Open Letter Series- To Our Parents

TISSUE ALERT!- Anyone who is a parent may cry. It is a 3 on the tissues scale. I warned you.
A little background. Jon and I have parents (like everyone). They are incredibly supportive of Jon and I entering the mission field because they are wonderful believers. Ok, here you go.

An Open Letter to our Parents

While I was away on the women’s retreat, God showed me something really cool about you guys. See I am reading in 1 Samuel and I was on the chapter where Hannah prays for Samuel and then dedicates him to the Lord. She saw him once a year, when they went to worship at the temple. Then He led me to a verse that my parents have shared in my life before: 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” I truly believe Hannah missed and loved her son, but I also believe that because she loved God she had no greater joy than seeing Samuel raised up in the service of the Lord.

THEN He took me to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We all know this verse, right? But this shows the heart of God in a way that very few people on earth can relate to. God cared so much for seeing souls saved that He sent His Son into the world. Does that sound like anyone you know? It does to me. 

We know that we have asked you to do the impossible, to willingly send out your kids. But we also know that you do not hesitate. That you have constantly have to explain to people why you will not attempt to talk us out of this endeavor. More than that, you have gotten behind us to support and encourage us in God’s will for our lives. Because more than our safety, or fiscal security, or comfort or even our happiness, you desire to see us walk in God’s will to be used to see souls saved. We believe that you understand the heart of God in a way that only missions parents can. God so loved the world that He gave His Son; you so love the world that you give your son/daughter. We believe God will bless that immensely. We believe that He will give you a deeper fellowship with Him because you know intimately the heart of God.

We know that you pray for us every day, multiple times a day. We know that you cry at the foot of the cross for us, and beg God to keep us safe if it is possible. We know that you plead with Him to use us to make His name known. And we know that it hurts more than we could ever imagine to give us the blessing to go, but you give it anyway. 

We pray for you. We pray that people come alongside you to love and encourage you when we can’t get in contact. We pray that people will come beside you to hold your hand when we are sick and you cannot come care for us. We pray for encouragement when holidays and birthdays come and go without us there. We pray for courage when you hear news that causes you to worry for us from around the world. We pray that you will be surrounded by people who genuinely love you and care for you. Because we will be aching for all those moments, just as you do. And we have people who are in support of us, but we pray that you do as well. You are sacrificing so much for the sake of seeing God’s will done, and we pray that He blesses you with support, peace, comfort and love. We pray that when it is hard to watch parents and kids together because you know we are 8 months away, that you have people around you to love on you and pray with you. But most important, we pray that you seek refuge and comfort in the arms of the Father who understands in a way no one else could. God understands the hurt of seeing His child far away, of seeing Him suffer, of seeing Him give His life to see souls reunited with God in redemption and salvation. 

We love you. We thank you, because moving forward in this with you begging us to stay would be infinitely harder. We will call often, and when we can’t we’ll still try. We will work more fervently knowing that you are behind us. We will work in such a way to make you proud, but more importantly to be worthy of the call of God in our life. Thank you for loving God and loving us.

Jon and Kristin