Phil and I have taken on more than we ever imagined we could. When I was younger and I would think what my life would look like, this was never the picture I had. Sure I liked children and the concept of the good life was appealing, but it was never something that I would attach to my future reality.

Before I met Phil I had thoughts of missionary life. I knew I wanted to serve God and care for children, but I didn’t consider they’d be my own, I couldn’t build myself up for that kind of disappointment, my heart would be too easily crushed if for whatever reason that had not been possible.

The call of missionary service, to share the gospel with others and to serve God wholeheartedly is something we can do as mothers, but it took me a while to understand that. We chose fairly early on in our marriage to trust God with everything, our money, home and family size. As I once heard said, ‘God gives the best to those who leave the choice to him’. For me he chose motherhood and I see it as a calling, not a distraction to any other work. Mothers often choose to leave the calling of motherhood for a vocation in Christian service, believing that to be a higher calling. Is the mission field really of greater service to God though? As Charles Spurgeon famously said,

Some women may well be called to place their children in another’s care in order to serve God, as with the parents of Eric Liddell, but many will never leave the mission field of their homes. How can we serve God with the faith of a missionary and the evangelical mind of a missionary in our homes? Let me first tell you a bit about what inspires me to serve God in this way.

Before I really knew about any famous Christians, I felt the call on my heart to give my all to Christ. As the hymn we sing in church goes, ‘I give you my life, I give you my all,’ I still can’t sing it without considering if there are any other aspects of life I need to hand over to God. It has been those Christian women who stepped out in faith and gave God their all who have inspired my journey to follow Jesus into the adventure of motherhood, without fear, to listen to his still small voice and obey him without hesitation. I have filled my heart and mind with true stories of courage and bravery in the face of adversity and it has built up my spiritual muscles as I have read about the amazing God we serve and how he continues to help his children today.

Elizabeth Elliot is one such woman. She went back into the jungle, with her toddler in tow, to share the gospel with the very people who had killed her husband. The courage that took was something only God could have given and the subsequent success of her loving evangelism was proof of God’s leading. The world would have probably considered her to be crazy, on a death mission, putting both her and her daughter’s life in jeopardy, but she ignored the world’s call and followed after the One whom she trusted above all.

Katie Davis Majors is another young woman of courage. At 19 years of age she travelled from America to Africa, giving up her western lifestyle and singlehandedly adopted and raised 13 daughters. Wow! Her God is our God and he has the strength for her and for each of us.

Gladys Aylward travelled to China, against the odds, and took 100 children to safety during WW2, travelling by foot through the mountains of China. God performed many miracles to facilitate her journeys and the same God can, if we ask him, help us today.

Looking to the Bible I have always been inspired by Moses’ mother. I can only imagine the terror she must have felt as she hid her baby for months before making his basket and letting him go into the care of God alone. What a wonderful God we serve, he gave her baby back to her and paid her to care for him! I love that story.

Helen Roseveare, Narcissa Whitman, the pilgrim mothers, Mary Slessor, Perpetua, Amy Carmichael, Katharina Luther, Corrie Ten Boom and Susanna Wesley are just some of the other women who have laid down everything for Christ and inspired me on my journey with Christ.

What do these women have in common, and what can we learn from them which would help us as we try to wholeheartedly follow God?

Above all, these are of women of faith, they trust God more than they trust the wisdom of this world, ‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight’, 1 Corinthians 3:19. They look to God and his Word as they consider what to do next.

How can we apply this to the arena of motherhood? Everyday we are assaulted with challenges, what to say to a discouraged teenager, how to juggle schoolwork, washing and mealtimes. Are these areas God would help us in? Absolutely! The work of a missionary isn’t all about sharing the gospel, it is often about the nitty gritty of every day life and God meets us there and grows us there. Sharing the gospel is of course one of our most important tasks as missionary minded mothers. We share it with our children, other mothers, friends, people who stop by for hospitality, people in shops, postmen, absolutely anyone! I love to share the gospel first and foremost through my behaviour, as love is the way to reach people’s hearts. I aim to start every conversation with an arrow prayer, ‘God please speak through me today and help me to love as Jesus would.’ I am always amazed at the opportunities he puts on my doorstep. One of my favourite memories was regular visits from 2 Jehovah’s Witnesses who would challenge us all to dig into Scripture to back up our viewpoint. The children would stand on the doorstep with Bibles in hand, ready to find the verses to prove Jesus was God made flesh. It grew their faith and sowed seeds into the minds of the ladies who spoke with us.

The children’s faith has grown as we have trusted God with our money. There have been times when, instead of buying a new pair of shoes for each child, we have prayed for God’s provision. We once prayed for a pair of size 5 trainers and 45 minutes later a friend turned up on our doorstep with 2 pairs of size 5 trainers (we hadn’t told her). It’s that kind of answer to prayer which helps us to show our children our God who is alive and active and thus grow their faith. God was so kind to say yes to that prayer, he often makes us wait, but we have never forgotten that moment.

As we followed God to our new home in Shropshire we could never have imagined what he had in store, but day by day he is revealing to us that our missionary journey is not over. We see more and more that we are called to share our home with others and to continue to trust in our God who has never let us down. I’d love to hear who inspires you?

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Many blessings,

Vicki

11 thoughts on “Missionary Minded Motherhood

  1. Anna Collins says:

    Thanks Vicki. I love reading your blogs. Always so beautifully written and so inspiring. God bless you and your lovely family xx

  2. What a lovely photo of you all

    When you wrote above;

    “We once prayed for a pair of size 5 trainers and 45 minutes later a friend turned up on our doorstep with 2 pairs of size 5 trainers (we hadn’t told her). It’s that kind of missionary minded faith which helps us to show our children our God who is alive and active and thus grow their faith..”

    This resonated with me, I desperately want my faith to be strong enough for God to answer my prayer, that God will perform a miracle on my other half’s brain & cure the mixed dementia i.e the alzheimer’s & vascular dementia. All the time I see the loss of memory & cognition in my loved one, I can only berate myself that God does not think my faith is strong enough.

    • Jonathan, please don’t for a minute think my faith acquired us those shoes. I believe God chose to answer that prayer with a yes, to grow our children’s immature faith. God is so kind and when we have a deeper faith, as you do, he often makes us wait for what we ask for, or just asks us to trust him, as a weaned child waits more peacefully than a newborn infant. I pray alongside you for healing, but if it is not in our Father’s will, for strength for you for each day.

      I think I will try and reword that part of the blog post to make it clearer, thank you for pointing it out.

      • Thank you Vicki, when God answers my/our prayers with the miracle of healing, as he surely will. I will let you know, for it surely cannot be our Heavenly Father’s will to cause his children to suffer, after we have learnt the lesson that through suffering our faith (hopefully) grows stronger.

        Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory;
        through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
        one God, now and for ever. Amen. THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

  3. James Tetley says:

    Great post. It is not our great faith in God but our faith in a great God who as you say trusted and relied upon his wisdom and abilities rather than their own.

    • Matthew 17:20 ESV
      He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

  4. IMO I think it best not to rely upon what mankind’s interpretation of faith is, but to turn to the word of God & read for ourselves what the the divine holy scriptures say about faith, & let the word of God speak to us directly, as the Holy Spirit reveals the true meaning of scripture.

    Incidentally at this moment of time I cannot find a Biblical reference directly stating that healing of the sick will not happen unless it is in our Father’s will. If anyone knows of a Bible reference where this is stated I would be most grateful if they could post it so that I/we can grow in knowledge of true faith ? ? ?

    Until such times that anyone can show me otherwise through Biblical reference, I will take God at his word & claim healing of my loved one through faith as stated in the numerous Biblical references below:

    Hebrews 11:1 ESV
    Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

    Mark 11:24 ESV
    Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

    Matthew 15:28 ESV
    Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

    James 5:15 ESV
    And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

    Psalm 30:2 ESV
    O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

    Psalm 41:3 ESV
    The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.

    Deuteronomy 7:15 ESV
    And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.

    Acts 3:16 ESV
    And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

    Matthew 9:29 ESV
    Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

    Mark 10:52 ESV
    And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

    Acts 3:16 ESV
    And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

    Matthew 9:29 ESV
    Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

    Matthew 9:22 ESV
    Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

    Matthew 17:20 ESV
    He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

    Matthew 21:21 ESV
    And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

    Matthew 9:28-29 ESV
    When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”

    All of the above Biblical references have one thing in common it is through faith in God’s ability to heal that these people were healed, nothing else, so IMO one can only conclude it is God’s will that if his people have enough faith then healing through faith is possible

    Most interested to read others views on this topic. And thank you to all who are praying with me that through faith God will stretch out his hand & heal my loved one

    Merciful God, I claim healing for my loved one through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

    • Vicki Goldby says:

      Jonathan, this is a really sensitive issue, as you have a loved one who is really sick. If the Lord is leading you to pray for healing, then absolutely do so, God can and does heal. I also acknowledge that there are many faithful Christians who have suffered and died despite the prayers of the faithful and I would never want them to believe it was their lack of faith that lead to their loved ones suffering. In the Bible we see Job suffering despite his faith and we see Paul inflicted with a thorn in the flesh, which he acknowledges the Lord will not remove. I pray for you and your loved one during this extremely difficult season.

  5. Shalom Vicki,

    I would never want to judge others by concluding it was their lack of faith that prevented healing.

    I can only speak on my own behalf as I am convicted by the Holy Spirt & belief in Biblical text that if my own faith is strong enough healing through faith prayer will result.

    In the end Job’s suffering was lifted, Job’s faith in God resulted in his prayers being answered.
    Job 42:10-12 ESV
    10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
    11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.
    12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

    Paul’s thorn in the flesh that you mention is an interesting point, you may wish to read what Sidney Terhune has to say on his understanding what the thorn in the flesh means in his online article:
    “Paul’s thorn in the flesh: A Sunday School Lesson”
    “Paul’s thorn in the flesh has been a thorn to more people than almost any other passage in the Word of God. Whenever someone wants to defend his own defenseless theology regarding God’s will concerning people’s sickness, he invariably points to Paul’s thorn in the flesh…”
    Here is the link in case you wish to read it.
    https://www.recordherald.com/news/religion/1735/pauls-thorn-in-the-flesh-a-sunday-school-lesson#:~:text=Paul's%20thorn%20in%20the%20flesh%20has%20been%20a%20thorn%20to,Paul's%20thorn%20in%20the%20flesh.

    I wish to thank you for your prayers, & continue to pray for you & your family.

    I would also like to point out I do not wish to be confrontational, & I hope that you don’t think that. All I know is that I am being lead to believe that my prayer of faith will result in healing of my loved one, if not my faith has been ‘found wanting’ as it has been before.
    Matthew 8:26 ESV
    26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

    James 5:15 ESV
    And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
    Amen

    May (Adonai) God continue to Bless you & all those you come into contact with

  6. Hi Vicki

    Part of, at the end each line of what I have posted has been cut off/missing on my pc monitor, don’t know why. No way I can go back & try to edit / correct it. Hopefully it is understandable to all who read it

  7. Oh, my goodness, Vicki, this is a great picture of your family! Your littlest girl is soooo cute! Everyone looking and smiling — gorgeous!

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