Lately, and once again, even after four and a half years in Honduras I am overwhelmed with God's goodness and faithfulness to us and to the keeping of His word and His promises.
What overwhelms me is how blessed we are to be here. What amazes me is that we
thought we were giving up our lives, our income, everything we had worked so hard
for, by moving and following God and our hearts to a foreign country. How wrong we were!
When I look at all we have gained, how much richer and fuller our lives are here, I don't know why it took us so long to get here.
This is NOT a post bragging about what we have done or obtained, but testimony to what God can do if we allow him to. I am not so naive as to believe that bad things can't, won't and haven't happened to us
here. Nor that somehow we are exempt from stress, problems, challenges, sadness or
even death nor so blind as to think that life in a third world country is paradise here on earth and without it's own unique issues. Life goes on all around us, enveloping us in it's chaos, turmoil,
blessings and rewards. What I am saying is that obedience to God, faith in His
eternal Goodness and living life without Fear produces a type of blessing unique unto itself.
I have learned, and continue daily to learn, that Fear is one of the greatest
inhibitors to enjoying the abundant life God promises. Over the past several months this
has been reinforced over and over again through the Bible studies we have done
in our Tuesday night home fellowship group and with it a new understanding of God's amazing plan for
Reconciliation, for Provision and for Rest. It is Fear and Unbelief that most often
keeps us from benefiting and enjoying what God has promised His children.
I won't lie to you. We have faced severe challenges since we moved here, but through it all the blessings we have received far outweigh the problems we have experienced.
Some of the blessings we experience here, and only because we are here
are:
- A fourth son, Carlitos. If we had not been obedient to God's command to care for orphans in their time of distress we would have missed out on the incredible blessing (and challenge) it has been to have another child. I can't even imagine what our life would be like without him. Much quieter I suppose, for one. I'll be honest, my single, greatest fear right now is that, even though our file has been accepted, the adoption won't go through. Recently, I have been challenged to release that fear and to rest in God.
- I closed a prosperous and established business to move here. But, God has blessed us now with 6 growing businesses and two more in the works. After going without a paycheck for the first two years we were here and living mostly on savings, we are better off now than when we arrived. I can't explain it other than to say God is faithful.
- Our three sons work with us, enjoying part ownership of all we do. This is one of the greatest blessings I have ever experienced, and I doubt that if we had stayed in Maine this would have been possible. The endless opportunities that exist here has made it possible to enlarge our parent company, Inversiones Wolfe Honduras, to include a variety of businesses, thus providing work for the entire family that matches our interest and job skills. Being a key part of watching my sons grow and develop as businessmen, shouldering responsibility.....well, words cannot describe what I feel.
- We have a ministry and a purpose here which we never experienced in Maine. What we do through the Spanish Institute of Honduras, through our Bible study in Cerro Azul and our home fellowship group is deeply, deeply rewarding. Helping new missionaries through their first months in a new country to learn the language and navigate culture shock is Kingdom work with a capital K. Watching the spiritual growth in those who attend our Bible study in Cerro Azul is nothing short of amazing and a true testimony to the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. Our home fellowship group; mmmmm, nothing I can say will express the gratitude I have for the many, many wonderful people who have blessed and encouraged Barbe and me these past four years. In 25 years of serving God I have never, ever experienced anything that compares to the depth of relationship and fellowship, the shared joys and tears, the actual Christian community that we experience on Tuesday nights and throughout the rest of the week with those who are willing to open their own hearts and to share life with us.
- Opening our house to host the Institute and any traveler who happens to come our way has been a blessing and, yes, at times a challenge. When we first decided God wanted us to move the Institute here and to live in the same building, we had many people tell us it was a mistake and we couldn't or shouldn't do it. Once again, I won't lie; it has had it's challenges, but those have been far offset by the blessings we have received in return, by the people we have met, and the relationships we have made; all of this has only been possible because we chose to follow God's lead and give up what we thought was our right to privacy. I have learned that as a family we do need that quiet spot away from the business and busyness of having 60+ people in our house five days a week, and I believe that God is at work preparing just such a place for us.
- It's a fact that we left friends and family, and while these cannot be replaced, I will say this: God has expanded our family here in Honduras 100 times beyond that which we had in United States... just as he promises to do if we allow Him too...and really, we didn't actually leave those in the US behind thanks to the modern technologies of the Internet and air travel.
- The incredible opportunity to learn a new language and to live in and enjoy another culture...priceless.
I'm going to write honestly here and hope it does not offend. When I hear missionaries complaining about life in Honduras I'm not sure what to think. I seem to sense that many feel that somehow or another they have made some great sacrifice for God by moving here. Maybe what we are experiencing here is not the norm. Maybe we haven't sacrificed enough for it to hurt as others seem to have (I'm speaking tongue in cheek). I don't know, because I just don't see it that way. As my friend Tim says, also tongue in cheek, "Just suffering for Jesus".
To me, this whole missionary thing is the best kept secret in the world. Shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone.
