As I slowly work myself back into my former daily regimen, recovering from almost five months of an insane work schedule, I questioned whether I wanted to restart my blogging efforts. After all, it takes a lot of time and energy, if done right, and since I am now working hard on finishing the first book in my Moses series, I was writing all day anyway.
Then I got a comment on my blog that changed my thinking and reminded me of one of the primary reasons I began blogging in the first place: to allow God to use me for his service.
Earlier this year I did a daily Lenten meditation and on day five, I discussed a friend, Paul ORear, who had gone through difficult times with his son Samuel. Samuel has a chromosome deletion disorder and because of that handicap Paul and his wife Tuula had to leave their work as Wycliffe missionaries in Papa New Guinea.
This week I got a comment on that post from another Wycliffe missionary, Jan Hogeweg, who had worked with Paul and Tuula and had not interacted with them for many years but were now trying to locate them. Through Gods grace and my blog, I was able to put them together.
The Internet is a powerful tool. Like anything powerful, it can be used for evil as well as for good. However, this time God used it (and me) for good. I have to respect that and continue to make myself available for the continuing serendipitous events God seems to bring my way. At some point in our glorious future together, maybe He will allow me to see all of the connections this blog has been responsible for. But it isn’t necessary. What matters is that every so often He lets me know that He is using this little effort for His purpose. That alone is a good enough reason to contine the effort.
May God bless your day and may grace and peace accompany your every step.
Update: Correction from Paul O’Rear (comment)
BTW, Jan and Christine were not actually Wycliffe missionaries, but are Christians from the Netherlands that were actually working in the village next door to ours as vocational tech teachers via Britains version of our Peace Corps. – Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), I believe. A wonderful couple who provided some much needed companionship (from a Western perspective) out in the deep jungles of PNG.
Bill, God has certainly been using your efforts! I believe that partially as a result of your blogging about prayer earlier this year and our bit of interaction, God has given me a heart to pray again, whether I understand how it works or not. And as a result of that, I’ve been experiencing more gentle freedom and joy than I’ve experienced for a few years. The primary thing I think that has changed is not God or His speaking to me, but simply my orientation. And my prayers rarely last longer than 5 minutes at this point, but at least they are real for me now again.
Thank you!
BTW, Jan and Christine were not actually Wycliffe missionaries, but are Christians from the Netherlands that were actually working in the village next door to ours as vocational tech teachers via Britain’s version of our Peace Corps. – Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), I believe. A wonderful couple who provided some much needed companionship (from a Western perspective) out in the deep jungles of PNG.
Thank you for letting me know that Paul. “As iron sharpens iron” has always been my goal in these discussions. May both our prayer lives continue to grow in God’s grace.
What a lovely post. I love how our Lord works, and this blog is just one more reminder of how He uses everything for our good and His glory.