Happy New Year from BMW!

Happy New Year from all of us here at Baptist Missionary Women!

This has been a wonderful year for our blog, we have many new readers due to so many of you sharing our posts on facebook.  Thank you!  

You have been with us during our good times, during our sad times, during our difficult times, during our failures, during our shaky times, during our blog hops, and during our giveaways, during all our baking and cooking, you've gone to church with us and you've been in the Word with us!  We hope you have enjoyed reading as much as we have enjoyed writing.

What's in store for 2016?  It's a new year, and I'm a list person, so how about a list of what you can expect this year?!!

• Our regular contributors are back!  Carole, Amy, Dee Dee, Charity, Lou Ann, and me (Jen)!
• More great recipes, more peaks into our homes and churches, more Scripture photography, more devotionals, more blog hops, more giveaways, and more of what you've come to love about BMW.
• Some new BMW contributors!  
• Topics for single missionary women, married missionary women, a day in the life of... , homeschooling on the mission field, insight from missionaries just new on the field and insight from veteran missionaries, and so, so much more!
• And a new, updated look for the blog

Am I missing something you would like to see here on the BMW blog?  Leave us a comment.  We aim to please!

We are planning and expecting great things for 2016!

Thanks for being a part of our lives!

To God be the Glory!!

A Year to Remember, A Year to Forget

Please forgive me.
This isn't the blog post I had planned.
After all, this isn't the year I had planned either.

It's New Year's Eve.

I am supposed to post some sappy motivational post on the new year. I am supposed to encourage you with positive words. That's what New Year's posts are right?

Oh, and of course I have to throw these verses in there:

Philippians 3:13-14  "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."

It just doesn't qualify for a New Year's post without those verses.

But, like I said...
This year wasn't anything like I anticipated.
It wasn't anything like I had planned.

(Please don't call me a missionary hero. I think this post will show you I am as human as you. No, the Hero of this story is much greater... much wiser... much more patient than me.)

2015 started off amazingly!
I had my goals, my dreams, my plans.
I had organized and prepared.

I know it sounds all carnal, but I really had great goals in mind. I wanted to grow in Christ, so I redesigned my private devotion time and Bible study time to be more productive. I wanted to improve in ministry, so I had grand plans for that, too. I wanted to get in shape, so I began eating right and exercising. I wanted to grow as a wife and mother and... and... and... I had the goals and the plans of how I was going to get there.

It wasn't that my goals or my plans were misplaced. But something was definitely misplaced...

Like I said, the year started off great. I lost 25 pounds and was heading down the path I had planned and prepared for from January 1st.

Then came March.
I had a sudden battle with insomnia. For the entire month, I slept only an hour or two a night. Toward the end of the month, I couldn't think. I couldn't function. I couldn't make decisions well. I couldn't even drive my scooter because I was afraid I would hurt someone. And then as suddenly as the insomnia came, it was gone. So I continued down the path of my plans.

Early in April, just as I was finally recovering from insomnia, I had the joy of getting giardia. In case you don't know what giardia is, think tummy parasites. It was a nasty case of it, too. Again, I was getting little sleep, but it wasn't because I wasn't sleepy! I was just sick! But finally, I began recovering from that, too. My energy returned. It helped with weight loss in the most unpleasant ways, but I had to work hard to get back into exercising.

Then came April 25...
The day my world shook to the core... literally. A devastating earthquake brought my illusions of control crashing to the ground. My plans stopped that day.

I guess it was from that moment I really began understanding what God was doing in my life. The hardships I was enduring were not by accident. They were by design. I began seeing how little I was really in control. It was good to have goals and to aim toward those goals, but there are some things God chooses to teach us through the refining fires of trials.

1 Peter 1:7 "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"

With the earthquakes came the relief work. For four months, we worked and labored to exhaustion. We had no schedule. We had no plans. I am a person who thrives off of calendars and clocks and lists... but it was all yanked away from me like a parent yanking away danger from a small child. And just like a child, I cried. I wanted my routine back.

As relief work began to finally slow down and we began to catch our breath, the next crisis began. Our country began experiencing major shortages of supplies and fuels due to protests and blockades at the border entry points. We had to learn to cook differently because of lack of cooking gas. We had to learn to get around the city differently because of lack of petrol and diesel. We purchased bicycles for the family and used those as much as we possibly could. We spent hours in petrol lines, and sometimes walked away empty-handed.

My daughter's birthday was at the end of November. A protest kept us from doing our original plan. Daddy took her on a fun bicycle ride, just the two of them. When they returned home, I was reminded again just how little I am in control. She crashed hard trying to go down a steep, rocky hill. As she walked through the door, I could see blood streaming down her arms. She was hobbling as she came in so I knew there was more to her injuries than just her arms. As we went to get her cleaned up, I saw her side looked like spaghetti. This would be the worst injury I ever dealt with on my own. Through tears, hers and a few of my own, we got her cleaned up. We praised the Lord that nothing was broken and that her special smile drowned out the pain. It took a couple of weeks for her to heal and be able to get around like normal.

And just as she recovered...

I got a call from my son. He had taken his bicycle to go to language school for his final exam. He didn't make it there. His call was confusing, and I could tell he was injured pretty badly. Someone had walked out in front of his bicycle and caused him to lose control. He crashed and hit his head on the corner of a sidewalk. His helmet strap had cracked and caused his helmet to slide forward, exposing the back of his head to the concrete. I was thankful he could even think clearly enough to call me, though he actually called twice because he forgot he had already called. When I arrived where he was, I knew it was bad. Blood streamed from his head and he wasn't remembering things. He still doesn't remember me picking him up or taking him to the emergency room. He and I stayed in the hospital overnight together. It was special quality time, taking care of my baby boy before he heads off to college next year. It wasn't exactly ideal mother-son time, but I was glad I could be there for him. He finally had his stitches removed from his head...

Just in time for the next emergency for our family.

We were heading on the way to church. The roads on our way to church are more like an adventure you would see on a reality TV show about guys showing off their 4x4 vehicles. While on the road, suddenly my side began to hurt. The pain grew quickly. By the time we got to the church, all I could do is lay in the floor and cry. There was no way around it... it was time to go to the emergency room. Unfortunately, that meant going back over the road we just came on... while feeling pain that was no less than child birth level.

When we arrived at the hospital, the diagnosis was easy and quick. There was a huge stone lodged in the tube exiting my gallbladder. The gallbladder would have to go. This was not exactly the plans I had. We had the biggest ministry day of the year coming up in two days... on Christmas! But I would be in the hospital. My two older children took turns staying with me overnight. And though it wasn't exactly a great date location to spend time with them, I wouldn't trade those moments for anything.

This was not the year I had planned.
But God's plans were much better.

Isaiah 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

You see, God didn't put all these things in my path to punish me or humiliate me or to even prove to me He is the boss and I am not. His plan was much more well-designed than those petty things. He was lovingly refining me.

2015
The year I learned to trust His sovereignty.

Psalm 115:3 "But our God [is] in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased."

2015
The year I learned to cast my fears upon Him. I had always known well how to strong-arm my fears and to cage them in a closet. I thought I was being spiritual because I wasn't being controlled by my fears. But really, I was being fleshly and doing things in my own strength. Earthquakes, dangers, injuries... When the fears mounted up and threatened to come crashing around me, I realized it was time to learn how to do things God's way. I learned how to admit my fears and cast them at His feet, trusting Him in faith.

1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 

2015
The year I learned to count it all joy.

James 1:2-3 "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."

2015
The year I watched Him do a work that man can never do... softening hearts toward the Gospel... opening doors that seemed impossible.

Revelation 3:8 "... I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it..."

2015
The year I learned what it means to PRESS toward... and not just stroll forward.

Philippians 3:14b  "... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

I grew closer to my children, closer to my husband, and closer to the Lord.


There are many parts of this year that were difficult and I would rather not do it again, but I wouldn't trade 2015 for anything. The most difficult year of my life was also the most rewarding. And I accomplished so many of my goals, though clearly God chose the method.

2015

The year I let go of my plans and wholeheartedly finally embraced HIS plans for me.

Yes, some growth only happens through purging and through the refining fires of trials.

Goodbye, 2015.

Hello, 2016.

Philippians 1:12 "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;"

Did We Fail?

Photo by: David Castillo Dominici

Here are a few true ministry scenarios. These examples are typical of ministries all over the world, including yours. My purpose in sharing is to encourage. (Hang on, the good stuff’s coming!) 

1. Many years of effort and hundreds of dollars help a young man with a heart for missions get a college education and start on deputation. He marries, divorces, remarries . . . .
2. A young woman comes to church, gets saved and baptized. She drops out of church, marrying an unsaved man and having other immoral relationships. A life issue brings her back to church, and she starts to grow and change. Later, she backslides and goes back to old habits, including dating another unsaved man.
3. A person makes a business decision that harms another believer. When confronted, there is no favorable resolution, so the offended party gets the pastor involved. Instead of resolution, the whole family leaves the church.
4. In counseling, a divorced woman is advised to give up the boyfriend she’s interested in. There are red flags all over the place. (This will be yet another abusive relationship.) She continues toward another harmful marriage.
5. A man ignores all sound, biblical advice and does exactly the opposite of what he should. Now, he wishes the consequences of his actions hadn’t happened.
6. A mother balks at the teaching that she can and should protect her children from the world. She criticizes. How can her teacher be so narrow-minded? Years later, sadly, this lady only has one out of her many children attending church services.
7. A wife will not respect her husband. She puts him down, criticizes, and is unthankful. She doesn’t see the problem, though she has been counseled many times to change how she talks to her husband.
8. The pastor’s wife has to confront several young women one-on-one about their lifestyles, specifically fornication. The women never return to church.

Sometimes, it seems there are more failures than successes. We did and said exactly what the Bible says to do. We did our best to be kind, loving, and Spirit-led, but we got the result we least wanted:

• We wanted resolution and got rebellion.
• We wanted restoration and got leaving the church.
• We wanted to encourage growth in the Lord and got more sinning.
• We wanted to warn and got stubbornness.

Now, for the encouragement:

• Our ministry is not in vain. God says so. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).
• When you take biblical, loving steps, God honors them. You might not see the results you want, but you’ve been faithful. That’s what counts! God judges our faithfulness. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry (1 Timothy 1:12).
• Each person is responsible for his own reaction to admonition or correction. Your responsibility is to give godly advice in a sweet, loving manner. The other person is responsible for heeding it. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me (Ezekiel 33:2-7).
• God uses His Word in His way and in His time. Never think what you have shared from the Bible was useless. You never know how or when the Holy Spirit will speak to hearts. The word of God is not bound (2 Timothy 2:9b). For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

In this New Year, remember:

• When you see failure, God sees faithfulness.
• When you are disappointed in people, God is not disappointed in your biblical message and actions.
• When you followed the right steps toward conflict resolution, God knows you did right.
• When you warned, you did the right thing. It’s the listener’s responsibility after that.
• When you see no “results,” you might not be seeing the whole picture. There are many testimonies of Christians who never knew in their lifetimes the impact of their consistent witness. Remember to Whom we’re responsible. It’s God’s work, after all.

In 2015:
Love your Lord! (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Be zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)

Don’t lose hope! (Romans 15:13)

Be thankful. (Ephesians 5:20)

Be joyful. (Philippians 4:4)

_______________________________

Now thanks be unto God,

which always causeth us to triumph in Christ,

and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge

by us in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Illustration by: franky242

May God bless your life and ministry!