But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. (1 Cor. 14:3 NIV)
As part of the process of applying to be missionaries with our denomination, our entire family would have to spend two weeks in Chicago in order for Soo and me to attend mandatory missionary training and orientation.
Ever since we heard about this requirement, we had been stressed at the thought of bringing our two boys along and leaving them in childcare all day, every day (save for Sundays), especially since our then-two-year-old wasn’t used to being away from both parents for more than an hour a week. We tried to finagle our way out of this, asking if I could attend alone, but our organization made it clear that it was required for both Soo and I to attend. They also assured us that childcare would be available for the entire time.
Orientation would take place in May of 2012 and would be capped off by a commissioning ceremony in June. Commissioning would make us official; however, we still wouldn’t be able to leave right away, as we would have to raise funds for our two-year assignment, and at least 80% would have to be pledged before we could even apply for visas.
How long might that take? Only God knew.
We sometimes wondered if going through this process was the right decision, as I had quit my job with a sense of urgency to leave, but four months– or one-third of a year– had already passed since my last day of work and we were still in the USA.
I shared my sense of frustration with my mentor, who then shared with me a passage from his devotions earlier that day. It was from Exodus 23:
“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.” (Exodus 23:20-22)
When I heard these words, I took it as assurance from God that going with our denomination was the right thing to do: they were like the angel of this passage, being sent ahead of us to bring us to Japan, and therefore, should be submitted to. The next few verses assuaged my anxieties about my family’s health should we go to Tohoku, where radiation leaking from Fukushima and into the food supply was (and is) an ongoing concern:
“Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.” (vv. 25-26)
And the end of this passage seemed to tell me not to be in a rush to go to Ofunato because God already had everything planned out: He had sent others ahead of us– an angel and a hornet– to prepare a way and would send us there in His time:
“I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” (vv. 29-30)
A few weeks later, I traveled out of state with some friends of mine to visit a prayer ministry that is known for giving words of encouragement. Some of my past experiences with charismatic churches caused me to be leery of them (ironic, I know, considering the role of the Holy Spirit in my own spiritual journey), but I wanted to learn more about this particular ministry when I read a book by its lead pastor: in it, he acknowledges that not all words or impressions are from God, but some are manufactured by human agents and some are even demonic in origin. This forthrightness made the pastor more credible to me, so I wanted to visit the ministry he leads and experience it firsthand.
My friends and I attended a prayer session with three members of a prayer team whom we were meeting for the first time and knew little, if anything, about us. There was no “pre-interview” to fish for personal information, they didn’t know what our roles were in ministry, and I hadn’t mentioned anything about missions or Japan.
The first member of the team prayed for me and mentioned islands and fish hooks. (Ofunato is known for its fishing industry, and there are several islands in Ofunato Bay.) The second member of the team said that I’d be preaching, not from the pulpit, but in public spaces, and without any prompting from me regarding my worries over support-raising, said that God would provide what we’d need to accomplish His will for His kingdom, mentioning a figure that was approximately the same amount we’d need to raise for our two-year assignment in Japan. The third member of this prayer team said that I would be involved in some type of ministry to women– this baffled me at the time, but would make sense later. She ended her prayer by reading me a passage of Scripture.
It happened to be from Exodus 23– the same passage that my mentor had shared with me several weeks earlier.
This word of encouragement gave me an even greater sense of peace about applying through our denomination and riding out the six-month process involved. I trusted that God had His plan in place, and that He would get my family to where He wanted us to be, when He decided that the time would be right.
I returned home from that prayer ministry encouraged, energized, and emboldened to continue pursuing this mission to Japan with our denomination.
Next stop: Chicago!
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