7/19/2025
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have
received to serve others, as faithful
stewards of God's grace."
1 Peter 4:10
Yesterday I shared about the cost of following Christ, and I spoke of serving others as our highest call as followers of Christ. I spoke of intercessory prayer as it relates to laying down our lives, standing as mediator on behalf of another. Using the gifts God has given us in service to others. I ended by saying that I had heroes of the faith, those men and women, foreign missionaries, who have touched my life, because of their selfless love. I'd love to share a few with you:
Father Damien de Veuster of Molokai
1840-1889
I was first introduced to Father Damien from a movie about his life, Molokai - The Story of Father Damien, available on Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube. I have watched that movie over and over, and today I will watch it again. As I have said so many times, since early childhood my heart has been two fold, missions and prayer. When I see a movie about someone who risked it all for others, it captures my eye rather quickly. From the movie's account Father Damien was the only priest who accepted the call to go to America's only leper colony located on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. The colony was controlled by the government, and people diagnosed with leprosy were relocated and quarantined, often without the needed medical supplies or suitable living conditions to make their lives as comfortable and up to human standards, meaning they lived in squalor. Not only did Father Damien selflessly go to the aid of these precious people, but he physically embraced them. He, like Jesus, was not afraid to touch them or breathe their air for fear of contracting the then incurable disease. "In September 1881, Princess Lili'uokalani, the future Queen of Hawaii, visited the leper colony of Kalaupapa n Moloka'i to present Father Damien with the Royal Order of Kalakaua. She was deeply moved by the suffering she witnessed and was unable to deliver her prepared speech, instead expressing her profound sorrow. This visit significantly increased awareness of Damien's work and the plight of those living in the settlement, leading to increased support from both within Hawaii and internationally." Father Damien served the citizens of Molokai for 16 years. In 1884 he contracted leprosy, but he refused to leave, remaining to care for the people he loved. He died from the painful, debilitating disease six years later. I will never forget him. How I wish I could have known him.
I have long been acquainted from books with Jim Elliot and his wife Elisabeth, whose devotionals I enjoy and share on Facebook on occasion. I have read Jim's journals written by Elisabeth (The Journals of Jim Elliot by Elisabeth Elliot) detailing their lives as missionaries to the Auca Tribe of Ecuador, the Waorani or Huaorani people, along with four other evangelicals and their families. The journal, however, details Jim's earlier life, his call, his passion, his friendship with Peter Fleming, marriage to Elisabeth, and continues until the end of his life. The four missionaries accompanying Jim to Ecuador were Pete Fleming, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian. Their deaths in January 2, 1956 shocked the world. After their deaths, Elisabeth stayed and lived and served as a missionary for two years in the very village of those who murdered her husband. Elisabeth Elliot has written many books since that time, Through Gates of Splendor being one of my particular favorites. Although Elisabeth died in 2015 her devotionals and books are loved by many, including this writer.
Mother Teresa
Saint Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian aristocrat who fell in love with Jesus through the help of a leper God strategically placed in his life. His father was a wealthy merchant of cloth, so Francis was accustomed to a life of affluence. After meeting a leper, Francis gave it all up to serve the underprivileged and poor, and he became a friend and caretaker to all animals and a nature lover. He founded the Franciscan Order in the Catholic Church and became an itinerant preacher. Later, he was called Patron Saint of Animals. He did not live an easy life, as he was called to live in poverty, and his family did not take kindly to this extreme transformation. There are several movies available on his life and ministry, as well as one regarding his friendship and love for a nun named Clare. I have not delved into this friendship, but the movie shows the close relationship they shared. I believe there is also a movie called Clare and Francis. Francis was famous for the quote: "The deeds you do may be the only sermon someone may hear today." He was also quoted as saying, "Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words," but there has been some dispute regarding whether he said these words or not. They are, nonetheless, in keeping with the initial quote above.
Betsie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie are very well know from Corrie's popular story The Hiding Place written about her experience during the Holocaust. Corrie was a watchmaker along with her father, Casper ten Boom and lived in Nazi-occupied Netherlands with her father and sister, Betsie. During the Nazi occupation the ten Booms sheltered 800 Jewish citizens in their home, and they were successful for four years until in 1944 a Dutch informant turned them in. They were transported to the concentration camp in Ravensbrück, where both her father and her sister died. Corrie was miraculously spared by a clerical error in the records, and she was released on December 30, 1944. Her book is a memoir of this experience. Corrie has written several books, traveled, and lectured for many years until her death in 1983. I still love listening to her conversations that can be found on YouTube. She lived a remarkable life, and God has used her to teach others what it means to forgive those who mistreat and abuse others. In fact, at a meeting she attended, Corrie met and forgave the man who mistreated and horribly abused her sister, Betsie, while in the camp. He was a transformed man who had found the forgiveness of his Savior and would find forgiveness from one of those he mistreated at the camp. Corrie had said in her talks that she never thought she would be able to forgive the one responsible for her sister's death, even though before her death, Betsie forgave him and asked Corrie to do the same. Betsie's soft-spoken words to Corrie were: "No, don't hate, Corrie. You must love and forgive." God provided the opportunity, and both Corrie and the former Nazi soldier found the peace of God.
Katie Davis Majors
Katie Davis (later married to Benji Majors) is probably not known by most people unless they are familiar with the story of a young, 18 year old young lady who made her first missionary trip to Uganda in December 2006. In short, Katie fell in love with the people and after returning home from her missionary trip, she returned to Uganda in less than a year to stay, and she founded Amazima Ministries in 2008. Her story is incredible, as she used the money she had saved for college to accomplish the impossible. Because of the severe needs of the area, the poverty, lack of nutrition, homes, and the people's need for medical attention, Katie began to champion the rights of the people of Jinja, and she eventually became the mother of thirteen young girls. Today she is the mama to 15 beautiful children and her adoring husband, Benji, her best friend. If you desire to read an incredible story, read Katie's first book, Kisses from Katie. Katie had other plans for her life, but on her first missionary trip Jesus showed her a better plan.
So there you have the names of only some of the people I've come to know, missionaries who selflessly gave of their lives for others. How I wish I could have been Katie back in the day, as she is living the dream I had for my life. But God...! Somehow every opportunity that came my way from youth to adulthood did not lead to the path I had chosen. God in His grace and mercy finally made a way in a series of disappointments for me to experience ten days of service to the Mayan Indians in the jungles of Belize in 1986, before we moved to Northern New Mexico, where I remained for 35 years before coming home to Virginia. But God had done so much more for me on my path, my right road. Since I have been alone, God has healed my health and restored my life in ways I could never have dreamed possible. As I have testified before, He made it possible for me to be handed jobs where, though I did not hold the required proper credentials, yet the experience in life God had provided along the way proved of greater value than academic accolades. Jesus always makes a way where there seems to be no way. I am a living testament.
This year in August I will welcome 75 years of life, and although it has not been an easy one, it has been one amazing adventure, and although I would never want to repeat one day of it, I thank God for my life. It has taught me to love Jesus as my first Love, my only Love. Without Him I would never have lived, and He has given me so much more love for other people. We live in a depraved world, devoid of love, true love. If I can give back something to others, even if only one learns the love of Christ, my life will have been worth it all. Never give up on your dreams. I won't, and I'm not done yet!
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