We often associate the term “missionary” with work overseas. Trips and organizations such as mine attract attention and excitement, and the people who participate in them receive a lot of glory. We are doing a good work it’s true, and it takes courage to step outside ones comfort zone and leave their homes for one year. However, it often perplexes me when I hear the comment “I could never do what you do.”

I want to emphasize the amount of courage it takes to stay. 

The more I leave and do ministry in other countries, the more my heart and burden grows for my own country. I ache for the lost and broken-hearted people drowning in the midst of everything they could possibly desire, except for Jesus of course, the only thing that matters.

Reminding myself that the U.S. is the home of the free, I observe in disbelief the many people walking in shackles. I watch them struggle to move, weighed down by the chains of fear and shame the enemy has cast onto them. I see them living in prisons of their own making, formed by the words others have spoken over them and rooted deeply in a thick foundation of lies they have come to believe about themselves and the lack of control they have over their circumstances. 

So when I talk to the members of my church, love on the children with special needs in my school and see the followers of Christ looking every day to bring light in a dark world, it is I who must say TO YOU, 

Thank you. 

Thank you to the people like my sister. Shelly is a missionary who spends every year working a tiresome, thankless job without any accolades, or public notice. She is someone who gets yelled at and hit by children who don’t understand she is trying to help them, and she puts every ounce of her strength, time and energy into ensuring these precious students have the best chance they possibly can to enjoy a successful life in this world. 

Thank you to the educators, therapists, paras and administration for fighting every day in their missions field with little pay and little notice so that the invisible have a voice. Thank you for responding to unkind words and ungratefulness with compassion, patience and grace. 

Thank you to the advocates, the lawyers and social workers like my mom, Lisa, who exceeds her required hours each week and empties her entire being into assisting her families in receiving quality care and a bright future. 

To those like my dad, Kent, who return to serve the same ministry every day, year after year. Those who remain steady voices of joy and love while providing a consistent income and health benefits for their families. All of the hard-working, reliable, and loyal people who create the backbone this country stands on. Who are sent out to share Jesus through their actions and words with the same people they see for their entire working lives. 

To the pastors, worship directors, office managers, elders and volunteers that make up our local church. The ones who choose to persevere through the ups and downs, the division and frustrations. The ones that choose to stand for the vision God has given them to set His captives free and disciple a new generation of followers of Christ, right here in my home country. 

Thank you to the people who do ministry every day in the field God has placed them. Thank you for the free haircuts, the Bible studies, the words of encouragement to “keep going” and “stay the course”. 

To those who invest in me, challenge me, demand more from me, speak life into me and stand in spiritual warfare with me. Thank you. 

My decision to leave my family and the kids I have grown to love so much was extremely difficult. Through the guilt and tears I felt God whisper something crucial to help me remember my place in His ultimate plan, “I was here before you, and I will be here after..I love these people more than you could ever imagine, and it is I who will care for them regardless of where you are.”

What a humbling reminder of the good work God does with or without our presence. Without YOU faithful people, doing your daily duty, (no matter how monotonous it seems), I could not leave. Without you living out the Great Commission in your workplace and community, providing consistency and steadiness, I could not leave my students halfway through their year. Without your continued support through encouragement, financial donations and prayers, I could not be faithful when God asks me to go..

It is all of us working separately, in our own fields, our own gifts, that come together to form this beautiful picture of the body of Christ. 

Different parts working together to create a living, breathing body that moves in harmony to accomplish the task that Jesus has given us...to share with them the savior who was born to us this day. 

From the deepest part of me, thank you for doing what you do, so I can do what I do. 

Thank you for staying, so that I can go.

Romans 12: 4-5 

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”