Happy New Year!
Last night, while waiting for the clock to tick past 11:59 PM, I had a wonderful conversation with a dear friend and sister in Christ. We started talking about Japan and after I explained some of Japan’s deep issues and the need for the Gospel there, she asked me some difficult questions that I hope I answered well. I am very thankful for her hard questions because they helped me voice some things and think through some things I hadn’t before.
All in all, her questions centered around, why specifically Japan and missions? As well as, can the Biblical role of a woman balance missions outside of her home and community?
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”” (Genesis 2:18, ESV)
“Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:23-24)
To answer the first question, God laid Japan on my heart at the same time He convicted me of the need for missionaries. Back in the spring and summer of 2022, I started learning about the general pop culture of Japan. As the year went on, I learned about the work culture and started to understand some of the deeper underlying issues in Japan. I also learned about the need for missions in Japan and was stunned and grieved by the small number of Christians (1-1.5% of the population). The need for missionaries in Japan was made extremely clear to me and despite being told from the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to go there considering the state of the world post-covid, God alone opened the door there. Going there for the summer made me fall in love with the culture, people, language, and so much more, but it also made me ache because the vast majority of the Japanese are dying with no hope of salvation.
“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:13-16, ESV)
I am going to jump to the second question before I answer why missions. My friend pointed out that as a woman, my primary calling is to glorify God by being a wife and a mother and I wholeheartedly agreed with her. As Titus 2:4-5 says, similarly to other sections of Scripture, “and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” However, I do not think that missions and marriage are mutually exclusive. God calls all of us to minister to others. Titus 2 continues to say in verses 11-15,
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
While wives and mothers are first called to minister to their husbands and children, we are not isolated units. We are always called to put off the flesh and live as an example of Christ. We are called to love others, even our enemies, show hospitality, speak truth in love, care for others, serve others, shine the light of Christ, and so many other good things. Women should be involved in their communities, churches, and circles; pouring into other women and allowing themselves to be poured into. As women, we are still children of God, called to shine and share His light. In the same way, I believe some women are called to serve God on mission fields outside of where they are born. Perhaps God will call those women to singleness or maybe He will provide her a husband before she goes to the mission field. He could provide a husband on the mission field or perhaps God will have her serve for a time on the mission field and then come back and be married and serve only in the mission field of her own home. The possibilities are endless when it comes to God, for nothing is impossible with our King (Matthew 19:26). But if God has taught me one thing, it is that I have already been redeemed. If God is going to provide me with a husband, then there is nothing I can do that would ruin my chances of being a wife.
My desire is to be a wife and mother. But, at least for now, God has ordained a time of singleness in my life. Maybe that will change tomorrow or maybe it will in five years. God is convicting me now of the need in the mission field, but maybe in the next few months I will meet someone and God will convict me of needing to be a wife and mother first.
How do I know what God is calling me to do? I know that serving God as a missionary is not unbiblical. I know that God has given me opportune circumstances in which I could go to the mission field. I know that God has filled me with a burden for Japan. I know God has stirred my heart to the need for missions. I trust that He will guide my steps and open the doors I should walk through and close the ones I shouldn’t. I may make mistakes on the way, but I am already redeemed. Nothing I do can ruin me or cause me to be ripped from the hands of my Heavenly Father. I pray that God will guide me as I take steps, one day at a time, and seek first to glorify God over everything else.
Why missions? After a couple of hours of conversation, I was thinking about how I could explain the answer to that question to my friend. I whispered a silent prayer to God that He would give me the words I needed. I am not always good with my words, my brain moves a little too fast for my mouth. So I asked my friend why she taught music. She went into a lovely history of how she ended up teaching music to kids and explained that it is hard but fulfilling. Teaching music was something she knew was teaching her how to be a better mother for her own kids one day. Teaching music was something she loved and could use in the future. She enjoyed being able to care for and pour into her students. Every word she said about teaching music reflected her deep love and passion for doing it. When she finished, she asked me why I asked her that. In the same way that she loves teaching music, I love ministering to people. It is hard and frustrating and I may never see progress, but God has given me a chance to love and a heart for loving people. He has given me the chance to share God’s Word and pour into children and support other missionaries and fellowship and encourage believers and nonbelievers alike. And if I am able to love others well, share God’s truth, be hospitable, care for others, and serve others, how much more will I be able to do that for my own children? How much more will I be able to love, support, and care for my own husband? Missions isn’t taking away from my ability or opportunity to be a wife and a mother. If anything, it is preparing me all the more, utilizing a passion that God has given me.
If being a missionary makes me hard to love, then that is okay. Because God’s love is enough. There are many things that make people hard to love, I hope serving God is not one of those things.
And at the end of the day, I cannot with 100% certainty tell you what God has for my life. Maybe God is not calling me to the mission field. Maybe tomorrow, God will lay something else on my heart. Maybe God has something else for my life. Whatever it is, I know it will be extraordinary. Because God has already done the extraordinary in me. He saved me. There are countless paths and possibilities. I am not planning on burning any bridges or shutting doors of my own accord. I am open to the many paths God could have for me, and I know He will direct my steps. He will provide.
Psalm 119: 129-136, NIV
Your statutes are wonderful;
therefore I obey them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and pant,
longing for your commands.
Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name.
Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.
Redeem me from human oppression,
that I may obey your precepts.
Make your face shine on your servant
and teach me your decrees.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
for your law is not obeyed.
Still, I pray, here I am, send me.