Norway/Latvia

Love with Her Arms

On this night the gospel was a silent and sincere gesture.

There are images from Norway and Latvia that will stick with me forever.  At that time, God was working in a consistent but subtle way in my life.  With our team down by the campfire one night, I began to see some of what God was teaching me. A 10-year-old orphan fell asleep in the arms of one of my teammates as she rocked rhythmically back and forth, and it was like the world paused as I watched them.  

My teammate was wearing an oversized fleece that I had let her borrow, holding the child close. She never said a word. There was no elaborate gospel presentation or a prepared sermon, no speech for the little child. Instead, she communicated love with her arms.

I realized, that’s a picture of what a missionary needs to do—a missionary doesn’t always need to detail every step and word of Jesus’ life to say this is how God feels about you. On this night the Gospel was a silent and sincere gesture.  This missionary bravely allowed her heart to be tied to the broken, messed up people in this world and to love them like God has loved us. This is the burden of the missionary. The message of the gospel is simple and true enough that it can even make sense to a little child.