Teacups in the Jungle

When I left college in Edinburgh, to attend Bible School in England, with the intentions of, God willing, going to a far off country to be a missionary, I was terrified in so many ways. Little old me, traveling to the uttermost parts of the earth to share the news of the gospel. I had no idea how, but I knew why I was going: because God wanted me to go and I wanted to do His will. I chose this verse, Philippians 4:13, for my very first prayer card (which was a very cool, black and white bookmark, with my passport photo, as the picture!) This was a verse I held on to many times as I looked ahead to the future and to all the unknowns that were staring me down.  In and of myself, the idea of me heading off on my own, as a 19 year old, to be a missionary seemed so intimidating, but God had called me and, without any doubt in my heart and mind, I knew by His strength I could go. So, off I went, step by step into the unknown, following hard after the Lord.

Fast forward 17 years and I find myself in a little village in the jungle of the Palawan, married to my dear husband from California, who I met along the way, and living with our two little loves in our “house on the hill.” We are thrilled to be here in this place, living this life, as a family. The “uttermost parts of the earth” is not a foreign place anymore, it has become our home. The jungle has become familiar territory and sharing the gospel has become our way of life. The unknown that once terrified me, has become my safe and comfortable. Missionary life is our normal.  This week the Lord brought this familiar verse before me, not as a verse to claim grand possibilities for the future, but a verse to live out, right here and now. I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I know He can take me through places I didn’t think I could ever walk through, but what I hear loud and clear this week is this “am I?” Am I living this life through Christ who strengthens me, or am I living on my own abilities, within my comfort zone and not depending on Him to work and move through my feeble hands and my small words. I have been mulling this thought over for a few days, paying attention to my thoughts, and asking the Lord to search my heart and show me that my weaknesses and failures are not to be avoided, but to be embraced by His strength.

I was thinking along these lines when Izzy and I decided to have an impromptu afternoon tea-date. Little brother was sleeping and it was a Friday afternoon worth celebrating, as we had completed another week of homeschooling. I was thrilled to have, apparently, managed to teach her something this week and she was thrilled, (and jumping up and down), to have read her first book! We love to celebrate the small moments at our house and cake seems to be one of our love languages, so naturally hot tea, with a slice of cake, seemed like a great way to end the week. As we do with all our tea dates, we got out the tablecloth, the napkins and then, on the spur of the moment, I decided to get down two special cups, normally just for display on my little shelf. These teacups are from a little place in N.Ireland where my Mum, Dad, Danny and I have enjoyed many special breakfasts together. The last time I was home, my Mum had given them to me as a gift and I had wrapped them in lots of bubble wrap and carried them all the way back here, to the jungle.

As Izzy excitedly set the table, eyeing the cake, I washed the teacups. They were covered in dust from sitting for months, unused on my shelf. As I stood at the kitchen sink cleaning them off, I thought back to this little blog post I was writing and how we can sometimes treat or “use scripture” as I was using my teacups. There are certain, well known verses that we love to quote and keep for special occasions, we often like to frame them and display them on the walls of our home, right there above the fireplace. We write them on our prayer letters, engrave them on clocks and stamp them on cards. But, as I cleaned off those beautiful teacups, I thought surely, these wonderful verses are not to be kept for special occasions, not just to be highlighted in our Bibles, but to be lived out daily in the nitty-gritty of our everyday decisions and desires.