A Time to Plant

Photo by Dragfyre 2011

Our church's Missions Conference this year reminds me that everyone is either a missionary or a mission field. If we are saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only Way to Heaven, He has commanded us to witness about Him to the unsaved, who are the mission field. This led me to repost the article below.

Romans 10: 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?… 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

What’s your excuse for not witnessing? Mine is fear. Fear of rejection, of offending, even of not being politically correct. But love, even if human and therefore not perfect, should cast out fear (1 John 4:18).

We are told to plant the seeds of belief in Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). But shouldn’t we also accept the responsibility of tilling the soil, watering the green shoots of faith, shedding light on the new growth, and tending it as it matures and bears fruit? What if we are the only gardener in one soul’s life, from sowing to harvest if we fulfill our mission (John 4: 34-38), or from sowing to withering if we fail?

In the first picture I saw of my foster child Sathit, he was a gaunt, solemn lad of 11, standing with his parents and younger sister before a fragile ornamental cherry tree in full bloom, in his native village in Thailand. He was an average student who liked to garden, or “to sprinkle plants in his leisure,” as the awkwardly translated letter put it.

My intentions were honorable. I had picked up a brochure at church and had decided to sponsor a foster child. But I failed him. I didn’t know then that I would commit the cruelest sin of omission possible (James 4:13-17).

The sponsoring organization had “Christian” in the name, so I naively assumed that my monthly monetary gift would provide Christian outreach, along with food, school supplies, and contributions to community projects such as better wells in Sathit’s village. Providing for physical needs is important, but securing our eternal future even more so (Matthew 6:31-33; 16:24-26).

Eventually, I learned that their resources were too limited for missionary services, but by then, it seemed unkind to withdraw my support. Despite the thousands of miles that separated us, I came to know and love Sathit from his letters, drawings, and progress reports.

As time went on, I also sponsored other children through Compassion International, another organization that does offer Christian teaching. It is never too early to nourish children in the Word of God (Mark 10:13-17; 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14-17). Reading letters from these children telling me that they loved our Lord and Savior brought me great joy. Arakiados, from India, even drew me an awe-inspiring picture of Jesus, as if he had seen Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

But Sathit was not that blessed. I sent him Christmas cards, and I wrote him about Easter, about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28:6-7) through which all believers can have eternal life (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

He wrote back about offering food to the monks in the temples and about Buddhist festivals: “I would like you to throw water on Songkran Festival in the province very much.”

I always wanted to tell him more, to share the Good News (Proverbs 25:25) that Jesus came to save sinners like all of us (Luke 19:10; Romans 3:23) and to reconcile us to Holy God through His shed blood (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). I wanted to prepare the way so that the Holy Spirit could convict him and so that he would be born again and welcome Jesus into his heart (John 3:3-8; Romans 10:9-10).

But I was still a babe in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1), and I failed to do this. After all, I reasoned wrongly, Sathit lived in a Buddhist family and attended a Buddhist school, and I didn’t want to complicate his relationship with his parents or make trouble for him with his teachers or classmates (Matthew 10:34-40).

Anyway, he was growing up so fast, and now that he was a young man of 16, perhaps his circle of friends would widen. I hoped he would travel outside his village and learn about other cultures and beliefs. I thought others would germinate the seeds of Christian faith I had sparingly scattered across his path (2 Corinthians 9:6; 1 Corinthians 3: 5-11).

Sadly, I thought about it too little and too late (2 Corinthians 6:2). A letter from the sponsoring organization notified me of an emergency situation – could I please call for more information? My prayers in those 12 hours before the office opened were for the problem to have a solution, even if difficult – crop failure, housing destroyed in a storm, even illness in the family. Surely I could help somehow. After all, with Christ, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

But without Christ, there is no hope (Ephesians 2:12-19; Romans 5). I learned that Sathit was riding a motorbike when a pedestrian darted across the road. Sathit swerved to avoid him, crashed into a tree, and died instantly. His young life was plucked up before it even had time to take root.

“Well, at least he’s in Heaven now,” well-meaning friends said upon hearing the news. How I wished that were true. How I wished I had another chance to make a difference, to tell him how he could be saved.

Had I know Sathit had so little time (James 4:14) to make the most important decision of his life – to choose where he would spend eternity – would I have been less afraid, more persistent, more committed? (Galatians 6:9) Would I have given him the Word of Life (John 6:63-68) instead of speaking idle words (Matthew 12:36), for which I will have to give an account to Jesus at the judgment seat? (1 Corinthians 3: 10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10)

May God help me to remember Sathit every time He gives me an opportunity to witness, to nurture the growth of belief in Jesus. For many souls we meet, we may be the only gardener they’ll ever have.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

© 2003 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

 

Unlikely, Unexpected Ministry

 

Photo by Rolf Dietrich Brecher 2014

I had a dream in which a dear lady from church entered Hospice care. It was a small place, with only one visitor per patient at a time. Her family all had to go together to attend to an urgent matter, so they asked me to stay with her.

She is in pain, but as I pray with her, she starts to relax and falls asleep. Her husband returns soon thereafter and I leave so that he can stay with her. Outside it’s dark, and I have no car, phone or money with me. As I walk away from the hospice facility toward home, the road becomes pitch black. I can’t even see my hand in front of my face and am frightened of getting lost or attacked.

Way off in the distance, in the middle of nowhere, I see an Outback chain restaurant, lit up, with nothing around it. I decide to go in to get my bearings and be in a place of safety. The restaurant is noisy and crowded, and aromas from the kitchen make me realize I’m hungry, but I have no way to pay for the food.

A man who used to attend our former church comes up to me and I see that he’s sitting with some members from that church. He says the church would like to pay for my dinner. I thank him and tell him that’s not necessary, but he insists, saying, “You have to eat, because you have a long night ahead of you.”

He explains that he has a message to deliver to me. There is a chronic care facility further up the road that would like me to visit and pray with the patients one-on-one. I agree to go, and again find myself walking in the dark with no landmarks other than the restaurant getting smaller and dimmer the further away I get.

Finally I spot a well-lit building, with a sign saying it is a chronic care facility. When I get there, many hospital staff are busy around the nurses’ station. I introduce myself to one of the nurses and tell her why I’m there. She says that I’m needed in the operating room, where one of the surgeons has asked for me.

I go there and he explains that he needs me to give a patient a spinal injection of stem cells. I protest, saying that I’m not qualified, that it’s been years since I even did a spinal tap, and that I have never given a spinal injection. He says it will rejuvenate the patient’s spinal cord and allow him to walk again. He hands me a large metal contraption holding a very large needle and syringe full of clear fluid.

I awake with mixed emotions – wanting to help the patient by letting God use me for a miracle of healing, but fear that I could injure him, and regret over being rusty in my medical skills. And yet the dream gave me hope that God could use me in unexpected ways, thankfulness that He has not placed me on the shelf (1 Corinthians 9:27), and that He guides me and provides for me in the opportunities He gives.

When trying to interpret the dream, I realized that the ministry doors God opened (1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12) were unexpected and outside my comfort zone. On our way home to Heaven, to eternal life with Jesus Christ, the path may sometimes be dark, and how we serve Him may take unexpected turns, at least from our perspective.

Despite my medical training and profession, I have never felt led to minister by visiting and praying with those in the hospital, although I have provided informal counsel to those who ask me about various aspects of their medical care or conditions, and I pray daily for family, church family, friends and acquaintances who are ill or going through other special trials. However, I greatly respect others who have chosen this highly valued ministry. Visiting someone in the hospital is as if we have visited Christ Himself (Matthew 25:34-40), and the prayer of faith shall save the sick (James 5:15).

Nor have I ever felt led to use my training or profession to go on a medical mission, and I have been retired from clinical practice for so long that I doubt it would even be possible. But nothing is too difficult for God! (Isaiah 59:1).

As the saying goes, “God looks not for ability but for availability.” When He uses an unlikely subject to accomplish an unexpected ministry, God gets all the glory, for that person could not have done it in His own strength. Once we are saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), God empowers us to learn, follow and do His will through His Holy Spirit living in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22).

Lately my prayer has been, “Father, please use me in whatever way you see fit.”  I am blessed that God has called me to sing to His glory, including Christian lyrics I have written, and to teach His Word, both of which seem unlikely and unexpected in my own ability, as I grew up challenged by an often severe stuttering problem.

I began writing this blog on Memorial Day weekend 11 years ago, after seeing the movie “Julie and Julia” in which the heroine decides to test one of Julia Child’s recipes daily and write a blog post about it. An unlikely inspiration for a Christian blog, and unexpected that God would allow me to continue it to the present day!

My husband and I are blessed that He continues to use us in a physically challenging form of dance ministry, which is unlikely and unexpected given our age and my husband’s battle with cancer.

Yet looking back, we can see God’s provision and preparation in our lives for these ministries long before we were even saved! He gave me a love of music, poetry, dance and song, and a home where these gifts would be encouraged. I attended a school where we had writing assignments every day, and continuing to write medical articles after retiring from clinical practice no doubt helped with the discipline of writing a weekly blog.

God brought my husband and me together through a series of “coincidences” defying all probability, and He strengthened our marriage even when others thought the unexpected partnership was unlikely to succeed, given differences in our upbringing and backgrounds. We danced together at our first meeting and loved it, giving us motivation to hone our dance skills for years before we were saved and devoted this gift to Him.

I don’t believe that God has called me through this dream to shift gears and abandon the ministries He has so graciously appointed to us. However, sometimes He does ask His children to set a different course, even when a current ministry seems to be fruitful. For example, we are blessed to know a missionary leader who followed God’s call to resign as Pastor from a growing church he had planted, and to become the full-time founding director of a missionary organization that has trained and supported indigenous pastors all over the globe.

Thank God that no matter what form our primary ministry takes, no matter where we are, and no matter what physical or financial limitations we may have, we can and should pray for souls to be saved, and lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17), interceding for them as we come boldly to His throne of grace! (Hebrews 4:16).

I believe God is showing me that He is my Commander, Provider and Guide in all that He has set forth for me to do. In the dream, He gave various assignments, which I could complete only with His help. Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5), but with Him, all things are possible!  (Matthew 19:26).

When the path was dark, He supernaturally led me to the next destination (Psalm 119:105). When I didn’t know where I was going, He illuminated the buildings where I had divine appointments and communicated with me through His children. When I was hungry, He fed me (Psalm 37:25), using brothers and sisters in Christ to do so, as we are to build up and help one another, bearing one another’s burdens and fulfilling His law (Galatians 6:2).

The restaurant being an Outback restaurant I believe is a reference to the Australian Outback, which Wikipedia describes as “a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia.… more remote than the bush.” It reminds me that sometimes God’s calling on the lives of His children is to spread His Word across the globe, to the most desolate places, and yet that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), for He is with us wherever we go (Psalm 139:7).

Had I taken the leap of faith in the dream and administered the spinal injection, I believe He would have guided my hands and used the surgeon who asked for my help to instruct me in the proper technique, to perform a healing miracle, allowing the lame to walk (Matthew 11:5) through His power and grace! What a blessing when God uses us to accomplish His perfect will! And yet, what regret and loss we will experience if we learn at the Judgment Seat that we failed to walk through ministry doors He opened (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

May we all let God use us as He sees fit, even if it is in an unlikely and unexpected ministry that takes us far from our comfort zone! May we be blessed in knowing that God sees our labor and will reward us richly!

© 2023 Laurie Collett

For Such A Time

 

"Queen Esther" by Hugues Merle

Next week begins the Jewish feast of Purim, which commemorates saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an evil official of the Persian Empire under king Ahasuerus who planned to exterminate all of Persia's Jewish subjects.

Thankfully, Haman’s plans were foiled by Queen Esther, favored wife of Ahasuerus, herself a Jewess whom God had placed in this position of influence “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). She was an orphan adopted by her uncle Mordecai, who realized that God had orchestrated her unlikely rise to royal status so that she could help save His people.

He had wisely advised her to conceal her Jewish identity until it was needed to fulfill God’s purpose for her life. But now that her people were threatened, she could appeal to the king’s love for her to deliver all of them, and even to defeat Haman in the process, who ended up hanged on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai (Esther 5-10).

It would not be the first time God had placed an outsider in the enemy’s camp to protect or deliver His chosen people. Joseph’s eleven brothers, consumed by jealousy, sold him into Egyptian slavery. But what they intended for evil, God used for good (Genesis 50:20).

Joseph’s eventual rise to most trusted advisor to Pharaoh, despite a tumultuous course of events including false imprisonment, ultimately allowed him to provide for his family during the severe famine, leading to a surprising reunion and preservation of his brothers, who gave rise to the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 37-50).

God spared the life of Moses, a baby condemned to die under Pharaoh’s cruel edict to kill all the Hebrew male infants born in Israel, while their older relatives were held captive for slave labor. God carefully arranged all the details so that Moses would be nursed by his own mother, discovered by Pharaoh’’s daughter as a basket carrying him floated by the river Nile shore where she was bathing, and raised as her own son (Exodus 2).

This position of great privilege in the Egyptian court, while Moses retained his loyalty to his fellow Hebrews, gave him a tremendous advantage years later.  In a moment of anger, Moses murdered an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, and fled into the wilderness, where he spent years in exile. God spoke to him from a burning bush and announced His calling (Exodus 3). Moses would return to Egypt and deliver God’s people from captivity, ultimately leading them to safety as God parted the Red Sea for their escape, then reuniting the waters so that the Egyptians pursuing them would perish (Exodus 14).

Nehemiah, trusted cup-bearer to pagan king Artaxerxes, was in a unique position to lead the rebuilding of the wall fortifying Jerusalem. When he heard of the wall’s destruction, he convinced the king not only to give him time off to supervise the project, but also letters ensuring his safety while traveling and even construction supplies (Nehemiah 1-2).

Through God’s grace, He had lifted up Esther from the Babylonian captivity into a position of influence in the king’s palace, just as He later would elevate a humble young girl, the virgin Mary, to the honored position of being the mother of Jesus Christ, the promised Savior of the world.

God chose and exalted Mary despite her modest position in life because she was willing to obey Him and follow His perfect plan, considering herself to be the handmaiden, or servant, of the Lord (Luke 1:38; 46-53). This is in keeping with God’s ability to humble the mighty and wealthy while giving riches and power to the poor and helpless (1 Samuel 2:4-8), just as He did for Esther.

These Biblical examples, and many others, remind me that we as Christians, who have been saved by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), may also have been placed by God into our unique sphere of influence “for such a time as this.” Surely the signs of the times, with wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes in unusual places, false prophets, wickedness, all increasing in frequency and intensity like labor pains, point to us living in the End Times (Matthew 24), that period before Jesus returns to gather His children at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).

Not all Christians are missionaries facing hardship in foreign lands, but all of us are pilgrims, passing through this world that is not our home, journeying toward the Promised Land of Heaven. En route, God allows all of us to undergo trials, for our ultimate good and His glory (Romans 8:28). He has equipped each of us with spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12), talents, and resources, and has placed us where we can grow (Jeremiah 17:7-8) to fulfill His unique purpose for us, which He knew since before the beginning of time (Ephesians 2:10).

Jesus Christ Himself was the only One Who could ever fully complete the work God set out for Him to do (John 17:4). Sadly, each of us will fall short of perfect fulfillment of God’s designated mission for us, but the degree of our success will be based on our faith, obedience to God’s call, and character. If, by yielding to the Holy Spirit, we can emulate the integrity, compassion, dedication, perseverance, devotion and humility of Esther, Joseph, Moses, Nehemiah, and Mary, we are more likely to accomplish our Divine mission. 

In these End Times, may we recognize that we have been positioned in God's Kingdom "for such a time as this" and follow His perfect will, living with faith, integrity and purpose until He comes again!

© 2023 Laurie Collett

 

I

Search and Rescue

 

I had a dream that I am on a search-and-rescue planning team. Our mission is to determine how best to help people who are adrift in the ocean, like after the Titanic disaster.  We decide that the best shape for life preservers to throw to them while they are awaiting rescue boats is triangle-shaped, rather than circle-shaped.

Our reasoning is that each triangle-shaped float can support three people, one holding on to each point, and that each person holding onto the float with one hand can also hold another person’s hand on another float, thereby interconnecting with many people. This would form a raft or net of people that could support one another emotionally and even physically by improving their stability, so that they would be less likely to be submerged and drown while waiting for rescue.

It would also improve their visibility and audibility, if all yelled for help in unison, when a boat or helicopter appeared.

In contrast, a circle-shaped float would be practical only for supporting a single person, and those holding it would be more likely to drift away from the others, get discouraged, go under, and drown.

When I awoke and considered the meaning of the dream, I realized that “search and rescue” was an appropriate analogy for missions evangelism, which has been the theme of our church’s Missions Conference going on at present. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), and so should we.

Each of us who is saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) is a missionary, appointed by Jesus Christ Himself to fulfill the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Sharing the Gospel with every living creature (Mark 16:15) is not solely the responsibility of the pastors, missionaries and evangelists.

Only the Holy Spirit working in a person’s heart can save that soul, or rescue them completely from drowning in a sea of sin, and set their feet on the firm Rock that is Our Savior (Luke 6:48; Matthew 16:18). In the dream, salvation was represented by the rescue boats.

In our work of sharing the Gospel, we may not be the one who ultimately hears a sinner’s profession of faith, but we will be rewarded for any part we play in leading that soul to the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:6-7; 1 Thessalonians 2:19).. We are like rescuers tossing life preservers to the drifting, keeping them alive and encouraged until their heart is ready to confess their sin and invite Jesus inside.

The triangle-shaped float in the dream I believe represents the Trinity of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit – three sides of the same eternal Godhead (Luke 3:21-22). Unlike the circle, which is self-contained and has no potential points of attachment to anyone else, resulting in isolation and self-absorption, the triangle has points that allow interconnections with many others.

If our witness to a lost soul does not immediately result in their salvation, we could encourage their conversion by helping to place them in a Christian community – a Bible-believing church, shelter, or fellowship group where the Gospel seeds we have sown are likely to be watered and the tender shoots nurtured so that salvation can be fully rooted in their heart.

Even once a person is saved, being in a network of believers is vitally important to foster their spiritual growth in Christ and to enable them to share the Good News with others. There are many New Testament examples of one person accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, followed by their household receiving salvation (Acts 16:30-33; Luke 19:1-9; John 4:53). Fellowship and service in a local church, uplifting and strengthening one another, is an essential part of our Christian walk (Hebrews 10:25).

The three points of the triangle may also represent Jesus’ saying that where two or three are gathered in His Name, He is in their midst (Matthew 18:20), and that by two or three witnesses, every word is established (Matthew 18:16). Each believer is not an island, but a member of the church, or body of Christ, each with our unique function, mission, and purpose. Each of us is intended to reach out to others using our unique talents and sphere of influence (1 Corinthians 12:17).

In the search-and-rescue mission that Christ has given to each believer, may we faithfully offer lifesaving help to the perishing and bring them into a supportive network of Christians until the Trinity accomplishes their eternal salvation! May we connect with and support fellow believers through the life raft of our church!

© 2022 Laurie Collett