Joy Lived Out

This morning I opened my Facebook to catch up on everyone's life (because you know, that's how one finds out what is going on in other's lives!).   The first status that popped up on my page was something that changed my entire day.  I pray it has changed me forever!  We have friends that are serving in Ghana, Africa as Missionaries.  They moved there three years ago to help feed the orphans, share the Gospel, and disciple those that come to know Jesus Christ.  Reid and Robin Beebe, along with their five boys responded to the call to leave their home in Knoxville and travel across the globe to reach people for Christ where the things we consider everyday luxuries are a rare commodity.

As I read Robin's post this morning, my heart was wrenched as I began to think of how I live my faith out.  Do I exemplify JOY when circumstances arise?    Robin has hard days, like all of us do.  We all go through trials.  Some are for just a fleeting moment, but some are trials that can be dragged out and seem to last a lifetime.  Some people deal with health issues that affect them the rest of their life.  But the circumstances and conditions that Robin and her family face everyday are so much more difficult than what most of us will ever have to experience.  True JOY is lived out in her life and it shows.  The transparency of how in her circumstances she struggles, shows true JOY and she continually depends on God to renew her Spirit.  I pray the JOY I have for what Christ has done for me shines brightly for others to see.  I want to share with you Robin's post from Facebook and I pray it has an effect on you as it did me.  JOY is a choice!  It is an active response to every situation we experience: hard times and good times.  Do others see JOY in you?  Here's her post:

·         Lately I have been struggling to be joyful in our circumstance. I have taken off small bites of self-pity and then chewed on it for periods of time. I have allowed challenging circumstances to "get the best of me." Having illness plague our family continually (three sick right now - malaria, intestinal bugs, high fevers, severe coughs have plagued us for about 6-8 weeks with only a small reprieve of everyone being healthy - last night we propped Franklin up on a cot in our room so he could breathe through his coughing), having one thing after another broken in our home, having car problems that can not seem to be fixed, rising costs of daily needs, communication challenges, not to mention water, electricity and internet, and honestly missing my family and friends has deterred my thankfulness.

Why is that?

Well, the Truth is that I have allowed it to happen. (Can't you hear the self-pity seeping out? Ugh!) I told Reid I felt like a ball bouncing on a hard surface. My "bounce-back" used to be so much stronger. I was resilient. Now the ball hits the surface and then bounces to a slow roll, then a stop. Reid's returning analogy was that of a boxer in a fight. Every hit takes more of the fight and life out of him until he is barely standing. We are not recovering from the hard hits of life here as well as we used to. I'm tired. Weary.

Some have told us we need to REST. We are trying to do that. We actually tried to take a few days as a family thanks to a Christmas gift. However, two were sick the day we arrived, and we came home a day early because three were running fevers. Ugh!

I'm SELFISH.

Ugh! I've been craving ease of life. Comfort. I don't like things daily feeling unrelentlessly so "hard." (They are HARD because I am choosing to look at our circumstances instead of the goodness of Christ.)

Yep, I'm SELFISH.

YUCK!

I MUST BE AN OVERCOMER AND RISE ABOVE THIS! Ugh!

S.O.S. - FRESH PERSPECTIVE NEEDED!!!

S.O.S. - CORRECT PERSPECTIVE NEEDED!!!

As a Christmas gift, Bekah Ochs made us a video shadowing everything the Lord has done over the past three months. It was astounding to see it all! Lately, I have struggled to remember the BIG picture and have been swallowed up by the little things that discourage me. WHY AM I LIKE THAT?

This morning I have been given the Lord's perspective as God has used multiple means to speak to my sinful heart. (It's God's kindness that leads us to repentance, but it is ugly to see my sin up close!) A few hours ago, I awoke for my quiet time complete with my morning cup of coffee. As I opened the sugar, ants scurried to hide. So began the morning routine of many days... Picking around the tiny, little creatures, I heaped the ant-laden sugar into my cup. Seeing them reminded me of this poem from our mission training which penetrated my heart:

ANTS IN THE SUGAR BOWL
By Elizabeth Givens
So send I you
To ants in the sugar bowl,
To things that fly, creep and crawl into the house,
To uncertain water, sporadic electricity.
To long hours, sweltering heat, exhausting days,
To uncomfortable vehicles, crowded jeeps, smelly buses.
To noisy early, early mornings,
To rice, rice and more rice.
To poverty you didn’t believe existed,
To masses of people like you have never seen,
To know and work with people who have never known comfort,
So send I you, and I expect you to adjust.
So send I you
To people who will give to you from their poverty,
To friends who will embarrass you with their generosity,
To pastors who will entertain you from their lack, with beauty.
To hungry, receptive, questioning people who want to know God,
To study, to teach, to learn from your study and teaching,
To prove your own motives, values and beliefs,
To learn about yourself and the culture that has reared you,
To know God and to understand more deeply dependence on Him,
So send I you.
Are you going? I’ll go with you all the way.

HOW TRUE THIS POEM HAS BEEN SEEN IN OUR LIVES HERE!

God has sent us here. In His love, God "expects me to adjust" to these hard circumstances because His word commands me to "have JOY ALWAYS." (1 Thessalonians 5:16). I am to "rejoice in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES." (1 Thessalonians 5:18) "For this is the WILL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS FOR YOU."

God has led me, as the poem indicates,
"To prove your own motives, values and beliefs,
To learn about yourself and the culture that has reared you,
To know God and to understand more deeply dependence on Him..."

God is refining me. And it isn't pretty!

After reading through 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 this morning, I read this post on Facebook from a friend and fellow missionary, Johnbull Omorefe.

"Paul knew he would be imprisoned In Jerusalem. Although his friends pleaded with him to not go there, he knew he had to because God wanted him to. No one enjoys pain, but a faithful disciple wants above all else to please God. Our desire to please God should overshadow our desire to avoid hardship and suffering. When we really want to do God's will, we must accept all that comes with it - even the pain. Then we can say with Paul, "God's will be done."

And so, I am still growing and learning to be a faithful disciple. My desire is to be "kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls me (you) faithful; He will surely do it."

As Mason challenged me last week when he was sick on his birthday, "I must count it all JOY when I encounter these trials knowing that the testing of my faith will yield endurance, and that endurance will have it's perfect result. I will be perfect and complete...lacking in nothing."

So, I am trusting Jesus to help me and lead me. I have a long way to go...but my faithful, loving, merciful God will be with me every step of the way.

Please pray for our friends serving in Ghana, Africa.  Pray God gives their entire family a time of rest and good health.  Joy is overflowing in their lives as they trust God and display a transparency of their circumstances and all that God is doing. 

Much Joy,

Angie Burkeen