Dear Church,
I had the privilege of joining a well-established medical mission team in November, a surgical team that returns to Kunming, China, twice a year for the past 10+ years. During this recent trip, we performed 56 surgeries to treat longstanding burn injuries and repair cleft palates/lips.
At the beginning, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about this trip at all. Even though preparations had begun in May, I instinctively delayed my flight bookings, visa application, etc. I was totally unprepared. Not only did I not belong to this surgical specialty (I’m a rehab nurse), but I wasn’t “close enough to God” as November neared. I felt terribly inadequate, and it scared me. I also only knew 2 of the 70 people going on this trip. I was scared and tired of convincing myself and those around me of how great this trip was going to be. I nearly bailed.
I’m glad I didn’t though. It wasn’t that I instantly became spiritually strong and passionate and skilled. This trip didn’t ignite a passion that I half-expected, but helped me understand that sometimes God works at a slow, steady pace in me and in those we were ministering to. Some of our patients with extensive burn injuries waited for this surgery year after year, to revise their skin little by little – sometimes the changes were barely visible. Because of this lengthy process, some patients and families had come to know about Christ and the Church, even though the mission’s team members were prohibited from sharing the Gospel or speaking about Christ. We started each morning at 6am with a group devotion and prayer time. We confessed our neediness before God and requested for His presence and providence. It was raw and sincere and humbling. God was teaching surrender – slowly, daily.
Rather than attach myself dearly to this particular mission, this journey to China caused me to explore: Where is my passion? Where is my long-term mission field?
…where’s yours?
So this is my prayer for you, Church: That as you encounter the Lord, that slowly, steadily…
“…the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the richness of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for those who believe.” Eph.1:18
In faith and with hope,
Danielle