Blessed to Be a Blessing

I had a great conversation this morning with one of my Arequipa 40/40 friends, Beth. (Check out her blog at www.bethbeers.blogspot.com)

For nearly everyone on our team, there have been extreme moments of doubt and uncertainty in the call to be here.

But not for us. God has given us both faith and unwavering certainty of call.

Now when I say that I haven't questioned my call, I usually follow it up with a "yet." Because I figure the day will come eventually.

But you know what? It might not.

And I came to realize this morning that just because I am not doubting my call, I am not better than anyone else. This faith I have is only by the grace of God. And God didn't give me this faith so that I can take pride in it and think I am better than other missionaries.

Absolutely NOT.

God gave me this faith so that I can be a blessing to my team. So that I can be a rock for them. So that I can encourage them.

Just as Abraham was blessed by God in order to be a blessing, I am blessed by God so that I can bless others.

That is the point.

And this morning, I was given the opportunity, by God's grace, to bless my partner Ester by reminding her of her call.

She has been struggling. She has been doubting. She has been unsure.

And originally, I said to myself, "Great...what am I supposed to say to her? I really can't relate to her situation." I thought that was a bad thing. But it wasn't. I was able to remind her of how God is preparing the way for us already. How he has already shown that she is the person he wants for this job. That this is an attack from the enemy. That God wants her to have peace.

And now she realizes that too. And now she has peace about being here, and better yet, peace about staying in Cusco.

This is a great opportunity to "plug" the power of prayer. The first time she told me of her doubts, I pretty much freaked out, because her going home would mean my going home. So my first reaction was to get scared and beg God to do something, mostly for my sake.

A few days later, I realized how bad things were for her, that she had thought a lot more about going home than I realized. So I really surrendered it to God. Alex (One of the Cusco 40/40s. Check out his blog here: http://www.unite91.blogspot.com) and I prayed hard about it, and fasted about it. Three days.

And God heard.

We knew he would.

It just took me reading the letter I wrote her, and her listening to God's voice speaking through me.

God hears.

And He is faithful to listen.