Looking Back

Last night Susan and I attended Continent of Great Cities' fund-raising dinner at the beautiful new Ministry Activities Center of the University Church. Continent was celebrating its 30th year of training teams to plant churches in Central and South America.

The highlight of the dinner for me was when a young woman named Allesandra from Buenos Aires spoke. She told her story of when she was growing up in Fortaleza, Brazil and how her parents fought a lot and there was little peace in her family. Then one day they encountered some missionaries who told them about Jesus. As her parents studied the gospels and learned of the free gift of Jesus Christ them became believers and were both baptized. Over time her Dad moved her family to different cities in Brazil, preaching and starting churches. Allesandra and her siblings became Christ-followers, too. Today her brother and his wife are working in ministry. Allessandra married a man who was on a church-planting team headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina. They now have two small children and are sharing Christ in that huge city.

Near the end of her message, Allesandra began to cry as she was so moved by how the Lord had touched her family with the gospel so many years ago. And as she looked back, she could see the far-reaching impact in the spread of the gospel that those two missionaries in Fortaleza had. God used them above and beyond what they could ask or imagine, to paraphrase the words of Paul in Eph. 3.

Her story reminded me of how powerful it is to look back and reflect on how the Lord works in our lives as believers. At times I find it difficult to see how the Lord is working in the present and sometimes wonder how big a difference I'm making in other people's lives. But when I look back and think about the faithfulness of the Lord (and of course, we can't see it all -- only He knows), my faith in Him is bolstered.

This afternoon at Lectureship I'm going to teach a class on corporate prayer titled, "Not By Our Might...But By His Power." I'm planning on telling many Highland stories of group prayer -- prayer walks, prayer vigils, prayers for funding mission trips, etc. The other day when I was going over these notes, I started to get emotional, as Allesandra did last night. It blew me away how I could see the Lord at work in answering our prayers.

This is one reason why I like Thanksgiving dinners so much. Because during the meal with Susan's extended family we always have a time where we go around the table and share how we thank the Lord for His faithfulness to us in the past year.

Looking back, with eyes of faith, truly does help us as followers of Christ to witness His great and mighty deeds. That's why it's so vital that we continue telling our story to each other.

I'd appreciate your prayers for me today as I speak at 2 P.M. As I look back and tell my and Highland's story, I pray that the listeners will feel called to more fervent prayer -- especially corporate prayer -- so that they, too, can one day look back and say, "Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Jim