“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” Romans 1:20

(A Russian Babushka Selling Tulips)

God as our all powerful creator has designed His creation to be a constant, vivid portrayal of His beauty and greatness. I wanted to invite each of you to participate in our 2nd photo challenge by sharing a picture or two that you feel reflects the beauty of God. This can be a picture of people or a landscape, or whatever you would like. I am hoping that many of you will send pictures from where you are living now, but there are no strict limitations in that regard. The goal is simply to encourage one another and to share glimpses of the beauty of God as they have struck you. I hope we have a good assortment of pictures from both the U.S. and overseas!

Also, I invite you to send a prayer request somehow tied to your photo, like for the people or culture in which it was taken perhaps. It can be as general or specific as you’d like.

To enter: Simply select a photo or two and send it along with a title and a prayer request to me at ForMissionaryMoms@gmail.com. Feel free to provide a blog link too so I we can read more about your life and experiences! I will post all submissions beginning July 3rd. This is not a contest, but simply a way to encourage one another and bless each other. Enjoy! I can’t wait to see your submissions!

(Beloved Babushkas; Our Dear Neighbors)

*** Due to its political history, the grandparent generation in Russia was the last churched generation that considered themselves as belonging to God. Most people today seek after the gods of money and sex rather than the God of all creation.  Please pray that the current generations will have soft hearts and will seek to know Him who created them.

I was just reminded about a post titled  Souls Unseen from a few months back. I wanted to share the wonderful conclusion to this story with you!

Literally the day before we left Russia to come back on furlough (and then move to a new city in Russia) I saw the woman mentioned in the story. She was 7 months pregnant and absolutely glowing!  I consider it such a special gift from God that I was able to see her one last time before our move and to know the outcome of the story. Praise God!

(P.S. I will be announcing the next Photo Challenge on Thursday!)

It’s 2 weeks until you board your plane back to your home on the field, and there is lots of shopping to be done! This is the time when we evaluate the space in our luggage and start filling in any little gap with what I am calling  “suitcase treasures.” You know what I am talking about; all of the fun, seemingly non-essential items that you will pull out to remind you of family, friends, and familiarity.

For me, these are generally items that revolve around coffee, tea, and my kitchen. I love Starbucks whole bean coffee, Numi’s Dry Dessert Lime tea, special baking ingredients, fun table linens, and other easy things that I can use for the sake of having friends over and enjoying good conversation. These things not only remind me of the loved ones that I enjoyed such conversations with at “home,” but they are fun things that I can share with friends as I invest in relationships on the field as well.

Then there are just plain comfort items. For me these are things like ranch dressing mix, Reese’s Pieces, Real Simple magazine, postcards and calendars of the Northwest, pretty journals, etc. All of these things evoke feelings of familiarity which can be so wonderful on the days where I am all together too aware of the fact that I am a foreigner in a foreign land.

Being that I am “home” on furlough, I have been thinking about the need to not be overly dependent on things from the U.S., but at the same time have become perhaps even more conscious of the value of having these comfort items that will remind me of my history and where I came from. I am thankful for the people, places, culture, and experiences that have shaped me into who I am, and it is amazing how a few little items from the grocery store pulled out and reminisced over can cause us to reflect on and deeply value these things in our lives.

I wanted to know what things you have brought with you to the field that you would consider your “suitcase treasures?” Are there any specific reasons or stories behind these things that make them special to you?

Hello! Like I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, with limited computer time these days I am saving my “big posts” for Mondays but am adding quick posts here and there as I get a chance. Today’s post is extra quick, but I wanted to recommend two blog posts that really touched my heart this week.  Please read them if you have a few moments of quiet sometime.

Mothering and Ministry- By “The Stay-at-Home-Missionary”

Flower seeds, my son, and a note- By Joanne at “5 Minutes for Faith’

As all of us women know, we are prone to comparison. This can happen in a positive way we look at wise godly women and compare our lives to theirs with the desire to learn and grow. We also can make these comparisons in a sinful way that either leads us to feelings of discontent with what God has given us,  or on the flip-side that leads to a prideful overinflated view of ourselves.

As Christians women and missionary women, we are in no way immune to this temptation. With so many giftings, types of ministries, callings, convictions about how to live while on the field, levels of involvement, ways to educate our children, styles of parenting, etc., it is very easy to begin to look from side to side and compare ourselves to others. We can be tempted  also to evaluate how others measure up to our individual concept of what is ideal or right, even on issues not clearly defined in scripture.

In the city that we just moved from, there were several missions groups that participated in an intense language program during their first couple of years in country.  I often felt tempted to compare my language abilities to the missionaries that attended that program. When I would give in to that temptation sinfully it would lead to guilt and envy because other missionary moms had better Russian than I did, even though I had been there longer. It wasn’t a conviction to strive to improve my language skills. It was just plain accusation from Satan and guilt. When I was looking at this with the right perspective, however, it was a great motivator for me to study hard and to open my eyes to the opportunities God had given me in place of an intensive language course. I couldn’t have done that program and done the other things that He had called me to personally, so it it is simply sinful for me to feel envy and guilt over this and to subconsciously consider God’s unique calling on my life to be inferior.

I know I have felt the temptation to compare and get puffed up in other areas. One such example that I was just talking to a friend about is the topic of breastfeeding. We of course all have heard many times that breast milk is the most nutritious thing to feed our babies, and since I had such an easy time with my daughter, I often wondered why other moms ever opted not to nurse. Then my second came along and I had a horrible time of it. It was very humbling as I wanted to nurse but eventually had to surrender to the fact that God was going to provide nutrition for my son through formula instead. I had thrush, clogged ducts, lack of supply that wouldn’t respond to any sort of supplementation or frequent nursing plan, etc. By about month  5 or so my son was getting the bulk of his nutrition from formula. And you know what? He is a very healthy little boy! Though I still think nursing is the best nutrition for babies whenever possible, I have been taught by being humbled not to judge others in this and to praise God that there is great formula for the times when, for whatever reason, it is needed.

I know there are a ton of areas that we can feel this temptation to compare. The reality, though,  (and here I am speaking equally as much to my self as I am to anyone), is that the most valuable comparison that we can make is between the current reality of our own lives, and what God is calling us to through His word and individual calling. Of course we can also learn from other women’s godly example as well, but we must be on our guard for when this turns from a desire to learn and grow into things less godly.

I would love to hear your thoughts on comparison! How have you experienced this in your life? Do you have ways to encourage the rest of us in this challenge? How have you successfully battled these feelings?

Ok, so most of you are going to think I am offically crazy to be devoting a whole post (ok, so really only about a 3 minute post) to preaching the gospel of Mr. Clean’s Extra Power Magic Eraser. I just tried it out this morning though, and the world must know about this amazing product! It can get almost anything off of almost any surface with nearly zero effort! I was thinking of the nasty grout in our first apartment in Russia how all of our bathing life there could have been revolutionized by this very suitcase friendly cleaning tool. Seeing as we are moving to a new apartment and I have no idea what condition the walls, floors, and grout will be in, I am planning on padding all of the fragile items in my luggage on our way back with these priceless gems.

Call this perhaps my most random post ever, but as you know, I love suggesting helpful resources. This certainly was helpful to me this morning as I easily wiped away my son’s crayon creation from all over the kitchen floor! Happy cleaning!

(Also, for those interested, the next Missionary Mom Monday topic will be “Comparison.” I look forward to discussing this topic with you!)