Deep in the African bush lives a missionary couple named Bob and Martha, who have served in Namalu (a village in Karomoja, Uganda) for more than fifteen years. Despite formidable challenges such as surrounding tribal conflicts, it is here that they’ve chosen to raise their children and joyfully lead a vibrant ministry.
In addition to their deep faith in Jesus, I believe some other reasons for their ability to persevere are their rich sense of humor and overall positive outlook on life. The remarkable duo live “proverbially,” with the type of good cheer, even temperament, sensibility, and loyalty described in Proverbs 17:22: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”
A recent post from Martha captures the spirit with which the couple faces challenges. Martha wrote from the capital city of Uganda, where she and her family had gone to stock up on groceries before returning to the bush, “Beautiful morning in Kampala, but it looks like Bob is down with malaria again, so the girls get to sleep in after all. Maybe I’ll catch up with a few pals around town.” She could see the silver lining even in her husband’s illness!
For more than a decade, the couple has loyally helped their Karamojong friends in their “time[s] of need” (Proverbs 17:17), providing love, support, and true compassion. They’ve maintained sensibility by keeping “their eyes glued on wisdom” (Proverbs 17:24), rather than letting the suffering they’ve witnessed cause them to lose heart.
Bob and Martha truly epitomize the beauty of serving God and others with passion and grace. Consider today how you can serve God and others with a “cheerful heart,” in the love and power He provides.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: 2 Samuel 11:1-27
More:
How can you better focus your eyes on wisdom? How can wisdom lead you to passionately and joyfully serve God and others?
Next:
Read Proverbs 1:7 and consider where true knowledge and wisdom for life is found.
Gary Shultz on April 5, 2017 at 6:15 am
Hi Roxanne: I am sure it is great to have friends like Bob and Martha. Just the winsome way you describe them it would be a joy to spend time with them. And yes, to engage with people who have answered many questions of life with godly wisdom, is a lesson in itself. God has spoken to us, He has left pages of wisdom that burn with life and brightness for our day, and days to come. How foolish of us should we neglect to look at what He has offered us for life. A person who is able to show good judgement, and is an example of wisdom, is often able to show the power of a great sense of humor. Nothing is quite as disarming as a person with some wit unrolling life’s situations with some insight into the circumstance and the human heart. Thanks Roxanne, I’m smiling already.
Tom Felten on April 5, 2017 at 8:54 am
Beautiful couple, beautiful faith. Thanks for sharing, Roxanne. They’re truly living out what Paul wrote about: “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).
Monica Brands on April 5, 2017 at 8:55 am
Thanks for such an encouraging piece, Roxanne. I too have some people in my life who remind me of Bob and Martha, people who naturally give joy to everyone around them and point so effortlessly to the love and grace of God.
sandy229 on April 5, 2017 at 2:13 pm
Proverbs, much like the Mosaic Law, describes an ideal, an aspiration, a longing for perfection. Yet even Solomon himself was not perfectly wise, or he would not have so flagrantly disobeyed and thus displeased God (1 Kings 11:1-11). Only later, in Jesus Christ, came the full example of all that Proverbs extols, the One in whom “lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ” (Colossians 2:3).
Point by point, the qualities of wisdom are the qualities of the Christ. Obedience to God, right behavior, patience, reliability, humility, diligence, the perception of things as they really are–all these, plus love, are perfectly illustrated in the Savior.
sandy229 on April 5, 2017 at 2:14 pm
Thank you Roxanne for today’s devotion and encouragement.