January 2006

Dear Friends, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our seminary year is about to begin again. It has rained for the first time in months. The parched ground luxuriated in the gentle rain and the blanket of clouds provided a welcome umbrella from the scorching rays of the sun. Soon, humidity will wrap itself around us like a thick towel, but for now a cool mist hangs under the trees, and the grass is yellow-green and new.

As I think about the year ahead I reflect upon the strength that we all need to face each new day with courage, conviction, and strength. Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, we need to dedicate ourselves, every day, to doing the Lord’s work in a world full of contradictions. Sometimes when we are hurt or depressed, we feel like God has deserted and betrayed us. This was exactly the experience of one of our students, Ruby Ann, who dreamed of pastoring a small, rural church.

When she was in high school, Ruby Ann’s life fell apart. Her young parents died unexpectedly from sickness. Anger and depression stalked her. Despair haunted her day and night. As the eldest in the family, it was up to her to support them. How could she do this and continue her studies? She yelled at God, “How could he have taken my parents at such an early age that we had not yet enjoyed being together as a family?” “What kind of God are you?” Finally, when she hit rock bottom, with nowhere else to go, she turned to God and gave her life to God’s service.

Looking back, Ruby Ann realized that God had used ordinary people to ease her path. She was directed by God into a world which she never dreamed existed and never expected to see. She finished her studies at a Bible school and learned there that only in the Bible can answers could be found and only in Jesus Christ can spiritual sustenance be obtained. Under the inspiration of the prophet Isaiah, Ruby Ann learned that she could soar on the wings of eagles, because those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. “It is easy to be at peace when our life is calm,” she wrote, “but it is not easy to be peaceful when circumstances throw us into turmoil, when the waters of life turn against us. When we remember that we stand firm on the rock that is Jesus Christ, putting all our faith and trust in him, we are at peace.”

Meeting students like Ruby Ann inspires our work here in the Philippines. Teaching in the Philippines is mutual. Our students teach us, we teach them, and together we—and I include you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ—grow in strength as one family, under God, with hope and peace for all.

May God bless you in your walk of faith!

In Christ,

Mary, Paul, and Rachie

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 253