Recently, I was on a work trip to Richmond, VA, to visit the International Mission Board. As a military missionary, the work of vocational mission training is at my very core. My heart is for the nations, and I pray often that revival will sweep through the warrior class today.
While touring the building, I came across a wall of honor. These carefully curated memorials cause onlookers to pause and seek remembrance. It’s a sight I am familiar with in my own context; and, for me, these walls of honor pull me into a state of reverence and praise. These praiseworthy individuals represented only by gold plates and embossed letters had given their lives–not had them taken–for the cause of Christ.
I placed my hand on the wall next to the name of a 38-year-old woman named Karen Watson from Bakersfield, CA. She died on the mission field in Iraq in 2004. A hand-written letter was framed on the wall–a letter she had written to her pastors with the instruction to open on the event of her death.
In short, her words sliced through me and reminded me of the work yet to do: “When God calls, there are no regrets, I wasn’t called to a place. I was called to Him.… To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory was my reward–His glory is my reward.”
She ended her letter with these words: “The Missionary Heart: Care more than some think is wise. Risk more than some think is safe. Dream more than some think is practical. Expect more than some think is possible. I was called not to comfort or success, but to obedience.”
When I think about how she must have felt when she penned these words, I am still overcome. When we sit down to write about God’s love, is this the attitude we posture? Obedience. A willingness to suffer. His glory, the prize.
Reflecting on God’s call on every believer’s life to participate in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19), what an honor it is to be able to write about His goodness and mercy. I hope that today, if you’re writing, you would start today’s work with a missionary heart.
May the words we write today reach into tomorrow and give the message of the gospel in such a way that God’s love shows through to those who so desperately need to hear it.
Perspective Is Everything
Funny that, When God Calls. He tried to call me home a few hours ago.
I heard the Lord call me name
upon this very night,
but I refused to end the game
and rise into the Light.
I fought Him ’till the sun came ’round
at the break of day,
for it’s on this bloody ground
that I’m resolved to stay
though it one day won’t end well,
and I’ll be out of luck.
But my job’s now to face this hell
and embrace the suck,
’cause the work I got here still ain’t through,
to witness this for me, and you.
Thank you for this word of encouragement, Megan, the call and willingness to suffer in pursuit of it. Bless you!
Wow! Awesome thoughts, Megan.
What a powerful challenge! Thank you.
Thank you, Megan. I had a great aunt who was a medical missionary to China from 1896 to 1936. She adopted several Chinese daughters and had them educated in the US. She was allowed to remain emeritus on the compound in Canton until her death in 1939, the year I was born. When you talked about the honor wall, I could see her name, Regina Bigler, in my mind. I’ve not been called to go, but to write. Thank you for the extra impetus for today’s work.
Thanks Megan for your timely words & challenge to live for what really matters. I thank God for those who have laid down their lives for Jesus.
The call of God often involves suffering or death- something the modern day church in America knows little about.
God bless you sister.
Ken Bailey
kenbaileyministrues.com
Author of the upcoming book -The End is Now Coming. To be Published September 6, 2023.
Amen, Megan! A great and timely reminder of who we write for and who we reach for in our writing. I have been greatly nourished in my walk with God by the words of many already gone on to heaven. I am grateful that they labored without concern over profit or platform, but solely to reveal the heart of God and cheer me on in knowing Him. Thank you for watering that desire in us.
Such a good reminder as my husband and I sit smack in the middle of an insane summer camp season. We were called here, oh so clearly, into the joy and insanity and heartbreak of people’s lives. We were called to serve and love in a camp setting. Yes, we work with people and therefore we encounter so much pain. But it is so good to be where God called you to be.
The hardest wrestling match as a writer is realizing that He has called me to write, not to go to the mission field, or to vocational ministry.
I have several missionary friends who humble me with their sacrifice. How I long to live my life literally poured out such as they are.
Yet, Jesus says to my heart, “stay here, and let Me pour through you.”
It’s such a small offering, yet it’s unto Him.
He often reminds me that He could have displayed Himself through any modality, yet He came as, “the Word made flesh.”
And oh, how I long for this flesh to become His Word, and in so doing, allow His heart to be woven into an offering back to Him.
Yes! Divine Purpose.
A powerful word! Thank you!
Thank you, Megan, for the reminder to write with a missionary’s heart. Karen Watson’s words so beautifully illustrate it: “I was called not to comfort or success, but to obedience.”
Megan, I now have these words from Karen Watson on my wall to remind me to write with a missionary heart. Thank you! (I love that she came from Bakersfield, a city near my earlier home.)
Wow! Just, wow! My husband and I have served with Wycliffe Bible Translators for almost 50 years, but I have never heard the missionary call so well expressed. I will saving those final words she penned about the missionary heart. More importantly, I will be seeking to make sure my own heart is always so aligned.
What a beautiful post. Thank you, Megan. I’ve visited the International Learning Center in Richmond several times and attended the commissioning there of our best friends to two years as missionaries in Chad, Africa in 2007. The heart of a missionary is true sacrifice. I can only pray I will be as committed and willing to do all God calls me to for His glory.
God’s call comes at times it’s not. convenient, when it costs the most, and when you ant to stay the course This young lady got it right.
Thank you for sharing, her reward was keyed up and waiting for her, as we should all hope for.
Wow. Thank you for sharing. We all need to regroup!
So, you also can not speak. What is that tear?
So moving, especially coming from one who joyfully gave here all. May we follow her example. Thank you.
What a wonderful reminder that whatever we do, we are to work at it with all our heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men. Thank you.
Susan DeWolfe
I will share these words of Karen Watson with my children.
A long ago hymn–I now cannot name but at the time when I was the mother of very young children–stated we must be willing to give our sons and daughters to the missionary call of God. God used those lyrics to shape my mind and heart to allow God’s will in my life to possibly be the mom of missionaries. God has allowed me to have four arrows to send into his harvest fields and spiritual battles at home or abroad.
Karen was a thoughtful daughter to have written those words to her loved ones to ease their grief in time of their need.
What an inspiring post. Thank you.
Megan,
Thank you for sharing this inspiring message as we have been called to write for Him and to obey. I will hold fast to Karen Watson’s heartfelt and powerful words. Being a writer is lonely and difficult. It’s filled with pain, struggle, rejection, and little reward. But, we’ve been called to do His work and to obey. Nothing could be better! Thank you Megan.
Thank you for sharing this, Megan. My missionary aunt always believed God blessed America because of all the missionaries we sent out into the world with the gospel. I have a special place in my heart for those who love the Lord enough to go, expecially in today’s world.
Thank you for sharing this incredibly inspiring story. I’m from California too. What a gift to know this precious missionary came from our state – that others have given up on. May God continue to raise up His missionaries amidst this God forsaking culture.
I too will be printing out her words. And I will keep them upon my desk as a reminder of whom I serve, as an author pastor’s wife and speaker in this generation. Soli Deo Gloria
“ I was called not to comfort or success, but to obedience ”
Says it all for all of us who are called to whatever our mission or calling is.