Persevering Faith

“And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.” Luke 7:23, NAS.

After 20 years of serving as a missionary I found myself at a crossroads. My depression was so deep that I even questioned my salvation. I was angry with God. It seemed as if He had not kept His promises to me.

The people I felt called to where unreachable. The color of my skin made it too dangerous for me to even live near them, much less among them. Everything seemed to be falling apart. “What are you up to, God?” I cried. “Where is the peace You promised me?”

At my crossroad I came to God and said, “I’m about to walk away from You. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.”

God brought me to the story of the crowds walking away from Jesus because His sayings were too hard to accept (John 6:66-69). It was as if Jesus were asking me, “Will you turn from following me too, Liz*?”

I fell to my knees and cried, “Where would I go? You alone have the words of eternal life. I believe You are the Holy One of God.” God also led me to the story of John the Baptist in his doubts, and that Jesus said, “Blessed are they who do not stumble on account of me (Luke 7:23).”

It turns out that God was dealing with my husband, Steve, at the same time. We both had solid prayer and quiet times, but I had longed to have a daily time for us to pray together as a couple. Steve had never felt that need.

As Steve poured out his heart to the Lord about our people and the seemingly closed doors he asked, “Lord what can I do?” The Lord responded, “Well Steve, why don’t you start by praying with your wife, like she has been asking?”

We started praying together. At the beginning that was all we could do for our people group. We poured out our hearts for our people, and God began to burden believers who already lived near them to reach out with the Gospel. We’ve been able to train many of these locals, and are seeing God move in miraculous ways. God taught us both that we don’t need to know everything the Lord is doing, we just need to know the Lord and hold on to Him with a faith that perseveres.

*Names changed for security reasons.

Pray that:

Many more believers living near and among this unreached people group will become burdened to reach them with the Gospel.

Discouraged and depressed believers in the Pacific Rim will have ears to hear from the Lord during their times at the crossroads.

Those who are reaching out to this unreached people will have a persevering faith.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.