After 28 years as a missionary in the Far East, (including more than three years internment as "guests" of the Japanese during World War 2), I was quite prepared to remain in the States. Then my husband presented me with the proposition of going to the Middle East where my parents had been missionaries for 43 years. Recovering from an illness and weary in body, I had absolutely no desire to pack up and go abroad again. It all seemed too much !
How I struggled ! I really wanted to obey God if this move was His will - but it was just too hard for me. While in the throes of decision-making, we were invited to speak and show slides to a ladies' group. Taking her text from Deuteronomy 1, a woman, who could not possibly have known about us, challenged the group to move on in their Christian experience. She read, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain" (verse 6). (We were living at Nyack, the "mount of prayer and blessing.") She continued, "Break camp and advance into the hill country . . . and to Lebanon" (verse 7). (It was to Lebanon we had been asked to go.) "Bring me any case too hard for you" (verse 17). (Everything was too hard for me.) God let me know that my next step was to be willing to go and He would open up the way ! I had to cry out to the Lord that the best I could do at that moment was to be willing to be made willing.
Needless to say, we went to Lebanon and saw God perform miracles in the lives of individuals. Now I can say that those 15 years in Lebanon, despite uncertainty, destruction and constant danger, were some of the happiest I have known.
M. Taylor
"As thou goest - step by step - I will open up the way before thee (PROVERBS 4:12, Old Hebrew Translation)."
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