Priceless Heritage

Yesterday was Thanksgiving so I set out to make a list of what I was thankful for. I started listing the ways God has worked in my life and the little God Hugs He’s given me throughout each and every day to remind me how much He loves me. When I read back over the list, I realized it centered around a theme…my heritage, my spiritual heritage.

For as long as I can remember, God has been the center of our family life. My parents raised us on the principle that God comes first in everything. They believed it, but more importantly, they lived it. After all, in the words of one of my favorite hymns,  Trust and Obey, “for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey”.

My dad was stationed at an Air Force base in upstate New York when my parents got the call to the mission field. Mom said that growing up she vowed she’d never be a missionary. My grandfather was a preacher and she’d seen her share of little old missionary ladies that looked like they’d had a hard life of digging ditches. Mom said that she did not want God to do to her what He “had done” to them. Ha! But yet when God called, they immediately answered. Why? Mom said it was because growing up, she was taught that you never say no to God.

I wouldn’t trade being a missionary kid for the world. I had so many once in a lifetime experiences and made too many friends to count. I got the opportunity to grow up immersed in another culture which enabled me to become fluent in another language. I learned to appreciate the small things and to take nothing for granted. But I’m grateful my parents answered the call be become missionaries because that’s when God’s Word came to life for me, when Biblical truths were actually experienced.

One of the most memorable experiences was when I was seven. We were told getting visas to Brazil wouldn’t be easy. After waiting two years and ten months the visas finally came. Dad felt that since God provided the visas, it was time for us to go. However, foreign missions wasn’t very popular within the African-American church in the early 70’s so there was maybe only $50/month support raised. Yet dad was still convinced we should go. I thought my dad was totally crazy (as did our relatives), but dad just had that much faith. I still can hear him saying that since God was indeed directing our path to Brazil, He’d provide. Since you don’t say no to God, we left for Brazil in July of 1974.

Of course God took care of us. During our first five-year term on the field, God raised up people and churches to support us, some sight unseen. One church started as a result of an accident we had two weeks before we left for Brazil. The other driver, a CIU student, was at fault, but dad refused to press charges. Later when the CIU student’s church discussed the desire to increase their support for missions, he told the committee about our accident. St. Andrews Evangelical Church continues to support my parents to this day. We were never fully supported, but we also never went without in the twenty-five years my parents were on the mission field.

While growing up on the mission field, I didn’t just learn about the Bible and just learn about God. I lived it. I saw God answer prayers and make a way out of no way. God worked when my mom was gravely sick and they couldn’t figure out the cause. I didn’t just learn that God can heal. I witnessed it. I saw God work for us and through us. And more than once I got to live the wonderful experience of leading another person to the Lord. Not only did I witness how God could change a life, I could talk your ear off with how I lived it, how He changed my life.

I like the online Free Dictionary definition of the phrase “grow on someone” because that is what happened. God grew on me as I grew up with Him on the mission field. Biblical truths had meaning; they became mine. Proverbs 3:5, 6 are now my life verses because He’s shown Himself faithful over and over again. That’s why He’s still my Rock and my Refuge even now at age fifty.

So as I reflect on what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, I can sum it up by saying I’m grateful for my priceless, spiritual heritage.