A Life Overseas – Just Be Faithful

Rain

It’s a Monday morning and I’m at A Life Overseas this morning thinking about what it means to just be faithful. Just be faithful – something that is so easy and so hard. What about you on this Monday? What is it to you to be faithful? I hope you’ll join me there. 

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“I’m so tired” I think as I’m walking to the subway. Rain is falling and my feet hurt. I’m dragging at six thirty in the morning. I want to cry in this world of cold and rain.

Just be faithful – It’s not like I see the Heavens opening and hear the voice of God reverberate through my head. It’s just this still, quiet, persistent thought.

Just be faithful.

I’m just back from a refugee camp where 1500 people are displaced — men, women, and children. A place where you beg God to have mercy, where you weep for those who have lost everything. Where you wish you had millions of dollars and a heart that could love harder.

I want to do so much more.

I send a message to my friend miles away in Djibouti, in a place as dry and hot as my world is cold and rainy. “It feels so small” I say. She replies in words that capture a life of being faithful “Know what? It is small. And you are just one person. But a mustard seed is small. That’s the way of the Kingdom. May we always delight in being part of small things.”

Just be faithful.

Those words again. They are so persistent. I must pay attention. Head over to A Life Overseas to read the rest of the piece. 

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A reminder that if you buy Between Worldsfor yourself or a friend during November all proceeds will go to refugees in Turkey. The refugee situation gets more difficult by the day and cold weather is coming. With that cold weather comes an increase in need for resources like blankets, heaters, tents and more. Along with that are the myriad of health needs so I’m thrilled to be able to send any royalties to a cause like this. It seems appropriate given the topic of the book and where my heart lies.

Between Worlds: Essays on Culture and Belonging can be purchased here: 


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4 thoughts on “A Life Overseas – Just Be Faithful

  1. I thought of you this snowy morning in Rochester. Dad checks the weather every morning on his Iphone and he announced it was raining in Boston. I said, “Poor Marilyn – is there anything worse than cold November rain?”
    I think our life long commitment to “just be faithful” was in keeping on going back to Pakistan for so many years. It got harder when my mother got older, when all our kids were in process there, when grandchildren started coming along. I knew in my heart it was where God wanted us, and His grace gave us joy in the whole journey..

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  2. Beautiful post, Marilyn, and so welcomed on this gray, cold, rainy Monday. I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Mother Theresa: “We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.” Thank you for the not-so-small things you did in Turkey. My candle still burns for you and for all those you served there.

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