World at My Door

Sometimes—and especially in these puzzling times—it is good for me to remember that our unlimited God fulfills His objectives through methods we didn’t anticipate.  So I open the book of Esther and worship a God who triumphs masterfully in silence. And then I trace His fingerprints in my own journey to observe that He is and has always been at work.

My daughter gave me a fun compliment yesterday. A ministry was recruiting a summer team to trek across several countries in Europe to share the gospel. When my daughter thought, “Who would be willing to do something crazy like this,” she answered, “My mom,” and forwarded the email to me. I don’t think the gig is my assignment this time. But she was right about the adventurous spirit that lives in this hometown girl.

Something in me always wanted to see the world. And I have enjoyed every foray into unexplored territory. My view of God is enlarged during those times because the variety of His handiwork, both in places and faces, shows me what a beautifully complex Designer He is.

When I married and began mothering littles, such adventures went on a shelf in the closet. But we lived in Los Angeles. Six different languages were spoken among the twenty homes on our block. Mountain landmarks oriented my directions. And chilly summer evenings reminded me I stood within reach of both desert and ocean. God seemed big here too in the vastness and diversity He had made.

Then we moved back to my hometown in Florida. A good and right move in every way. Except that my world got very small. Homeschooling. Church planting. Extended family. I wouldn’t trade any of those for the world, as they say. But is that what happened? Where did the big world go?

God stoked the fire of a desperate heart by providing editing work for a Christian publisher. I could do something to serve the larger Body of Christ around the world beyond the four walls of my home. But He knew I eventually needed more. And He never forgot my heart’s longing to go change the world.

He began to bring them one at a time.

Katya was adopted along with two teenage boys by a courageous family in town. Ukrainian orphanages didn’t provide much education, and besides needing to learn English, she had a lot to catch up on scholastically at age 15. We just wrapped her into our homeschool for her first year in America. I taught her phonics and math along with my own kids. She taught us how to bake varenicki. I told her Bible stories and read literature aloud. She told us about growing up in an orphanage.

Mireille knocked on my door one spring morning selling books. I needed more books like a hole in my head and explained that up front, though not in such an American idiom because she was from Estonia. I invited her in for a glass of water. We talked a bit, and since it was close to lunchtime I offered her a sandwich. That was all it took. We became her respite for our section of her selling territory. Door-to-door is tough work on a bicycle. She hung out here if it was pouring rain or she needed to use my computer. She sat in on homeschool Bible lessons and science projects on those mornings. We discussed Russian politics and Christian apologetics. She showed us her home in Estonia on Google Earth, and I tried to show her who Jesus is.

Sue just needed a host home for a couple weeks during her stay as an exchange student from Asia. On the first night, she and I sat up watching the JESUS Film together in her heart language in my living room. She said at the end that she believed this. Glorious, child-like faith. So each morning before I drove her to class, we read together from a Chinese-English parallel Bible, discussed the basics of new life in Christ, and prayed together to a God who sends an eleven-year-old across an ocean to meet Jesus in a town in Florida.

The most recent sojourner to stay with us for a season was as American as they come. A hometown girl like me, in fact. Someone my daughter met at the community college. When she left, I wondered if anything during those months rubbed off on her. She told my daughter over Christmas break that she is praying a lot more these days, surrendering her future to His wishes, and trusting Him to lead her forward.

I never left my house, yet He let me leave fingerprints on three nations plus my own.

He wanted to show His love to some young women He cared about. He graciously wrote me into a scene of their stories. And He let me know that He is, in fact, so big and so vast and so good that even when I am not adventuring to the ends of the earth, I can still be part of His big picture of making disciples of all nations. He is big enough to bring the world to my door. He is big enough to accomplish whatever He purposes to do. And He is faithful to work His wonders even in some pretty unconventional and unexpected ways. That makes me trust Him for the days ahead.