I am a former
schoolteacher turned missionary! Or…wait…I wanted to be a missionary…even had a
country in mind (maybe too in mind!) and then—rrr! Sharp right turn!—God had me do all this training to be a
schoolteacher First I volunteered, the I got the job as an aide, was a sub and
finally became a full fledged in-my-own-classroom (hallelujah!!!) schoolteacher.
And then He asked
me to leave.
I was listening to
a teaching on Naomi today. She had accepted the worst for herself. She even
wanted her name changed from “pleasant” to “bitter”. This—she had decreed—was
her end. Her husband and sons were dead and she had nothing left to lose…or
gain.
Or so she thought…
But God goes
further, knows deeper and plans better than we ever could have. He knew that
Ruth would meet Boaz, get married and have a son who would become such a breath
of life to Naomi. Literally, the woman of the village said: “He
shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your
daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given
birth to him.” Ruth 4:15
Sometimes dreams
die for us. I have had disappointed hopes in these last few years. Times when I
wanted to jump forward and found everything pulling me back. I have had a share
of mourning and trouble not uncommon to man. But I kept believing, kept hoping
and found that life was good, even in the middle of a place I was not anxious
to live in (United States of America).
And then suddenly,
you get to pick up that dream again. It all comes rushing back this feeling of,
‘I was not made to just stay here. I was made to go…to see and do and be more
than I ever could have hoped.’ Not that being a teacher was bad! Despite the
struggles of teaching in your first year, I found joy in loving those kids. And
not that living in the States is a bad thing—it’s absolutely not: I appreciate
a Starbucks on every corner (I’m sitting at one right now) and comfy beds along
with everyone else. But something…something was missing.
Like Naomi, I need
that thing which will give me life. For her, it was a grandbaby who replaced
sons she had lost. For me, it’s living and traveling and doing life in a
country not my own, investing in people and seeing them grow. And yeah, I can
do this anywhere and I have been able to do this in the United States—but it’s
time to move forward into the more, the unique place that only I can occupy-–and
only God knows what that looks like! I am being given permission to step into
what I thought was lost—life handed back to me again.
That’s a beautiful
thing.
I have a few weeks
to go before I set foot on Irish soil—a lot to learn, money to raise and tons
of joy to be experienced. I am investing what I have earned into this trip,
selling my car and holding yard sales. I need your help—however much you would
like to invest! If you feel lead of the Lord to support me financially, that
business is between you and Him! (But let me know. J) If you would like to be part of my prayer
team, excellent! This will be (always is) the biggest need: covering over me as
I go out into territory God has promised me will be huge. I am not just going
to Ireland, but Northern Ireland, a country whose spunky (and often violent)
history I am just becoming familiar with. Prayer for the culture shock I am
sure to experience, prayer for healthy team mate relationships, safe flights, provision,
my parents and siblings safety—it’s a long list, so if you want to be part of
my prayer team, I would love to be able to e-mail you periodically. Any person
who goes overseas for a long period of time runs the risk of being
forgotten—they become the person who
comes to peoples’ minds as ‘Yeah, Nancy went to so-and-so and I see her on
facebook often!’ I don’t want to be that person—the forgotten, almost idealized
missionary. I want to be the one who is in your face, telling you how it is,
inviting you into the world beyond your neighborhood and keeping you smiling
through the ride.
I need your
support, and honestly, I think you need my perspective. Not that it’s a correct
one, or a safe one or even one you want to hear but…it might help you see the
world a little bigger than your backyard and introduce you to faith that goes
beyond reason (hmm…that’s kind of the definition of faith, isn’t it?)
So if your game,
down or whatever other lingo you got: be brave and e-mail me:
teachingisthereason@gmail.com
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