February 2022 — Bethany Judd
a letter from Liz —
Dear AP Girlfriend,
As each month approaches, I pray about what my short note to you will be. I know we can do so much to support each other, so with each passing month, I pray God continues to guide my words. In this note I am privileged to share some of the journey I have had over the years as I watch yours play out in your lives.
For February I decided to play along with the theme of love. I know it’s overdone and commercialized, but the love I’m referring to is “what I love about where I live.”
I once attended an awesome AGWM Africa retreat that hosted a women’s event. Each woman donated a locally produced item they loved from their city in Africa. Every product was used as table décor for us to view and enjoy together and included spices, jewelry, cloth, pottery, beads, perfumes, lotions, and much more. At the end of the event, we all went home with something from another area of Africa.
During that time with the ladies, I realized how it takes daily intentionality to decide what we love about where we live. For some of us, this past month has been wrought with hardships: no electricity for seven weeks, trips to the ER after just being released from quarantine, displacement due to termites, caring for sick family, visa issues, travel delays, and much, much more. (I’ve been praying for many of you.) Despite the hardships, I have watched each of you respond in such amazingly positive ways.
“What I love about where I live” is fueled by an attitude of gratitude. None of us are perfect, but we can determine to wake up every day and thank God for the privilege to serve and live in the country we are in, even if we are “stuck” somewhere.
What do you love about where you live? I love that I get to inspire believers in America toward greater purposes for their lives and send them places I will never go. I love that unbelievers in my local Walmart enjoy making small talk because perhaps one of those conversations will lead to an invitation to Christ. I even love the local Asian grocery store that supplies me with mung beans; as I write, I am waiting for my favorite Indonesian dessert of mung beans, coconut milk, and sugar to finish simmering so I can eat it on this cold winter day.
How about you? What do you love about where you live?
This month’s devotional is from Bethany Judd. Bethany and her family serve in Mongolia and will be returning after itineration. She is an adult MK, and it’s such a blessing to see how God calls MKs back to the mission field and how they lead with excellence and grace in uncharted territories.
Never alone,
Liz
Beauty for Ashes
By Bethany Judd
Our host country, Mongolia, has a long history, but it has dealt with so much in the last 30–50 years: oppressive regimes, civil instability, religious suppression, and financial uncertainty. The church in Mongolia is young—younger than my personal relationship with the Lord—and faces centuries of deep-rooted spiritual darkness and brokenness. One of the most common patterns of brokenness we’ve witnessed in Ulaanbaatar is domestic violence, with the second most common being a distant or absent father figure. This may sound familiar to others serving in Asia Pacific. The details vary from country to country, but the end results are often the same. When looking at the scope of these problems, I can easily become discouraged. There is so much work to be done.
But recently, God put this passage from Isaiah on my heart:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. (61:1–4, ESV).
This encouraging passage reminds us we are not alone in our work. God is right there with us, leading the way. He is healing the broken and giving them beauty for ashes.
My Mongol brothers and sisters share testimonies of the Lord doing just this—reaching them where they are, bringing them into relationship with Him, healing deep wounds, and performing miracles in their lives and families. They tell me about persecution in one breath, but in the next, express longing to bring their persecutors to Christ. To Him be the glory!
Notice how the last sentence of the Isaiah passage is a given rather than a possibility. It doesn’t say they might raise up the former devastations but that they will. May God continue to use us and our national sisters and brothers to “repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.”
