TBC Notes - Short Term—Huge Blessing | thebereancall.org

McMahon, T.A.

Short TermHuge Blessing

I thank Jesus for those who have heeded God’s calling to be missionaries. For those of us who know missionaries personally and are familiar with their life’s work in the Lord, we are in awe of the sacrifices they make for the glory of God. Yet any believer who has spent some time with missionaries in their location of service knows what others may have missed from afar. It’s the joy of the Lord that comes from being true to His calling.

Recently, my wife, Peggy, our youngest son Patrick, and our son-in-law Michael, joined me on a short-term family mission trip to Mongolia. Our heart was to bless, to serve, and to support our Mongolian brothers and sisters in the Lord and those called to minister to them. For all that we may have been used of the Lord to bless them, it seemed that they blessed us a hundredfold more. Words can’t describe the wonderful experience of praying and worshiping with God’s children in a land that rarely, if ever, comes to mind by those of us in the West. All four of us concurred that the trip was personally life-changing.

My encouragement is: as the Lord provides the occasion to visit a missionary family in their location of service, go for it! Make sure that the trip presents no burden on the missionaries but is indeed an opportunity to bless them as well as those they have been blessing. Prayers and financial support for missionaries from afar is great, but the experience of up close and personal may take one’s heart to a whole new level of love for and commitment to them. That’s what it did for my family and me.

T. A. McMahon
Executive Director