People genuinely do want to “bless the missionaries” while
we are stateside. Really they do. Okay, at least some do. Churches who regularly pray for us are the first
to find tangible ways to bless us while we are here.
Hopefully all of us could share a long list of blessings we
have received, and maybe we can even rejoice with our colleagues (without
jealousy) in the provision of things we have personally never received. I once
struggled with envy when I heard of other global workers returning home to free
dental work, car mechanics, restaurant and gas cards, and trips to amusement
parks as a family.
It’s taken 26 years to accumulate quite a list of lovely
tokens of love and appreciation from friends and partners in our work. But let’s face it, what is a tremendous
blessing to me might fall short of that objective in your case.
For example, a friend gifted me with kefir grains, fresh raw
milk, subsidized nutritional supplements, and even a kombucha starter! All of my hippy, happy, just-a-bit-out-there
friends will say “Cool”! The rest of you
are scratching your heads saying, “Huh”?
With this said, let me share some “blessings” my kids have
experienced in real life on summer furloughs.
My oldest daughter remembers being in a supporting church at age six or
seven, and being forced to stand up in front of about fifty children she didn’t
know and share about life in Oaxaca. (Don’t your children hate that?)
To make it worse, the teacher then said, “Because you are
our special guest we will let you take our offering this morning … but first
you can start us off by praying in Spanish!”
Now whoever thought that would be a treat for a shy little visitor?
Another story happened to one of my boys who was too young
at the time to remember it. One of our
supporting churches is a lively little church, very different from the denominations
we usually attend. We were sitting on
the front row, all however-many-of-us-there-were at the time.
The pastor had asked people to come up for special prayer. He
proceeded to holler at the devil, until one person after another fell at our
feet, slain in the spirit. When the
pastor ran out of standing people to pray for, he came over to pray for
us.
My youngest son began crying loudly, “Don’t let
him pray for me! Don’t let him pray for
me!” until I shushed him and rushed him out as though he needed a sudden diaper
change.
Sometimes blessings fall a bit shy of their goal.
What amazes me about WOTH is how they truly minister to such
a diverse group of women, touching mind, body, and soul. They “get” our lives in a way few people
do. It was a blessing to be a co-presenter
at the Writer’s Workshop last week at the WOTH Furlough Retreat in Denver, and a pleasure to
introduce many new readers to this blog!
Now it’s your turn to share.
Please share with us some of the greatest blessings of your current or
past furloughs. I promise to rejoice
without (much) envy, even if your list trumps my kefir, kombucha, and raw
milk. Feel free to add your own stories
of things your kids have had to endure on furlough.
No pressure to comment, but I did tell lots of the women at
the retreat that the stories in the comments are the best part about this blog,
so don’t let me down!
IRL* Blessed.
Our most recent furlough was when we returned to the States for the birth of our youngest nearly 2 years. Our home fellowship went above and beyond providing housing and many other things for us. Someone in our group had recently purchase a rental house, others provided, furniture, decorations and many extras. Walking into the kitchen we were overwhelmed by many groceries! Seriously, all we had to do was transfer our clothes from our suitcases to the drawers. There was body wash in the bathroom that of course had hot water! I soon went on a search to see if I could see if they missed anything.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the housing, someone provided all the ground beef we could use, we were gifted with many grocery cards, gas cards. They also allowed our children to attend our small church school, go on field trips, participate in sports.
To say we felt loved and cared for is in understatement!
Nice! This is great. I am truly happy for you, smiling at the computer screen here, imagining all this.
DeleteWe've been blessed this furlough with the provision of private school fees for our girls, store and visa gift cards, use of holiday houses (repeated offers, beyond what we could in conscience accept!), SO much prayer and love, clothes and dinners. We have felt loved and nurtured. Sometimes the blessings have been a bit more than we've wanted ... but we know the heart that's inspired them, so get to practice grace! My dh has had to have 2 surgeries while we've been back in Australia - and the care that's been shown to me and the children (and him!) as he recuperates has been so very humbling. Great blog, JJ!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lilly. Good to hear from you this morning. Having been through a stateside surgery when people were not aware or "there" - I know how much that must have been a blessing.
DeleteToo many to say, but a couple of big ones was someone lending us their 8 seater van for a year and then, another couple driving that van about 1,000km to where we landed and meeting us at the plane. That same Home Assignment we had friends find and rent a house on our behalf and then they helped my parents move all our furniture and bits and pieces into the house, found extra things we didn't have (like a fridge, extra beds, lounge seats, plates etc.), and filled the cupboard and fridge as well. When we went out into the backyard (which in itself was a novelty), we found some playground equipment! Totally blessed!
ReplyDeleteWonderful! On my list is a house similar to that on one of our two year-long furloughs, and I love the memory of all the things lovingly provided. This time someone lent us a mini-van so all six of us could fit in one car. We never even asked! Totally blessed, indeed.
DeleteSo glad you're back to blogging, Jamie Jo! You left on your furlough when I returned from mine, so I've missed you.
ReplyDeleteOn our furlough this past spring, friends lent us their car for two months. We used it for 2000 miles of travel! And another friend treated me to a four day spiritual renewal conference. She even picked me up at my home, personally drove me there,and arranged to have my bag carried to my room. It was red carpet treatment!
Red carpet treatment, indeed. It's good to see you again, OliveTree, and to hear about your special blessing.
DeleteI was telling someone at the WOTH retreat how you and others are such an encouragement with your comments, and how you are a fabulous writer yourself with another story and another voice unique from Yellow Dress Girl (Sarah) and me. I've missed you, too!
We are two years into our furlough, so I'm pretty sure it's not even a furlough anymore... but I can say that, though this time has extended longer than we anticipated and even amidst the struggles it has brought in our ministry and calling, we have been so blessed... through vehicles and beds, dental care and chocolate from far away airports, and through people who still pray and wait with us...
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, all of these just make your soul feel hugged, even during those torturous waiting periods. (((Hugs)))
Deletewe've been well cared for by our home church and other supporting churches - housing, stocked kitchen, tuition help for our kids attending the Christian school, a dear lady who brought us the kind of high quality, fancy bread we could never afford to by every Wed. night before prayer meeting, accomodations at a nice hotel to just give us a break instead of asking us to stay with another chruch family... or taking the time to find out which church families we already have relationships with and arranging meals and visits with them for us, free music lessons/babysitting, open arms in so many ways to include our family. Several times now, we've been the recipients of a "missionary Christmas-" (not one of my favorites, but...) and it is no small feat since we are ten.
ReplyDeletebut, there is also kindness from strangers and from those outside our church world when they hear what we are doing and why we are home/traveling: medical appts that should takes months to schedule opening up in a matter of days, free dental work for all of our children, $20 bills slipped given to a stewardess to be given to our family after several long flights, stewardesses who gather up extra water bottles and prepackaged snacks, stuff them into the diaper bag - because the airport food is so expensive (and that happened the same trip I was traveling alone, 4 kids - 3 of them 5 & under - and my wallet never made it back into my bag after security checks... so I was traveling without any cash or credit cards... thankfully my papers were elsewhere), customs and immigration officials who are merciful and move us to a separate (and front) of the line.
God just really loves on us - through His people and through those who we hope will someday be His people!
This long list of gratitude is unbelievable. I am so thankful it is real. It encourages us to trust for things like tuition when it seems impossible. Even total strangers blessing you - those are directly from the hand of a loving Dad. I am blessed just reading this.
Delete20 years ago on a 'Summer furlough', a lady in the church 'adopted' our 2 daughters, ages 10 and 12 and took them ALL day. They went to the mall, ice -skating, out for lunch, visited the Dollar Store and just "loved on them". My girls remember being treated special that one day. They didn't have to stand up in front of the church and speak in Spanish.
ReplyDelete~J
That's so sweet! One of my girls has been singled out for dates like this with a woman in the church. How precious. I'd forgotten all about the time a woman took my youngest kids overnight and took them to Build-a-Bear. That was unexpected and amazing to the little ones.
DeleteGoodness, we've had many furlough blessings, its hard to list them! Some of the blessings come through supporters, and we appreciate them so much. We invite them to get together for a meal and a visit at a restaurant, and we're fully intending to treat them, but they end up treating us and filling up our gas tank for our drive home.
ReplyDeleteThis past furlough was hard on us in every way, but the blessings from our support and prayer team helped to encourage us to keep going.
Isn't it great to ponder these things especially when we are weary? Of all the things we dread about being in the U.S. - we love the people contacts and personal blessings that come with them.
DeleteWe had our first furlough last year and our home church went above and beyond what we ever could have dreamed, providing a furnished home and a car to use, as well as numerous gifts from individuals in the church. We didn't really know what to expect, and I can honestly say they blessed our socks off!
ReplyDeleteIt's still best to not have expectations, since more than likely could be disappointed as easily as blessed. Glad your experience was good. (Not all of ours have been.)
DeleteWell, my fam and I have had some great furlough blessings over the years. One of the bestest of all time was a church that hosted a missionary "shower" for me just a few weeks after we arrived. The shower was just like a wedding shower with snacks and a little devotional and GIFTS. Brand new gifts in all the right sizes. Going to church clothes for my Brazilian born babies and me and even my husband. Just this morning as I put clothes away in my closet here in Brazil I touched the special skirt that was given to me that day and still has a place in my wardrobe after all these years!
ReplyDeleteHoping on this next furlough with teenage boys that we can avoid some of those odd, mixed-up blessings with tact and kindness!
I love the idea of a missionary shower. How sweet! Outfitting yourself and the kids is always a huge expense right at the beginning of a stateside time. Someone was very thoughtful.
DeleteOh, I've appreciated reading all these comments! I have a strong sense of the body being at work, of God's provision, of love being shed abroad. Beautiful. Praising!
ReplyDeleteMe, too! Still I am praying for those who may have experience something way less than "blessing" upon their return. This could be a hurtful post for them. Keep looking to the positive, however small it may seem.
DeleteOne one furlough I was blessed by some friends and supporters with a computer to give to my grandma so she could keep up with me by e-mail. They knew how close we were and wanted to make sure we could communicate. It was so unexpected and such a tremendous blessing. My grandma died about a year and a half after that Christmas so it really was a wonderful blessing to be connected to her in those final years! I have also been blessed with filled cupboards and people helping me find a place to stay. One furlough I was given a whole house with internet service provided for the 6 weeks I was in the area. It was such a blessing to be able to come and go and not have to worry about disturbing the people I was staying with!
ReplyDeleteThat is sweet to have people bless you by blessing your grandma like that. I am now contemplating the need to plant a bug in people's ears about ministering to us by ministering to my dmil who needs a bit of care now. Hmmm. Do we pray and wait, or come out and tell people what we need?
DeleteFor my grandma, I happened to be in a store looking for an electronic game for her that I knew she enjoyed. I ran into my friend and she asked what I was looking for. I told her and didn't expect anything from it. Instead of a game, she gave me a computer to give to my grandma. So, I didn't ask - she decided that my grandma needed something more. At the same time, where I minister, asking is not seen as a bad thing. If you get the help you want, great. If you don't, great too. So, take a chance and tell people what you think the need is. You may be surprised and get more than you could ever ask or imagine! :)
DeleteNot really a furlough blessing, but I'm sure others can relate. A supporting church wanted to send us a few boxes in which were supposed to be gifts for our kids. As a side note, I believe they really did want to be a blessing and an encouragement to our kids!
ReplyDeleteBeforehand we sent them information on our kids ages (I think they were 9 and 12 at the time, maybe a little older), and what kinds of things they liked. When we received these boxes on the field a few months later, almost of the toys and books were for much younger ages, such as toddlers and preschoolers! A few things we were able to use as there were some cross stitch items and scrap-booking supplies.
I think our supporters believe our kids are the still same ages or younger than when we left! Isn't that funny? !
Our biggest this last furlough was free dental care for all our kids - and they needed a LOT!
ReplyDeleteA friend gave us the top half of a house to stay in, and other friends took us to the lake with their boat for tubing.
However, the best part of furlough was when a friend took me for coffee and listened well for three hours!
And the hardest part is sometimes the two minutes our home church gives us. It is hard to feel loved with two minutes of attention span. It made the friend's three hours all that much more of a blessing.