Neither us ever intended on becoming foreign missionaries. Troy wanted to be a professional scavenger when he was child… spending his lifetime ruling the wilderness and creating a kingdom of tree forts and booby-traps. As a small child, Noelle dreamed of becoming a Care-Bear when she grew up – which is disturbing on many different levels – and thankfully, she has out grown such desire. Troy, on the other hand, still wouldn’t complain if his home was in a tree somewhere….
As children who grew up ‘churched’, we had heard much about foreign missions but never really aspired to be a ‘foreign missionary’ ourselves. It wasn’t until our hearts melted for Belfast in college that we considered missions as our future. As we now prepare for this next season of serving in a different country, we have been doing some reading and researching of men and women who have gone before us and spent their life serving Jesus on foreign soil. There are some pretty amazing legacies out there and here are just a few cool things that some of our favorite missionaries have said:
J. Hudson Taylor
Missionary to: China
“God’s work done God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”
“God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.”
” I have found there are three stages to every great work of God: first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”
“The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain.
No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.”
“Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards.
Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.”
Amy Carmichael
Missionary to: India
” One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.”
“Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.”
“It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desires which He creates.”
“Bare heights of loneliness…a wilderness whose burning winds sweep over glowing sands, what are they to HIM? Even there He can refresh us, even there He can renew us.”
“But God is the God of the waves and the billows, and they are still His when they come over us; and again and again we have proved that the overwhelming thing does not overwhelm. Once more by His interposition deliverance came. We were cast down, but not destroyed.”
C.T. Studd
Missionary to: China, India, and Africa
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
“Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary.”
“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell.”
“Funds are low again, hallelujah! That means God trusts us and is willing to leave His reputation in our hands. “
“The “romance” of a missionary is often made up of monotony and drudgery; there often is no glamour in it; it doesn’t stir a man’s spirit or blood. So don’t come out to be a missionary as an experiment, it is useless and dangerous. Only come if you feel you would rather die than not come.
There are so many others who sacrificed much for the Kingdom of God. Their stories inspire us and cheer us on to continue in faith as He leads us!
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
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