Hands of Prayer

"None of us go the mission field to force our beliefs on an unsuspecting people. We go because the people already know about God. But they're desperate for answers concerning Him. Deserate enough to walk on bare feet three days through a jungle." -Kingsbury

It has become really hard for me lately to put into words just how often missions, missionary work, or being a missionary confronts me on a daily basis. I write here, mostly so in a year, I can look back and say, "I wasn't crazy, those things really did happen". So here is another example. I'm reading this book series, which has become very addicting I must say. It has saddened me these past two days to be so sick that I couldn't stay awake long enough to read more than a page. Movies had to satisfy my brief moments of awareness until I was right back into a state of dormancy. But finally, today, I woke up with a renewed sense of being awake. Made cinnamon rolls, a new Saturday tradition, and continued where I had left on in the book. About three hours later and I have finished the book with a new outlook on prayer. The main character in this book series was given away by his birth parents and adopted by Christian missionaries. When he was 18 years old, his parents die in a plan crash, attach that with only moments of memories with those parents in the last 18 years and the character is heart broken. He's angry at God and doesn't understand why everything has been taken from him, including his birth parents, when he realizes he has been adopted. Towards the end of the book he reunites with an old friend from boarding school, a young man who has continued his parents love of serving in mission, in Mexico. The character flies down, has a brief conversations with his friend, participates in a street ministry fair hosted by his friend, and asks Jesus into his heart. Upon arriving home, he receives a package from his birth father that explains that he has been searching for him and that this package, with photos of his family, is his last effort to try to connect with him. He's a movie star, with no family, and lots of paparazzi following him around. As prayer and God would have it, the two meet, and the character realizes that more than just his birth father had been praying for him, but a few people, some who didn't even know who he was, had prayed that he would receive the greatest gift of all.

So what does this mean to me? One, I'm thankful for the life I have given to Jesus and the way He has made me a new person. I would never have dreams to travel around the world to serve others, to tell them about God, if it wasn't for Jesus. I'm thankful for the people around the world who are praying for people like me to join their teams to come and serve alongside them in remote areas of the world that have not heard about God. I'm thankful for prayer and what it means to me and the ability I have to have a relationship with the Holy God and His Holy Son. As I read this story, I reminded all over again of God's perfect timing in everything. As I desire to hear back from the organization, I know that I must wait, because in His perfect timing, all this will work out for the good of those who seek Him, just as with this character's life, in how God perfectly pieced the puzzle together.