When I read her words, tears stung my eyes and the earth buckled

  

“ . . . If we’re not willing to make an Abraham-like sacrifice, we’ll miss out on God’s best for us. On our drive to Dallas for pre-field meetings, I asked myself, What would I have forfeited if I’d refused to go to Africa?

 

“I wondered what Jesus meant when He said those who leave houses and families for His sake would receive a hundred times as much.

 

“What, specifically, is that ‘hundred times as much’?

 

“I couldn’t envision the answers. I sensed only that I’d have regrets if I missed that elusive ‘best’ and that mysterious ‘hundred times as much.’” (Grandma’s Letters from Africa, Chapter 2)

 

Not until years later, not until Karen wrote, and not until I read, her guest blog post (Don’t miss it! Click on When Jesus’ words are difficult, sharp, and real), did I know she prayed God would give me His “hundred times as much.” When I read her words, tears stung my eyes and the earth buckled. I can’t find words . . . .

 

I continued in Grandma’s Letters from Africa: “Over the years, I’d also heard that Abraham was not an exception to the rule. No, those people who commit their lives—their all—to God must, at times, make enormous sacrifices.

 

“I sat for a long time and pondered those words. I stepped back mentally to look at myself. I had an ‘Ah-ha’ moment: my heartache was not an exception to the rule, not an uncommon experience. No, many people who walked this earth ahead of me, and even beside me, paid far higher costs.

 

“The time had come for me to stop feeling sorry for myself, place my children in God’s hands, and focus instead on the work in Africa—and on the work He wanted to do within me in the process. (Grandma’s Letters from Africa, Chapter 2)

 

“A hundred times as much.” I was not hoping for—and Karen was not praying for—material rewards. I envisioned God would answer by surprising me with His peace, friends, joy in serving Him, an opportunity to experience Africa, and new things to learn about Him—and oh, yes, He gave me all those, and more! God answered Karen’s prayers—Grandma’s Letters from Africa is my testimony to that.

 

I believe He also heaped His hundred times as much upon Karen, her brother Matt, and my husband. I’m confident that over the years we, and they, will continue to recognize those blessings.

 

The wise old author of Ecclesiastes said there’s a time to mourn and a time to dance (3:4). We mourned over saying goodbye to each other and living on opposite sides of the world.

 

But the time would come . . . the time to dance would come. . . .