“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord over all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
Romans 10:12-13
God wants all people to be saved and to call on Him — but so many haven’t heard the Gospel or even the name of Jesus. They need to have someone to go and tell them of God who loves them and wants them to be with Him.
We knew since our daughter was 13 that she wanted to go and tell others about Jesus and we had committed her to the Lord as a baby and she studied Cross Cultural Ministries in college. We were encouraged that she wanted to “Go and Tell.”
However, God knew there was a struggle in my heart to release her. I was always amazed at Hannah ( in1 Samuel 1) praying for a child, God giving her Samuel and then she dedicated him to the Lord and took him to serve in the temple as a very young child. She said: “I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.”
I thought of the missionaries who left home and family knowing they might never return. Some didn’t even have access to letters or if they got letters, they might take months to reach them.
When Heather went to Japan before she was married, I felt so blessed to have email and could hear from her within a day. After she was married, they did mission work developing websites to help people connect for short term mission trips and long term missions as well. Later, they served in Nepal and we had internet and FaceTime to talk in real time and this was such a blessing.
It helped to talk once a week early in the morning (12 hour time difference) to catch up on what the Lord was doing and prayer requests. It also helped to watch our Grandchildren growing and feel more a part of their lives.
I have to admit honestly I sometimes had to ask forgiveness for coveting families around me who could be with their children and grandchildren in person so often. It helped to know God understood and I could trust Him with my family so far away … even when a devastating 7.5 earthquake occurred a short while after they got to Kathmandu.
I would never want to discourage my family from following the Lord’s leading and serving Him wherever He sends them, and God helped me in those years. It’s a blessing to see God using our children as we release them to His will. People would sometimes say, “I don’t know how you do it, having your family so far away!” but I always answered: “God gives grace and peace in yielding them to Him and they really are His.”
Alice Menks now lives in Arkansas, but lived 20 years with her heart in Japan, Arkansas, and Nepal as a “missions Mom” while her daughter and her family (including three grandchildren) were serving in Kathmandu and Pokhara. She and her husband, Jim trusted, encouraged, and prayed for them. God works in wondrous ways!
In this week’s teaching video, we meet Belshazzar. In our study of Daniel chapter 5, he is the current co-king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar has passed and Belshazzar is the co-regent with his father, Nabonidus.
All the events of Chapter 5 occur in one single night in 539 BC. What starts as a banquet spirals quickly to a drunken party, debauchery, sacrilege, idolatry, and the death of Belshazzar. We invite you to watch and listen to this sobering reality from the ancient world, that challenges modern-day believers to self awareness.
