A Small Part

My passion has always been missions. During this season of my life, I am a little grounded. Of course, I don’t resent this at all. On the contrary I LOVE this season of parenting with all of its challenges and blessings. But I still miss getting my hands dirty overseas.

While I’m here in the States I LOVE being involved with International Friendships. What better way to express our hearts for the Unreached than to love the internationals that come to the U.S for study? Usually every autumn we host international students who have come to the U.S. for the first time. They stay with us. We feed them and shuttle them and their unusually large amounts of college student stuff back and forth to OSU while they find a place to stay and get on their feet. It’s always an inconvenience and it’s always fun and rewarding. What worthwhile in life isn’t some combination of those things?

Last weekend I got a call from one of the Chinese girls who stayed with us last Fall. We haven’t been able to get together throughout the year mainly because…well…the birth of Grace. She told me that she wanted to thank us for hosting her and to tell me that she came to know the Lord this year and even got baptized as a public sign of her faith. She was really excited and said had been going to bible study and was growing in her walk with God. She also thanked me and told me that we were the beginning of it. Wow.

I wasn’t the one who prayed with her, but I got to play a small part. That’s so worth all of the luggage hauling. Thank you Lord for letting me be a small part of her life! She’s heading back to China for the summer. Keep her in your prayers…she could face some serious obstacles as she ventures home a New Creature.