BOOK INTRODUCTION

 

April 19, 2020

Today I have chosen to use my weekly blog to introduce the beginning of a book which I am contracted to write.  Therefore, sharing one of my possible introductions under consideration seems logical to me.

It begins by saying that I am an ordinary person passionately in love with Jesus Christ, who is daily led and strengthened to be faithful in the ministry He has given to me.  You may ask, ‘What ministry?’

              Second Corinthians 5:17,18. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new                      creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.                        And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,                  and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Continuing on with……verse 20….Now then we are ambassadors for Christ……

And that is the theme of this entire blogging endeavor.

My actual born-again life with Jesus Christ began some 40+ years ago.  On this journey over the years I have had – as all Ambassadors of Him have also had – so many experiences.  Some have been frightening – almost terrorizing – some heart wrenching and others have brought tears of almost overwhelming joy into my life.

In my ‘straight from the heart’ book, I am hopeful and prayerful that I will be given His grace to relate just some of these experiences to others for perhaps an encouragement or even just as a reminder of God’s grace in their own their lives.

For example, in March of 2018 we suddenly at 1:30 a.m. were awakened by the painful scream of either a wounded animal or terrorized woman.  Not knowing that our night watchmen had been tied up outside, I opened my curtain to the face of an unmasked young man whom, along with others, began knocking out our windows and breaking our doors.

 

I jerked the curtain closed and said, ‘This is real – we are being robbed!’

Seven men forcefully gained access shouting, ‘We won’t kill you if you give us money!’

           

They left these weapons behind.

And how could I possibly ever forget the hot tears rolling down my cheeks as I, once more, recognized His voice.  I was lying in a hospital bed, the first of many hospitalization here in Malawi.   My Saviour was asking me to take into my care a barely five-year-old orphan girl whose parents had both just died, only two months apart.  I could not refuse Him, and one year later I legally adopted my Esther.  She has been one of my sources of ‘almost overwhelming joy’.

 

Esther ready for her first school year.

I will finish by saying that even though, here in Malawi, I have suffered a broken leg, broken hip which required a hip replacement, and spinal surgery – to say nothing of several hospitalizations for treatment of pneumonia as a complication of malaria, lack of water, and electricity, infestations of cockroaches, rats and mice – to mention a few other ‘circumstances and experiences’ – I am still that ordinary person who is still passionately in love with Jesus Christ.

My greatest desire still is to be faithful in the simple ministry He has given to me – to daily represent Him well, as just one of His faithful Ambassadors.

Fellow Ambassadors of Jesus Christ, I am eager to hear about your ‘circumstances and experiences’ as you have traveled with Him.

For only His glory.