A BMW Thanksgiving

I have to admit...

I didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving in the States.

Oh, sure... our family got together. We ate turkey and banana pudding and pumpkin pies until we could barely move. On a few occasions we even took a few minutes to say we were thankful for things. Once we even made a "thankful tree," and hung leaves with words written on them of what we were thankful for.

But in the comfort of America... in the luxuries and abundance... I never really understood true thankfulness for little things. Our "thankful tree" would look very different if we made it today.

Coming to the field has been such a blessing in my spiritual growth. I am sad that the Lord had to take me to the other side of the world to teach me true, heartfelt, deep gratitude.

And I am not alone. Several BMWs took the time to share with us things that seemed so insignificant to them in their passport country, but now on the field they are true treasures.

If the BMWs got together and made a "thankful tree," what would their leaves say?

Have you every gotten on your knees and thanked the Lord for your turkey... with tears in your eyes? When 12 pound turkeys cost $70-$120, It's a tough thing to swallow. Yes, many BMWs substitute chicken. So when that turkey unexpectedly goes on sale... or someone sends a check specifically for a turkey??? I promise you will fall to your knees and thank the Lord.

Sending an email, using Skype, and Facebook posts? Have you ever poured your heart out to the Lord about how precious these things are? When your child or grand babies are thousands of miles away on Thanksgiving, your gratitude for these modern conveniences will flourish.

Creative Skype with Grandparents

Do you take birthday gatherings for granted? BMWs have learned to treasure getting together with friends for a birthday cake.

Have you spent time in prayer thanking the Lord you got at least one thing done today? I can promise some BMWs have.

Have you ever turned on the shower and broke out in praise and thanksgiving because there was hot water? Or even that there was water at all?

If you have ever seen a woman holding a box of cranberries and crying? Or maybe it was cream cheese or blueberries or butterscotch morsels or chocolate chips or Pepsi Cola or CHEDDAR CHEESE... To many people, these things are nothing. They walk into a store, grab a bag of brown sugar, pay, and leave. But a BMW? She realizes just how precious these items are. You are likely to find her praying over a pumpkin... thanking the Lord for loving her that much. And if she gets a CAN of pumpkin, she may just have a running spell. Do I need to even explain what happens when butter goes on sale?

Have you ever put clothes in your washing machine, pressed the button to start it up, and started singing a song of God's grace? If you ever have to wash your clothes by hand for a lengthy period of time, it will put a song in your heart and thanksgiving in your mouth to have such a wonderful contraption. And for a BMW, having a dryer can bring you to singing three part harmony all by yourself. Yes, we are thankful for appliances.

By the way, did I mention gratitude for OXY Clean? It's real.

Have you ever been humbled in prayer over thirty minutes of quiet time? If you ever have to take care of a children's home with twenty children, you will find yourself shedding tears of gratitude to the Lord.

We have all walked into a doctor's office, seen the wait, and grumbled. If you are a BMW, you are more likely to walk in, see the line, find a place to sit or stand... and then praise the Lord for affordable, quality care. It is rare on many fields.

And lines??? There is something precious about learning to give thanks because you are in the top 150 for the petrol line. When your children sit around the dinner table and pray, thanking the Lord for diesel fuel and bacon... you realize the Lord has truly done a work in the hearts of the whole family.

Are you a Sunday school teacher or women's ministry leader? When is the last time you have praised the Lord for your Sunday school curriculum or Bible study helps? There are BMWs all over the world on their knees regularly thanking the Lord for materials like that. They have learned their value because many of them have had to labor for a long time to translate materials, write materials... or even just collect the materials over time.

Peanut butter... I could have added it to the grocery store scene above, but peanut butter deserves a section all to itself. I am convinced more prayers of thanksgiving have gone up for the gift of peanut butter than for any other grocery item.

Easy access to clean public toilets? Yes, you learn to appreciate those things. How many times have you thanked the Lord for them?

Encouraging emails, letters, and packages? It was sweet to get those things in the States, but they never gripped my heart the way they do on the field.

Smooth roads... Oh, I could park on this topic for hours! (Excuse the pun... I couldn't resist.) When a road gets paved here, my whole family bursts into praises!

I remember complaining in the States when it rained. It ruined my plans. But on the field? Water is life. It fills the cisterns. It keeps the electricity on for extra hours. Rain? Yes, BMWs have spent many hours thanking God for rain.

Speaking of electricity... You will never understand true gratitude for electricity until you begin thanking the Lord for an extra hour of electricity.

So many BMWs do not get to experience the changing of the leaves in Fall. They long for it and have learned how to spot the slightest change of color from a great distance. Oh, they truly have learned to appreciate the autumn leaves.

Have you thanked the Lord lately for your past? BMWs do it regularly. They have seen the Lord's fingerprints in their past preparing them for what they are doing now... and they are truly thankful.

Have you praised the Lord today for Pinterest and for "from scratch" recipes? When you don't have access to marshmallows and saltines... you will grow in gratitude for these things.

How thankful are you for your warm clothes and your heater and your boots in winter? These things have produced mountains of praise on many fields... and for other fields, a cold spell of 70 degrees makes choruses of thanksgiving gush forth.

Have you ever sat in a church service and thanked the Lord that it was in your own language? Have you ever sat in a Christmas cantata/Easter pageant/teen singspiration/Awana or Masters Club meeting/ladies meeting and couldn't control your praise that you even have access to these things?  What about church fellowships like simple hay rides and camping trips? Go without those for a while... your gratitude will swell like the tide. It does for us.

Do you want to see thankfulness ooze from every pore of a BMW? Hoist the Stars and Stripes high and start playing the national anthem.

You see, Thanksgiving isn't the turkey and dressing. It isn't getting together with family (though we sure do love the rare opportunity!) It isn't football games and parades. If it were these things, many BMWs couldn't celebrate. But the heart of Thanksgiving is... well... giving thanks!

We may be spending Thanksgiving thousands of miles away from our families. We may be eating giblets and refried beans with nationals or other missionaries. We may have to substitute a chicken for the turkey. But praise the Lord that He is teaching us the true meaning of Thanksgiving! We BMWs are blessed beyond measure. His grace is sufficient today... and every day.

And for that... we give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving from

Baptist Missionary Women

around the world!

(Thank you, ladies, for sharing your hearts and thanking the Lord for His goodness... even in the little things.)

Just a Can of Yams

Sometimes it is difficult for us to express exactly how we feel. But somehow, when several BMWs put their heads together to try to show you our hearts, it seems to flow so much easier.

I guess that's why I love these picture compilation blog posts. It gives us an opportunity to open our hearts and show you how we see things.

This time I asked a group of BMWs to submit a picture of something they received that really touched their hearts and brought them to tears. (Unfortunately I had to limit them on the number of pictures or this post would go on for miles.) You would be surprised at what they sent in. I am sure my writing will never be grand enough to put into words all that they shared. I can promise you, tears of gratitude were shed again as they told their story.

Please join us, and once again see things through our eyes...

because it's more than just a can of yams.

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I can see it, though I wasn't there.

It may have seemed like a normal trip to WalMart,

but since I have no Walmart to go to, I imagine it.

I can see her walk in the store and grab a grocery cart.

She walks carefully down each aisle, double-checking her list.

The children grab things off the shelf, "Get this! They will like this!"

I can see the smile on her face as the children toss the items in the cart.

You may see just a candy bar, but she sees something more.

I see something more.

Let me help you see what we see...

It's more than a candy bar.

It's the excitement on faces when they see their favorite Canadian candy bars.

It's a gift to mom of a quiet, refreshing moment of tranquility, soothing the stress away.

I see another person walking around the store, and down the seasoning aisle.

Carefully selecting.

And a favorite coffee.

Creamer.

And peanut butter. Heavenly, wonderful...

peanut butter.

Can you see past the packaging?

Can you see past the price tag?

Can you see past the cost of postage?

If not, all you will ever see is a bag of MASA HARINA. But if you can see what they see...

You will see tacos and tamales enjoyed over FaceTime with family in Mexico. Laughing and eating as if we were sitting right there at the same table. Miles apart yet together.

It's so easy to see a fast food meal, but if you close your eyes and imagine...

You can see what I see...

I see memories...memories of a meal with Mom who is now in Heaven.

Memories of our children's younger years.

Memories of conversations with friends and splurges on deputation.

If memories had a taste, I suspect they would taste like this...

Because this is what I remember home tasting like.

Some may see baby dolls...

And pacifiers...

and gummy bears.

But try a little harder. You will see that the people who sent this saw so much more. They saw each of my children. They wanted them to know they were loved.

A gift left at a church. A bicycle at a missions house.

If love had a flavor, I think it might be captured in a Kool Aid packet or hot cocoa mix, or maybe it would taste like beef jerky. But love is definitely spelled C-R-A-Y-O-L-A.

And sometimes they saw more than just my children. They saw the children we minister to as well. Oh yes, these are more than just school supplies.

Sometimes it's what they didn't see that really amazes me.

They didn't see that my child desperately needed clothes.

They didn't see my children feeling left out of our home church's VBS.

But God knew... and God nudged hearts. Those precious, tender hearts listened and obeyed and sent VBS shirts to help my children remember they are still part of the team.

It's not that I NEED brown sugar, chocolate chips, and Easter candy...

But somehow... when I am feeling overwhelmed and alone... yes, I really NEED brown sugar, chocolate chips, and Easter candy.

Sometimes we just need a familiar holiday. 

Sometimes I just need to see the word California on a package.

It's not just a package... It's a connection.

A connection that communicates loudly. Clearly. Tenderly.

And they are not just DVDs, Mio waters, oil defusers, and kids' scribbles...

It's being remembered by grand babies.

It's being...

remembered.

Remembered on my first birthday on the field...

It's being wrapped up in unseen arms and hugged tightly.

Like in a jacket, cozy and warm... protected...

Loved.

But I saw something else, too.

I saw the sender's name on the box. I think that's what I needed to see the most.

And I wept.

They remembered me.

So if all you see is just a can of yams...

Then you will never understand the depths of my thankfulness.

Thankfulness that cannot be expressed in words.

Thankfulness that wells up in the eyes and leaks down the cheeks.

But if you see past the can of yams and you see a family sitting around a Thanksgiving Day table with a roasted chicken substituted for a turkey... but a REAL sweet potato casserole for the first time in three years... smiling, cheerful, blessed...

Then you truly understand.

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To all those who have sacrificed so greatly just to be a blessing to their missionaries, we just want to say... Thank you.

2 Corinthians 9:7 "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."

by Charity, Southern Asia

(Thank you for those BMWs who were able to send in pictures...

I cried right along with you. Blessed!)

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The Grass Is Greener on the Other Side of the Ocean

We all tend to think that everyone else has it easier and better than we have. We've noticed this sentiment in some of our church members.

• One young man says he wants to start a church (a noble idea), but not here in the village. He's going to plant a church in __ (some village near a city several hours away--that doesn't speak his mother tongue.) Why not a village closer to home that speaks Tsonga? Because there's such a need there, or it would just be better in some way.
• Another young man decides to take a similar job with similar pay (to the current one) in another city. Why not stay close to his family, his village, and his home church? Oh, that job will be better somehow.
• Another young man says that an internship with a church in the city will better prepare him for rural ministry than the local Bible college started specifically to prepare men for rural ministry. Why? The city has so many more attractions, including preaching in English, etc.
• Young ladies think that getting a cleaning job in the city would be better than staying home and mothering their children.

The grass is always greener on the other side. Change and newness help to make a different position seem better, and sometimes there is some truth to that. Sometimes the other situation genuinely is better.

I remember going back to America for a quick visit in 2011 during America's summertime. The grass was so green, the flowers so colorful! I kept exclaiming, "It's so beautiful! It's so beautiful!" Africa has a beauty of its own, but it is rugged, wild, and untamed; in the parts filled with bush grass and thorny overgrowth, you really have to search for the beauty.

Searching for a bird's nest

Beauty in thorns

This temptation comes often to missionaries. Perhaps it comes to everyone in the ministry, but I can only speak for the missionary. I got to thinking about this because of a recent Facebook discussion in which a BMW asked whether being a missionary wife was essentially the same thing as being a pastor's wife (just in a different field--which obviously makes it totally different! But you get the idea of the question.)

Most BMW responders quickly and confidently pointed out the extra difficulties a missionary wife faces in ministry that a pastor's wife in America wouldn't. But one BMW noted that ministry was actually easier for her in many respects as a missionary wife than it had been as a pastor's wife. She mentioned the squabbles, criticisms, and cliques that she experienced in her American ministry; in contrast to the complete acceptance and love she experienced from the nationals in her host country.

In a difficult or disappointing stretch in ministry, which may occur more frequently than the encouraging times, a missionary may hear of friends ministering in America and think about how easy their ministry would be if they were there. If only I were there, my church would be bigger, better, more like Christ! I would be more appreciated, more respected, and the flock would actually follow my (husband's) advice. We wouldn't have to deal with all this ___ (immorality, apathy, drunkenness, laziness, etc.)

Missionaries can also fall into the foolish trap of comparing fields. If only we were in Missionary Z's field, our ministry would be more successful. They have it much easier because of... It is so much harder to serve here due to the burned-over territory from the prosperity gospel, or the idolatry, or the animism, or the atheism, or whatever, than it would be to serve in their country.

But remember that you don't have the whole picture! Perhaps they also wish to trade places because of their own silent trials.

Yes, some of that thinking may be valid, fair, and true. A few missionaries have shown no qualms in saying they "could never do what you do." I even included a question on this topic on my get-to-know-ya missionary questionnaire for the BMW blog: what makes your field difficult? (Because we all think that our field is the hardest for some reason, and some of those reasons are legitimate.)

But it's not good; it's not lovely; it's not of good report; it's not praise. 



As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach--holidays when many missionaries, especially newbies, are homesick, this grass-is-greener syndrome may pop up. But let's just call it what it is. It's discontent. It's a failure to praise God "in everything." It is bitterness against God for putting you in a place so removed from the comforts of home and then apparently not making you successful there. It's pride, because you compare your successes and failures with another's and can only be content with your situation if you look the best at the end of the comparison.

The grass may truly be greener on the other side of the ocean. And yet it may not. But that's not where you are. And you are commanded to think on praiseworthy things and to praise God in everything--where you are.


 

Thankfulness

(Photo Source - Google Images)

As we approach the Thanksgiving season, it has taken on a new meaning for me this year. Being on the field has been an awesome experience for me!

A couple of verses that our youth pastor uses quite frequently are very special to me also. I Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

What do these verses mean to me? In everything, including the struggles and trials and homesickness and anything else that might happen in my life, I am to rejoice and give thanks. :-) This is not always easy! However, if I am in the state of prayer at all times, the Lord is going to give me the grace to be thankful no matter what happens. As I look back over some of the difficult and hard things that have happened in the last few weeks and months, I cannot be discouraged. I am even more thankful that the Lord has protected me in some very tough situations.

What does the word "thankful" mean? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first and third definitions of "thankful" are as follows: 1) conscious of benefit received and 3) well pleased.

Therefore, we need to be conscious that God has given us so many benefits. As single missionaries, we are given even more benefits than married ladies. We have the opportunity to reach out in our ministries in so many different ways. Are you thankful for what God has given you in your ministry? Are you thankful for the obstacles God has placed in your life? Should we be thankful only for the month of November while approaching the Thanksgiving season? Of course not!!! What does verse 18 of our text say? "In EVERY THING give thanks." This means to be thankful 365 days of the year, 12 months of the year, 52 weeks of the year, 24 hours a day, 60 minutes an hour, 60 seconds a minutes, and so on!!!!

What are you thankful for?

Written by Keren Burdick
She is a single missionary, serving the Lord in Honduras.

You can find here website here.

Without Grumbling and Complaining

Missionaries can find a lot to complain about. Going to a place that usually has less than before--less privacy, less amenities, less flexibility, less availability, less efficiency, less of everything!--makes it so hard not to be unhappy and discontent when the inevitable comparisons happen. "Ugh! In America...this wouldn't have happened!" or "I miss..." or "Why does it have to be that way!"

Sometimes we even give ourselves the right to our grumblings--after all, we can only take so much sacrifice, right? Are we also supposed to be happy and thankful about things that we see as the obvious fruits of sin all around us? We may even be tempted to loudly complain, so that the nationals will "see things the way they ought to." You know, help out their worldview issues.

I remember feeling this way on one harrowing occasion of trying to renew our visitors' visas. It was one of the most stressful events in our ministry to that point, and I actually wondered if I would go nuts from worry. It was incredibly hard not to visibly lose my temper, even with a national in the room to check my emotions, when my husband came home with more bad news about the situation that year.

"Do all things without murmurings and disputings," says Philippians 2:14.

And the opposite course of action is given in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

How many times had I heard or memorized those verses in my youth? But they seemed impossible on the mission field.

But a few years ago as I attempted to memorize the book of Philippians, I realized that the thought doesn't end there. In fact, Philippians 2:14 is directly related to missions! Here's the whole passage:

"Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life..."

When I made the connection between verse 14 and the following verses, the sword of the Word cut through all of my self-justifications for why complaining was allowable in my situation. Missionaries should not be given a pass on complaining. If anything, we should be more careful to guard our tongues and spirits from complaining, because complaining directly affects our testimony.

When we complain, we hurt our testimony. Complaining makes us so that we cannot truly be called "blameless and pure." But if others see us in times of trial thanking and praising our God, with a spirit of peace and trust, then they can marvel--what is it that makes them able to respond that way? If you can keep yourself from complaining, you are helping the Gospel.

In fact, the inspired Word even admits that we are in the middle of a crooked and perverted nation. Those national sins and foreign factors that can be so angering and my-rights-destroying do not give me an excuse to complain--just to vent and get it all out! No. Instead, they remind me that I am a STAR (as another version translates) shining in their darkness, holding out life to them!


Wow! I do not feel like a star; do you? Too often the stress pot of life on the mission field causes my remnant sins and unaddressed temptations to boil over, and all of the blackness and poison still in my heart spills out of my mouth and on everyone else. But it is true--like Galadriel's phial in Shelob's lair, we are supposed to be a rebuke--our brightness, a pain--to the darkness.

Let those sins and the frustrations that come along with the darkness all around you in whatever crooked and perverse nation you live in remind you--not that you deserve better, or once had better--but that the darker the darkness, the brighter you shine (a star!), when you live blamelessly in that darkness.

Happy New Year!

 

So begins another year.

 

What are you goals or resolutions for the year?

 

We all make them, don't we?

 

A new year comes with a fresh slate, a time to begin anew, a time to start fresh.

 

A new year to me is like the beginning of a school year.  You have your new school books, freshly sharpened pencils, and notebooks begging to be written in.

 

But technically, isn't every day a new beginning?

 

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,

because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning:

great is thy faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:22-23

 

What a great God we serve...

 

think about it...

 

His mercies are new every morning!

 

Every morning.

 

I don't need a new year to start fresh, I just need a new day!

 

So, here's to a new year, and a new day!

 

I am praying that God will do big things this year.

 

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:

but this one thing I do,

forgetting those things which are behind,

and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:13-14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Fellowship Fridays - Thankfulness

To Americans around the world November is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Though we should be thankful year round, it seems that our thoughts become more contemplative and thankful this time of year.  Please share some ways that you help make Thanksgiving special to your family in the country you are serving!

Missionary Monday ~ A Month of Thanksgiving

 

This month's theme - Thanksgiving

Let's take this month to show our gratefulness to our Lord.

 

Please link up your blog or leave a comment...

 

What are you thankful for?

 

 

 

 

Greener Grass

Is the grass really greener on the other side?

Some days I long to be living back in America. I think of how wonderful it is to have water every day, stable electricity, a well-stocked grocery store, smooth roads, convenience, privacy... At times I can feel very alone, with a feeling that no one understands my life, or is holding me up in prayer.

We just got back from a short trip to the States. I was so excited to "eat up" as much 'green grass' as I could during those six weeks. And I thoroughly enjoyed the hot baths, regular electricity (although it did go out for several hours one night), shopping, and eating out. America was just as "green" as I remembered it - or was it?

My first Sunday back at our sending church a lady shares how her husband lost his job, and they are trusting God to meet their needs. I hear of another church member who is losing her house. Both are faithful givers. (My 'dusty' side of the world finds my bank account with support from those who faithfully give through their local church.) While out of town I get a phone call from my son. "Mr. So-And-So just committed suicide." The next Sunday I hug the wife, and watch as the son breaks down while singing in the choir. 

You know what I found over there in the 'green grass?'

heartache 
loss
pain
suffering

The Lord speaks to my heart and asks me some hard questions:

• Are you really thankful for what I provide for you?
• Do you think you deserve what I provide?
• Do you care about the suffering of others as much as you want them to care about you?
• Do you pray for others in the way you hope they pray for you?

My mind wanders to Psalm twenty-three...

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

It hits me. 'Green grass' isn't a place, it's a Person. Jesus wants to lead me to green pastures. And when I follow Him, He restores my soul - not family, or friends, or Walmart. He also wants me to point others to follow Him. Whether that be first through a saving knowledge of Him, or to be reminded that in Him are the answers and comfort they need.