Chapter 2: An Answer to Prayer

Whether it is a result of a lack of faith or a frequent feeling of unworthiness, I have often tended to shy away from proclaiming to others about "Answers to Prayer" in my life. However, I continually realize the countless numbers of blessings God has poured into my life through no deserving nature of mine both in answer to my prayers and those of others and his great love for me, one of his expendible and in many ways insignificant little believers. I have also become more and more convinced that if we put our delight in the Lord and his work(Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart"), our prayers and desires will become aligned with the direction and purpouse he has for our lives.

That being said, I feel it necessary to share with you an answer to prayer that the Lord gave in my life today. I will share it as it took place in my journal. I will warn that my thoughts are a bit scrambled and reflect some things I have been reflecting over recently. Here it goes:

Friday June 5, 2009 Quito, Ecuador

Romans 1:5-6
"Through whom we have recieved grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."

I have been here in Ecuador for exactly two weeks. During this time I have met countless missionaries and Christians from Ecuador and around the world. I have been convicted and intimidated by their lives and attitudes of obedience to Christ. I have also had my share of thoughts such as "Am I really cut out for this?" or "Do I have enough faith to be in the mission field for the Lord?"
My bent is towards helping and serving. I love people who are different--from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. I feel called to live among a foreign people, to help them with their health, and to show the love of Christ with them. My primary goal is not to change cultures, but to impact and turn hearts towards Christ that others may have the same hope that I have. This in-turn my change aspects of cultures.
I struggle in thinking that I'm to concerned with people's physical well-being and not enough with their spiritual well-being. Ultimately, a persons decision about whether they believe in Christ or not is of far greater eternal importance than whether their stomach hurts or they don't have enough food to adequately feed their children. But still I feel such a burden for the physical and health needs of people that I pray that my passion's are inline with the Lord's will for my life. I pray that the Lord will give me the faith, courage, and convictions to do his work with the gifts and passions that he has placed in me.

A couple of hours later, I was finishing reading the book called Jungle Pilot (about Nate Saint--a missionary who spent 7 years of his life with his family ministering to Natives and missionaries in the Jungle (also called Oriente or Selva) regions of Ecuador. This passage (a quote from a letter by Nate Saint around 1953) stuck out to me as if God was adressing my fears and questions about his direction in my life:
pg. 259 Jungle Pilot

"...It is unnecessary to tell you of our personal interest in the success of the medical project. We believe that even the most enthousiastic people underestimate the far reaching implications of this work for the gospel here in the Oriente. Already we have seen the tall walls of prejudice fall. We are perhaps in a better position to appreciate these gains since we have been here in the gateway during the transition period, feeling the 'before' and 'after' status qou, so to speak. MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) will de everything in its power to make air transportation the bridge needed for reaching the Indians through the Medical Ministry of Christ."

Through this passage, I believe the Lord was answering my prayer in a way about the intersection of my passions and his will in my life. As James 2:26 says "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." As I finished reading the book and came again to the part where Nate and his four Mission partners were murdered I began to think...
The point is not that these men died. All men die. In our (American) society we put so much emphasis on safety-insurance, security, laws and regulations to keep us safe and comfortable, even the places where we choose to live (safe and comfortable neighborhoods, etc), retirement savings, etc--when we should be concerned with the eternal weight of the decision to put our faith and lives in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father and his risen Son. We often talk about our citizenship or being American--when our true citizenship is in Heaven and our identity is in Christ. We should no longer consider how we can use our income and resources to accomplish our goals but rather the Lord's. We should be willing to die physical for the Lord and we should die figuratively to the things of this world. As Nate, Jim, Peter, Roger, and Ed were WILLING to die for the Lord--you and I should be willing ourselves. Yes these men had familiesthat they loved, possessions, and many gifts and talents, but (Mark 10: 29-31) they considered it of far greater worth to be expendible for the Lord.

Well, I hope your not too tired of reading ;) I promise my next posts won't be this long.

Today I recieved an email from my new friend Angel Omaca Yety. Angel is a Waorani--the same tribe that killed the 5 missionaries in 1955. Angel and his father are leaving now to move deep into the jungle to a place near a group of Natives called the Taromenani. Taromenani are related and speak a similar dialect as the Waorani. The have resisted contact on nearly every occassion--killing without asking any questions. Angel father believes he might have a relative among them and they are going to try to make contact and build a bridge into sharing with them the love of Christ and the good news of his payment for their sins and the sins of the wold. Please pray for Angel and his father.
Well, I've got to head out to a prayer meeting and then in the morning we are doing a kids fun/ministry day in La Bota. Please pray for that as well.
Love to all of you my dear family and friends. We'll be in touch soon ;)