There are so many rewards that come from serving God in the mission field.  However, we are not always privileged to know the fruit of our labor while living our lives here on earth.  This is especially true for missionary wives.  When we serve God from our homes, we are often confronted by life’s little challenges much more frequently than its successes.

 

“Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.  

She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

Proverbs 31:25-27

Proverbs gives us the description of an “excellent wife.”  We so often fall short.  It is easy to let Satan take a foothold within our minds, and we find ourselves complaining far too often.  We face challenges we never expected – some are frustrating, some are annoying, and some are even just plain amusing.

We are reminded throughout Hebrews 12 that while we may be weary, we have a job to do here.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Hebrews 12:1-2

 

We may often feel as if we are constantly beaten down by life’s mundane and difficult tasks.  We may feel unappreciated.  We may feel unimportant.  We may feel weary.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”  Hebrews 12:12-13

Therefore, in the spirit of lifting our weary, drooping hands, we would like to invite you to “laugh with us at the time to come.” Proverbs 31:25  When the hardships of life throw us off balance and we come to a point when we want to cry or laugh, let us choose to laugh together.  We put our trust in God and smile as we work hard each in our own vocation. So with the help of my dear missionary-mom friends scattered across the region, I bring you:

You know you are a missionary mom who lives in Latin America (or at least the DR) when…

•      you go to a friend’s house and compliment them on their water pressure
•      your kids use ice chests as mini pools on hot days
•      you have survived explosions, floods, and fires… all in your own house
•      you are constantly nagging your kids to eat their breakfast when they are too busy looking for Belize and other tiny countries on the map because they have friends scattered around the world
•      you can make chicken a hundred different ways for dinner
•      your kids think popsicles are frozen grapes
•      you don’t need snow for winter fun… sand angels, sand men, and cardboard sleds are just as fun
•      your kids have “taxi shoes” or shoes that will not easily fall off into the gutter while getting into a taxi
•      you have had some pretty humbling moments while learning a new language… like that one time you were getting a physical and you were pretty sure they told you to take your clothes off… but then again… what if that’s not what they said at all.
•      your kids yell to each other in excitement “you can put toilet paper in the potty!!!!” once they arrive in a US airport (honestly, that is exciting)
•      you take your load of laundry to the one friend you know has a DRYER to dry your clothes and consider it the BEST birthday treat…EVER
•      your dream vacation includes a visit to Target to slowly browse every aisle (and if you can be drinking a Starbucks while browsing, you can’t think of anything better)
•      you kill bugs like a BOSS (maybe…)
•      you leave Christmas cards up all year because, hey, they didn’t arrive until April and real mail comes so infrequently that those cards and pictures mean so much more  to you now than they used to when you were in the states.
•      you spend more time trying to figure out how to watch your favorite TV shows than actually watching them
•      your husband brings home a machete… because he needed to cut down the weeds
•      your children don’t understand why they don’t hug EVERYONE in the States during passing of the peace
•      you have a love/hate relationship with skype.  You love seeing your family’s faces but hate the frequent bad connection
•      you compliment your friends when their power works every day
•      there are so many times you are thankful that no one around you can understand your kids’ embarrassing comments–you know, the ones where they make a big deal about the unfamiliar smells and tastes in a new culture
•      you start playing Christmas music in October because everyone else around you is doing it
•      you have to climb the neighbor’s wall to retrieve your sheets that took sail in the wind when it was drying on your line and you have the scrapes and bruises to prove it
•      your kids’ thankful list includes their basic needs like water, food, and power
•      you get really excited when you go a whole month without having to fix something major in your house
•      your happy dance is on point when you find your favorite US product brands in the grocery store (like Cherry coke, Coffeemate vanilla creamer, Prego spaghetti sauce, or Wheat Thins)
•      you have to buy your baking soda in a suspicious unmarked bag from the pharmacy
•      your three-year old loudly sings “God Bless America” on your first flight back to the states and you think to yourself “yes, sing it girl!” (but seriously – when did she even learn that song?)

So as I run the race down our street… in the pouring rain… while barefoot… to chase down the trash truck so the kind gentleman will reverse back to our home and  come collect our trash, I will remember that this is the race set before me.   Just as the woman in Proverbs 31 does not know her future and can laugh because she has trust in Jesus, I will find the humor and the joy within the “ways of my household.”

While we each battle our own setbacks, discouragements, homesickness, frustrations, loneliness, and so much more, we also fervently pray that we are able to continue to “run this race set before us.”   We pray that the root of bitterness does not spring up, that we do not grow weary or fainthearted.   We pray that we can day after day lift our drooping hands, strengthen our weak knees, and “laugh at the time to come.”