Two nights before I moved to Africa 5 years ago, I panicked. As much as I believed the Lord was calling me to Uganda, I feared that by going there I would forfeit my friends back home. I thought they would forget me and that we’d quickly share nothing in common after I journeyed to a new continent, culture, and life.
To take my step of faith I had to cling once again to Romans 15:13, embracing the promise that God, the source of hope, would fill me “completely with joy and peace” as I trusted in Him. The verse also acknowledges that He will fill me with an overflowing amount of “confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
When I touched ground in East Africa, I leaped into work and ministry. Amid the challenges and suffering I experienced, I had little time to think about things back home. Amazingly (though in hindsight, not surprisingly in God’s economy), the more I poured into the hurting people in Uganda, the more the body of Christ back home connected with me—even when I was poor in my correspondence. They came alongside me in a profound way. They gave. They prayed. They joined me in loving the Ugandan people. As we served together, despite the long distance between us, we became closer to each other and, most importantly, to the Lord.
All of us “together are Christ’s body,” states 1 Corinthians 12:27. “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
Today, remember your brothers and sisters who are serving far away from you, as well as those serving in your own backyard. Reveal the depth of love, teamwork, and strength of the body of Christ to them.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Psalm 51:1-19
More:
As you’ve taken steps of faith that may have cost you friends or comforts, how did you experience the love of Christ that is “too great to understand fully”? (Ephesians 3:19).
Next:
Invite the believers in your life to pray for you as you take a step of faith. How can you better encourage and support those who are serving God in challenging places?
tom felten on May 15, 2013 at 9:52 am
Roxanne, Romans 15:13 means a great deal to me. The joy, peace, and hope found in Jesus—experienced through the Holy Spirit—is something we share in the body of Christ. May we pray for other believers in Jesus today, that they might know the fullness of our new life in Him!
GChoo on May 15, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Thank you Roxanne for the reminder to be in contact with our fellow christians who have been called to the mission fields away from their own homeland.
Truly we are all part of the body of Christ and it is important to encourage and pray for other believers.
Pray that God will continue to give you extra strength, wisdom and peace as you continue to serve Him in Uganda. Amen.
mike wittmer on May 16, 2013 at 5:30 pm
What a privilege to belong to the body of Christ. I don’t think that has sunk in yet for me. This is a timely devotional, as Pentecost Sunday is May 19!