My parents followed God on one spiritual adventure after another for fifty years, moving to the Philippines, then America, and then to India and back again.
For the majority of their lives, they lived on half the income that most other overseas field workers made. Their knees boast spiritual calluses from the many times they asked God to give them the faith and the finances to embark on ventures that others called foolhardy.
Growing up, our family didn’t have designer clothes, and we didn’t take designer vacations. But we never went hungry. We never went into debt. In the paradox principle of gaining by losing, all three of us children attended an international school for expatriates and went to private universities debt-free. Before even graduating from high school, I had already visited all fifty states and five countries.
I remember my mother wondering, and sometimes worrying, about how God might provide for her and my father in their old age. Certainly, they couldn’t depend on substantial retirement savings, and at that time they didn’t own any property to sell.
No matter your age, it’s not too late to trust God with your future and your finances to see where He might take you next.
But just before my parents both turned sixty-five, a rich uncle died. Relatives found massive amounts of cash in his bank account and stashed throughout his old farm homestead. He left a will that perhaps God ordained from the beginning, bequeathing a substantial amount to my parents.
“You followed me,” I could hear Jesus saying gently to my parents. “You dropped your fishing nets, and you left your father and your mother. You followed me, not knowing where I would lead you or how I would provide for you. Now, here’s the next installment of my paycheck for you. Not millions, but just enough to supplement your future here on earth.”
If you sense God nudging your heart toward making disciples in other cultures, don’t miss your opportunity because you’re holding too tightly to the world’s idea of financial security.
I’ve never heard anyone who chose the life of a long-term field worker say, “I wish I would have stayed in my career and worked sixty hours a week for an employer selling nuts and bolts instead of doing this.” Never.
I’ve never heard any field workers say they wouldn’t do it all again, no matter the hardships they faced or the suffering they endured or the lack of worldly possessions they owned.
On the other hand, I’ve heard plenty of older people and middle-income couples with home mortgages and 2.5 children say, “I wish I would have gone when I was younger. Why didn’t I go? I should have gone. Now it’s too late.”
Don’t wait! No matter how old or how young we are, it’s not too late to trust God with our future and our finances and see what He might ask us to do next.
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ACROSS THE STREET AND AROUND THE WORLD
Editor’s Note: This excerpt comes from Jeannie Marie’s new book Across the Street and Around the World: Following Jesus to the Nations in Your Neighborhood and Beyond. Jeannie’s passion is to inspire ordinary believers to cross cultures with courage, confidence, and compassion—both across the street and to the ends of the earth. Our thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in this post.
Main photo by Lonely Planet
Original article: https://www.frontiersusa.org/blog/surrendering-financial-security