they didn't really care what they were talking about.

I walked up and sat with 4 people and met some new friends.  It was easy and 

fun and they'd help each other in translating. The girl I connected most with was 

about to take her graduate school test in English! She aspired to be a written 

translator, but would have to start first with oral translating.

Accident?

I don't think so.

They were telling me about their new year celebration and said,"it's like

Christmas in America." 

Not exactly.

So we talked about Jesus' birth.

She said she liked to read, so we talked about our favorite books...about the most 

important book...the bible. 

She said "I'm very interested in hearing the story."

Ok.

We talked about God and how He wrote the Bible.

The cafe was closing, so I asked her if she would 

show me around her university the next day and have lunch. She said she would like to
do that. I gave her a short book about Jesus so I could talk to her tomorrow about it.

Many prayers for my new friend...when you wake up in the middle of the night on the
other side of the world because it's a different part of the day to your body, you have
some time to pray.

We met the next day, and spent all day together. I saw her beautiful campus, took pictures,

and laughed and talked.  I asked her if she read the short booklet I gave her, she said she

had and had some questions. Then her phone beeped and she said said we could talk

about that later. We were headed to lunch with some others and her friend was texting.

About an hour later, after they had ordered a massive amount of food for us to eat for 

lunch, she turned and said, "ok, let's talk about the bible."

Ok.

There were 6 people at lunch with us. I was able to share
the gospel with her...talking about sin, the cross, Jesus
dying so we can have a relationship with Him.  She asked
me if all Americans believe.  I said no.  Then she asked me,
"what do you get if you are a believer and what do you get
if you are not a believer?"

Great question.

Hope, peace, eternal life, relationship with Jesus, purpose,
reason for life. We talked about it all.

Or...

Separation from God, no purpose, confusion...

We talked about each of those things.  Handsome K and another friend with our

group were also sitting at the table and later said the other two girls were listening too.

Prayers being answered.  Getting to talk about the hope that is within me.

We had to say goodbye for the evening, but planned to meet again in a couple of days. 

We hung out again and we were able to talk for a few hours and of course talked 

about Jesus, her future, her boyfriend, her upcoming test and things she is concerned about. 

She asked me if I have a happy life as an American and as a Christian.  We talked about

how those are not synonymous.  I asked her if she had a happy life.  She listed the things

that are going "right" for her...boyfriend, school, promising career, 

not wanting for much...really college students are so similar. 

She told me she wanted to read more and learn more about the Bible.  We exchanged a way

to text with each other, she told me if I'm ever near again she would like to get together. 

We shut down the cafe we were in and my team was ready to head back to the hotel...we

waited for her boyfriend to meet her to walk her home.  She told me that after her test she'd

like to read the Bible.  (I made a mental note to bring that up again via text). 

We hugged and said goodbye.  We waved and walked away.

Sometimes it's weird for me when I know I will never see someone again that I have prayed

for and will continue to pray accepts Jesus.  It's weird because I think things like: "If I hadn't

gone to that coffee shop that night I wouldn't have met her."  "If she wasn't able to speak

such wonderful English we would have never had the depth of conversation that we were

able to have. It's weird because now I know her and our lives will continue on...but both

changed because of it.

This wells up in my heart the question...Am I being a friend that is allowing the Jesus kind

of change to happen in my normal life?  Am I the kind of person that is open to the Holy

Spirit moving and working in and through me and my friends?  Do my kids know a little

more about Jesus and life each day because we interacted?  Does my husband experience

joy because we interacted?

I went around the world and God gave me the gift of meeting a college girl to remind me of

being present where I am and looking for His movement in my circumstances, His words,

other believers, and converstions with Him in my quiet moments in a day. 

Just this week I asked my friend about the Bible, I'm awaiting her reply and pray that I will

get to one day hear her say that she trusts in Jesus.