Have you ever been faced with a task so daunting that you called out to the Lord with tears in your eyes and a pain in your gut saying, "Lord, I can't do this! Please give me another assignment. This is too hard." Some of our students in the intensive English for Missions course passed through this kind of spiritual fire as they struggled to master irregular verbs, silent letters, and the auxiliary verb "do." (In the sentence, "What do you do?" how would you explain the function of the first "do?")
Learning a new language, especially when you are an adult, is nothing short of a trial by fire. No matter how many degrees you have or how many classes you have taken in your mother tongue, you must descend to the bottom of the language ladder and learn one word at a time, just like a baby. And when your head feels like it will burst if you add one more strange word or one more crazy grammar rule, you begin to question your competence. In some cases, missionaries even question their call.
One morning, DorotŽia, one of our students shared a word of encouragement during our devotional time. Her message may strike a chord in your life, even if you are not trying to master Arabic or Japanese or Creole or ... English. Today's message is "Trial by fire." ... God describes the trials and troubles ... of His children as "fire and water" indicating that they are very severe. .... Job compared his afflictions to being cast into a "furnace." ... But he (Job) looks beyond his present fiery trial and shouts in vibrant, reassuring faith, "I will come through!" Job saw himself "as gold" in the furnace. David saw the children of God "as silver" in the refiner's fire. Malachi (3:3) speaks of both metals explaining divine refinement. Why? Because in this way God will purify us, and our offerings will be acceptable to the Lord ...
... I'd like to share with you a beautiful story I read some time ago. A visitor asked an old refiner how he knew when the fire had perfected its work. He answered, "See how I sit by the fire!" The stranger replied, "Yes." Then the refiner said, "See how I bend over!" "But how do you know when there has been just the right amount of heat?" said the visitor. The old refiner looked up and said, "When I can see my own reflection."
* Please pray for our students as they continue a very rigorous training program.
* Pray for stamina, for protection from spiritual attack, and for comfort as they continue to loosen the ties that bind them to their families here in Brazil.
* Please also pray for our family as Bruce serves as interim Treasurer of International Ministries until they can find a replacement. Pray for wisdom and health so that he can faithfully fulfill his responsibilities both here in Brazil as well as at the mission office.
* Pray also that God would protect and preserve our family relationships during these challenging months.
Thank you for being part of our team! Thank you for upholding us in prayer and for your financial gifts to International Ministries, ABCUSA toward our ongoing support. We could not serve here at JAMI without you along with us on the journey.
By God's grace,
Ann, Bruce and Asa
...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:6
Borquist - JAMI
Rua Alecrim 100, Bairro Jaqueline
Belo Horizonte/MG 31787-150 Brasil borquist4all@mindspring.com
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International Ministries, ABCUSA
P.O. Box 851 Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851