The email continues to come in regarding Part Two Confessions. It continues to amaze me that God uses an email in such a powerful way. Somehow it hit a nerve that we as a body of believers we are all struggling with our brokenness. More amazingly is that this is God's Plan A - to use broken jars of clay for His glory! Anyway, here are some of the more interesting comments.
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"I just read your April prayer letters and was so touched. I cannot even imagine the daily difficulties you must face as a missionary in Kenya. What I related to the most was the desire for privacy. How I treasure my privacy! I never considered it as an idol before, but now I am questioning it."
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"I really appreciate your honesty in your struggles. I have found that when Christians share openly and honestly their own struggles, it is a blessing to others. It encourages them to open up and share their struggles once they know they are not alone."
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"Sometimes, we seem to think of missionaries as these "superChristians" who can endure anything and everything, suffering for the Lord, and never seem to struggle. Your honesty about the situation helps us put things in perspective and certainly helps us know more specifically how to be lifting you in prayer. May God grant you the peace that only comes from Him, reminding you that He is in control of every second of every day and that He has a purpose for you being right where He's got ya!"
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"Thanks, Tim, for part II. Because I'm short-sighted and self-centered, part I left me saying, "Aw. I'm glad they're doing so well," and prayer-less. Now I'm compelled to pray."
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"Thank you for having the humility to share your "confessions" as we are all supposed to do. Whatever your perceived or real weaknesses are, confessing them to God and to your brothers and sisters is a great place
to start in fixing them. In addition, it lets all the rest of us know that you are an honest, real person with real faults and struggles just like we have!"
to start in fixing them. In addition, it lets all the rest of us know that you are an honest, real person with real faults and struggles just like we have!"
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"Your openness and honesty brought tears to my eyes, and this is not the first time. May I say by way of sincerely-intended encouragement I think that in a real sense this is more "the work of God" than a lot of the
outward activity that we normally consider "kingdom-building"."
outward activity that we normally consider "kingdom-building"."
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"Thanks for exemplifying that, for again, I think you minister as much to us back here by such rare honesty as you do there by your rightly-motivated sacrificial service. You are being real, and if our Christianity "works" only when we pretend; if what we experience in our lives as we walk with the Living God cannot be truly shared; if we have to portray, in contrast to reality, the Christian life as something that here, this side of the resurrection, is
free from the futility described in Romans 8:19-21 and virtually all of Ecclesiastes, then is it any wonder that to the discerning onlooker, the relevance and validity of our religion seems dubious?"
free from the futility described in Romans 8:19-21 and virtually all of Ecclesiastes, then is it any wonder that to the discerning onlooker, the relevance and validity of our religion seems dubious?"
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