Go Anyway

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16, NIV 2011).

It was just like any other mission trip I had committed to. I had warned her that it was coming. She understood and said, “Go anyway.”
Almost every mission trip I have pursued over the last 20 years has left my wonderful wife at home to deal with my absence. And during almost every trip, a major crisis had occurred at home, leaving her alone to manage. This time, I had not been gone a week when my daughter’s father-in-law died suddenly. I was 6,600 miles away and offered to come home if they needed me. I stayed and my wife was there without me to support the grief and manage the grandchildren during this terrible time of loss for those I love. And thus she has always been there, has always stepped up and is just as much a part of God’s mission as I am.

Too often, we who are on mission for God forget the loved ones who make it possible. We see ourselves as following God’s great call and accept with little understanding the sacrifice others are making for us to be free to serve.
And whether we call them Barnabas, or Martha, or Simon the Cyrene, or even Becky, we could never carry our crosses without them walking beside us, carrying their own.
Thank God for my wife and all the loads she has lifted so that I might serve our King---so that we might serve our King together. May God help me support her as faithfully while she lives out the mission for which she was specially and perfectly created.

Great God,
Thank you for my spouse and for putting us together in your purpose for our lives.
Amen