mission

The wounded

We are in a time of waiting. Our family has been called to missions. Called to go to Kenya and serve the people at and around Tenwek Hospital. Yet we wait right now. Wait for funds, wait for provision of another doctor at the practice here, wait for the right time. And though we don’t understand why, we wait with purpose. Maybe part of the purpose is something we need to learn. Probably some “things” actually (plural).

A lot of people commend us for being willing to take our family to Kenya. While that is so kind, let me be the first to say that there is nothing inherently good or courageous in me that makes me want to go. As we’ve explored missions more and learned through much reading and training and listening and living, missionaries are just as flawed as the rest of the world. We struggle. We have brokenness in our hearts and our lives. But it is in this brokenness that we serve. We are obeying a calling that God has on our lives. It is only because of Christ that we can go. He is transforming us just as much as He is working in the lives of those we serve.

When we were in Kenya last year I remember feeling embarrassed when I thought my kids or our family were not representing the “missionary” title very well. I still am tempted to feel that way at times. But I think the Lord is slowly breaking me of that, humbling me to realize that we are all in need. If our kids were perfect, if we were perfect, then what grounds would we have to be traveling the world to proclaim our need for a Savior?

I never want lose focus that He is the Savior. He is the healer. He is the sovereign One, who knows how everything will unfold. I want to remember that our need for Him should be ever before us. I should not go through even one day where I say that I am fully there, I’ve got everything I need, I can keep doing this thing and helping others on my own. If that happens, there will be a lot of trouble!

I saw this quote recently and found it to ring so true:

“It is the process of confronting our pain and knowing our stories that allows us to serve people from a stance of mutuality. In this space where suffering meets suffering, there is the potential for true transformation to be born.”

~Ryan Kuja, www.alifeoverseas.com

We all have pain and woundedness in our lives. It may be more outward at times, or ever deep within the soul. Either way, it is the common condition. It is the level playing ground. May it be the humbling place that we are able to minister, to reach out in love, and to share the truth of Jesus Christ. The gospel reveals that our pain can be transformed by the wounds of our Savior. He came to take our pain fully upon himself, to redeem us completely. What a glorious truth!

*As I write this, Tenwek and the patients there are in need of our prayers. Not all details are known, but the nurses have gone on strike and walked out. Please join us in praying that a peaceful solution can be reached and the patients will be cared for, and most of all that the name of Jesus will be lifted high. Thank you.

*UPDATE on nursing strike: Thank you for praying! God has brought the nurses back to Tenwek as of 8/10/18. Continued prayer for reconciliation and healing is appreciated. Praise the Lord that He heals the wounded.

Posted: August 8, 2018
Under: mission, refining, the gospel
By: Emily

Read Me 2 Comments

Double blessing

The Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes He gives us things we did not even ask for, did not even know we needed.

When we got back from Kenya, Tom needed a job. We were looking for something temporary, something basically to pay the bills & save for the year or so that we were here, until we got back to Tenwek. We searched hard for that temporary work. But God very clearly and firmly closed that door. Then we remembered a company he worked with a while back, thought maybe they’d hire him to do some consulting for a while. He went to lunch with a few people from that company, and then another lunch, and another. The rest is history. As God would have it, that was the start of launching a Christian, missions-minded pediatric practice (Triad Pediatrics) in the area we live in in North Carolina. It is a dream Tom has had for years, but not something he was actively pursuing since we realized our calling to Kenya. A dear friend & mentor recently deemed it our “double blessing.” God has called us to help with this local practice, and to serve Him in overseas missions. Both are important. Both are needed. Both have been laid before us clearly as God’s will for our family. And yes, it does seem totally crazy!

Maybe with a double blessing comes double challenges? I won’t lie, it has been A LOT of work to raise support, get our feet on the ground as new missionaries, AND help start a medical practice from the ground up, all in a year’s time. And we’re not done! God has provided in so many ways. The company Tom is working for is an immense blessing to us. God has provided the strength and energy we need in times of extremely overwhelmed moments. He has provided many people to encourage us and pray for us. He has provided reassurance that this is His plan, and peace that He will continue to provide and pave the way. It has been hard and discouraging at times to be in the unknown in so many details of our life, but we have never truly been left in need. God has and is meeting us right where we are, so faithfully. He is drawing us so much closer to Him and each other; He is strengthening us through prayer and His Word. If we didn’t have the valleys of this season, maybe we wouldn’t be as aware of or thankful for the mountaintops. It is in the challenges that we’ve seen and experienced God as our true portion and strength, our provider in every way.

To us, it’s a testimony of what God is doing in our lives, so we want to document it. His mysterious, sovereign ways are above all, good. May He receive all the glory for this double blessing. This is nothing we could do on our own. He knows the whole story, and every detail.

We’d appreciate your prayers for Triad Pediatrics to thrive and be a light for Christ in our hometown; we’d also appreciate prayers for continued provision so that we can get back to Kenya, to serve the Lord at Tenwek Hospital as soon as possible.

For more information on how to contact or support us, please click on our “Join the journey” page at the top.

Posted: June 18, 2018
Under: hope, mission, refining
By: Emily

Read Me Leave comment

Miracles at Tenwek

A few years ago, one of our sons used to sleep with a small backpack, full of some of his favorite treasures and things he deemed necessary, near his ladder to his bunk bed. When I asked him what the packed bag was for, he said it was “in case there was a fire and I need to get out quickly.” Fire is scary. Fire is powerful. Fire usually shows up quickly and unannounced. In those days, our son was obviously feeling anxious that there could be a fire in our house. We have witnessed one huge house fire, and seen the aftermath of another, just on the small street we live on here in the States.

Last week there was a fire at Tenwek. We heard about it within hours of it having started. We prayed. We saw a picture of the flames soaring high above a building. I got chills and felt sick about what was happening. We had walked in and out of that building many times last year. I sat in a social work office there with baby Melanie. Two of our sons attended a Sunday school class in the dining room area of the building. Multiple times Tom went there to buy a soda and a mandazi. We walked by patients from the wound ward in the bottom of the building, who were often laying on the grassy areas surrounding the building when the weather was nice. And the building is used heavily by kids doing Bible Quizzing during the spring months each year.

Amidst this scary time, though, we learned there were so many things God was doing, miracles He was working. First of all, NO life was lost! In this huge fire, with no true fire station or firefighting equipment nearby, there were no casualties. That is amazing in itself. God’s protection and provision was in the timing of the fire and every other detail. We’ve heard also (and are not surprised) that the community of missionary families & staff at Tenwek stepped up and everyone was helping. They went into “go” mode and everyone worked together beautifully. There were surgeries going on, babies being born and critically ill patients who were being cared for during the fire. God provided. And the fire did not spread! Our church there was only a few steps from the door of the burning building (as seen in the picture below), but it did not get burned at all. So many miracles.

I was sad this week to think of the mess that our friends are dealing with at Tenwek, and the big job it will be to recover and rebuild after this devastating fire. I am reminded, though, of God’s amazing faithfulness. We don’t understand his ways, but he is God. He is loving and good and kind and just. And so much more. I struggle to believe this sometimes, but it is true.

We don’t know why this fire happened in the grand scheme of his plan, just like we don’t know why any tragedy happens. But we know that who God is will never change. There are always his miracles to be found. And that gives me great hope. Praise be to Jesus who cares for us in such tangible ways. He doesn’t have to, but he does. All the time. Great is his faithfulness.