Sitting down with my son, husband and a missionary friend was nothing out of the ordinary for this wife of a pastor. We had met before, in another lifetime, so it seemed.

We exchanged pleasantries through the meal, missing his wife who wasn’t on this particular trip, making small talk and catching up on life.

Finally he could wait no longer and asked the question that would forever change our lives.

“What are you all doing here?”

That was as far as he got when I burst into tears and simply said, “I’ll go.”

The Sweetheart looks at me in shock, “Go where?”

“Wherever God says, I will go now.”

All three of us, maybe four, were crying at this point, truly a God-moment. We knew something was happening and we would never be the same.

Shortly thereafter, we resigned the church we had been serving and arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, our first introduction to European life in the Baltics. We were mesmerized, in love, and thrilled beyond our wildest dreams to be in this beautiful country, attempting to be missionaries at the old age of 49 and 51.

After that short assignment, we spent a year in Riga, Latvia, the capital of the Baltics, planting churches. Reaching the people there with the Gospel of Jesus Christ meant building relationships. Forming trusts, and offering friendship, was the key to introducing them to the Savior.

 

My husband had dreamed of being a missionary since he was a teenager, visiting South America for three weeks, he kept that missionary feeling and longing for many years to come. We raised a family, he peaked in his career as an air traffic controller and supervisor, and then walked away from it all fifteen years later to go full time into the ministry.

My dream had always been to simply raise a family with all the love I had in me, to give of myself in keeping a clean home; a happy home. I was content.

Now, My Three Sons were grown, the youngest was on his way to college soon…what was the next step for us?

In Latvia, we were without our kids, except for six months that our youngest came to help with the music program.  We started an English Club to give Latvians a place to practice their English skills, to play American games and share American recipes. The responses came from young people, the twenty-something’s who were in Riga for school or work.

They were without parents. It was a perfect match.

Our lives have forever been enriched, even when we are back in the States for longer periods of time; we have eternal friendships that time only sweetens.

I look back on that day at Applebee’s with wonder and amazement. For an Indiana country girl who had never been out of the United States, who lived with extreme claustrophobia, a terrible fear of flying and a strong fear of cats, I was stepping out into the unknown. (Okay, I am afraid of more than cats, that just sort of wraps up all of my fears into one enemy!)

This missionary was looking for a missing piece to his puzzle. He knew before he got there that we were that link.

God knows. God always knows. He was the One who pushed us into our calling. He opened the door, using our missionary friend to give us the nudge.

This post is part of a series at The High Calling. Share Your Story: Helping Employees Fulfill Their Dreams. Read more stories on this same topic, or link up your own story here.

 

Sharing with A Little R & R, Thriving Thursday, Making your home sing, Modest Monday