Missions work is no easy journey. The photos of our friends dressed in bandanas and dress wraps posing next to adorable caramel-skinned orphans speak to us of purpose and heroism. On some days missions work is just that, smiles and joy, and the sun is shining as far as the horizon can see. But ask any missionary who has been in the field for long term, and if they are honest, they will tell you that there are days where the fog is so thick and heavy that the horizon isn’t even in sight. It’s simply the reality of life, being a missionary or not. And if a missionary is not prepared, the storm can catch him off guard and he too will be tempted to frantically act out of fear like the disciples did when they were crossing the sea: “Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are going to drown!” (Matthew 8:23-25). Frantic, full of fear and at a sudden loss of direction. That’s why every missionary needs his anchor—an anchor in Christ, that will keep his ship from sinking when the storm pulls in.
So what is this anchor I am referring to? It is a collection of confirmation, of promises given by God to the one who is heading out to sea. I call it the Anchor of Confirmation. It is the establishment and verification of your calling into the mission’s field. It is proof of the accuracy, validity and genuineness of your calling. It is the ability to acknowledge your calling with definite assurance even when faced with great opposition. The Anchor of Confirmation.
An anchor is crucial to a ship’s journey. It is a small, yet solid and dependable piece that is thrown overboard when a ship either finds itself in storm at sea, or needs to be kept from drifting, like when it is harbored at its destination. As a missionary sets sea on his journey towards the place where Christ is leading him, he too will need an anchor—and this anchor must be attached to the foundation which is Christ, who is much stronger than all opposing forces. I have seen missionary upon missionary arrive to their foreign destination with a smile and passion that quickly disappear when trials begin. The language is too hard to learn, the climate is too harsh, the food is hard to get used to, financial support comes to a sudden halt, terminal sickness hits a loved one back at home, the ministerial promotion hoped for didn’t arrive, and the emotional burden of witnessing daily injustice being done against the innocent—simply becomes too much. The mental and emotional attacks of sudden doubt and second guessing begin. …This doesn’t look like what I imagined, so this must not be where I am supposed to be. If God was really in this, it wouldn’t be this difficult…. It isn’t long before those missionaries are back in their homeland explaining to their supporters why they returned home.
I’ve seen it play out time and again and ask myself, “Where was their anchor?” I am convinced that with an anchor, one will look differently at the storms encountered during the journey, and will keep one from seamlessly wondering off God’s path even well beyond arrival to the new destination. My heart breaks when the dreams of sincere and passionate missionaries are eaten up by the fears and trials they encounter. My heart breaks, because I have been there before.
My husband and I made a big decision a few years ago and experienced the consequences of not having our Anchor of Confirmation. We had Jesus with us and even a few prophecies that led us to believe we were doing the right thing. We gave everything away that didn’t fit in our minivan, left our ministry in young and untrained hands, and moved to the other side of the country where we did not have a single contact. Our bank accounts were nearly on empty and my husband’s free lifelong health coverage would not be transferring to the new city with us. Just the day before our move, God provided a contact who would pick us up from the airport and offer us hospitality until we found a place to rent (which quickly turned into a month). Two days before Christmas our only option was to settle with renting a home that cost five times more than what we were used to. Of course the grace of God is so beautiful that He provided and furnished the home and somehow my husband was able to pull himself up and down the flight of stairs without ever injuring himself (he’s paraplegic). But, there was something crucial missing from the picture—our anchor.
Our motives were good—we were sent to begin a church and a third community art and music center. Everything seemed right, we took a leap of faith and made the “Christian sacrifice,” leaving behind everything we owned and knew—all for the sake of serving Jesus and spreading His gospel. But none of that really matters if you’re not where God wants you to be. Three months into our new mission we came to terms with ourselves and God, and admitted that we didn’t have an Anchor of Confirmation before moving across the country. We based our decision off emotion, both excited and honored to fulfill our pastor’s desire to spread the denomination to new and unknown lands. It sounded like a great idea, and seemed to fit into a prophecy we had received, but let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being where you aren’t meant to be. Cleaning up our mistake was messy. Our decision to turn around and go back home angered some, offended others, looked flaky, and cost many, many frustrated tears. It was only by the grace of God that our supporters believed in us again after such a costly mistake. And that same grace is what sustained the ministry we had prematurely abandoned in untrained hands, months before. While we are still walking through sticky consequences of our decisions, God continues to shower His loving grace upon us just as He so kindly does for His children.
There is no doubt that through mistakes and wrong turns, God will use everything for good in our lives. After all, God as the captain of our ship. The challenges my husband and I faced in our move across the country are strikingly familiar to the process of any missionary who leaves their home to go to an unknown land, but the difference between it being fruitful or not goes back to one’s initial calling and the proof, or promises they carry of that calling.
So there it is. Before you pack your bags, I challenge you to first make sure you have your Anchor of Confirmation. Seek at least five (more is much better) distinguished forms of confirmation—these will become your anchor in Jesus. Why do you feel called to go where you feel God is sending you? What proof do you have? Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15 that we should always have an answer prepared for everyone who asks for the reason of hope that we have. God is constantly speaking to us and giving us direction (if you doubt or question this, I recommend my pastor Ben Dixon’s book “Hearing God” for further understanding). Ask God for confirmation, for proof of why you have the urge to do what you are about to do. The Bible says that when we ask, we will receive. So ask. This confirmation can include prophetic words prayed over you, God speaking through a sermon you heard, a word that stuck out to you as you read the Bible, a dream or vision God gave you, or any other creative way God reveals His calling to you.
I am 100% convinced that the forms of confirmation I collected before I became a full time missionary ten years ago, were what got me through the terrible spells of loneliness amidst great physical and emotional exhaustion during the trials I faced my first years. Later, as I faced a rape and kidnapping threat, I was able to continue doing my missions work without fear, thanks to the Anchor of Confirmation and the promises in Jesus that He had stored up in my heart. Even as I faced my most recent challenges with my health, I continue to tightly grasp onto my anchor in Jesus Christ and won’t let anything move me from what God has called me into. Just as a ship relies on an anchor in the storm of the sea, so will you rely on God’s words as you face life’s adversities in a world where nothing is familiar but God Himself.
Lets look again at 1 Peter 3:15, but now in the Message version:
“If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.”
Bless you.
So what is this anchor I am referring to? It is a collection of confirmation, of promises given by God to the one who is heading out to sea. I call it the Anchor of Confirmation. It is the establishment and verification of your calling into the mission’s field. It is proof of the accuracy, validity and genuineness of your calling. It is the ability to acknowledge your calling with definite assurance even when faced with great opposition. The Anchor of Confirmation.
An anchor is crucial to a ship’s journey. It is a small, yet solid and dependable piece that is thrown overboard when a ship either finds itself in storm at sea, or needs to be kept from drifting, like when it is harbored at its destination. As a missionary sets sea on his journey towards the place where Christ is leading him, he too will need an anchor—and this anchor must be attached to the foundation which is Christ, who is much stronger than all opposing forces. I have seen missionary upon missionary arrive to their foreign destination with a smile and passion that quickly disappear when trials begin. The language is too hard to learn, the climate is too harsh, the food is hard to get used to, financial support comes to a sudden halt, terminal sickness hits a loved one back at home, the ministerial promotion hoped for didn’t arrive, and the emotional burden of witnessing daily injustice being done against the innocent—simply becomes too much. The mental and emotional attacks of sudden doubt and second guessing begin. …This doesn’t look like what I imagined, so this must not be where I am supposed to be. If God was really in this, it wouldn’t be this difficult…. It isn’t long before those missionaries are back in their homeland explaining to their supporters why they returned home.
I’ve seen it play out time and again and ask myself, “Where was their anchor?” I am convinced that with an anchor, one will look differently at the storms encountered during the journey, and will keep one from seamlessly wondering off God’s path even well beyond arrival to the new destination. My heart breaks when the dreams of sincere and passionate missionaries are eaten up by the fears and trials they encounter. My heart breaks, because I have been there before.
My husband and I made a big decision a few years ago and experienced the consequences of not having our Anchor of Confirmation. We had Jesus with us and even a few prophecies that led us to believe we were doing the right thing. We gave everything away that didn’t fit in our minivan, left our ministry in young and untrained hands, and moved to the other side of the country where we did not have a single contact. Our bank accounts were nearly on empty and my husband’s free lifelong health coverage would not be transferring to the new city with us. Just the day before our move, God provided a contact who would pick us up from the airport and offer us hospitality until we found a place to rent (which quickly turned into a month). Two days before Christmas our only option was to settle with renting a home that cost five times more than what we were used to. Of course the grace of God is so beautiful that He provided and furnished the home and somehow my husband was able to pull himself up and down the flight of stairs without ever injuring himself (he’s paraplegic). But, there was something crucial missing from the picture—our anchor.
Our motives were good—we were sent to begin a church and a third community art and music center. Everything seemed right, we took a leap of faith and made the “Christian sacrifice,” leaving behind everything we owned and knew—all for the sake of serving Jesus and spreading His gospel. But none of that really matters if you’re not where God wants you to be. Three months into our new mission we came to terms with ourselves and God, and admitted that we didn’t have an Anchor of Confirmation before moving across the country. We based our decision off emotion, both excited and honored to fulfill our pastor’s desire to spread the denomination to new and unknown lands. It sounded like a great idea, and seemed to fit into a prophecy we had received, but let me tell you, there is nothing worse than being where you aren’t meant to be. Cleaning up our mistake was messy. Our decision to turn around and go back home angered some, offended others, looked flaky, and cost many, many frustrated tears. It was only by the grace of God that our supporters believed in us again after such a costly mistake. And that same grace is what sustained the ministry we had prematurely abandoned in untrained hands, months before. While we are still walking through sticky consequences of our decisions, God continues to shower His loving grace upon us just as He so kindly does for His children.
There is no doubt that through mistakes and wrong turns, God will use everything for good in our lives. After all, God as the captain of our ship. The challenges my husband and I faced in our move across the country are strikingly familiar to the process of any missionary who leaves their home to go to an unknown land, but the difference between it being fruitful or not goes back to one’s initial calling and the proof, or promises they carry of that calling.
So there it is. Before you pack your bags, I challenge you to first make sure you have your Anchor of Confirmation. Seek at least five (more is much better) distinguished forms of confirmation—these will become your anchor in Jesus. Why do you feel called to go where you feel God is sending you? What proof do you have? Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15 that we should always have an answer prepared for everyone who asks for the reason of hope that we have. God is constantly speaking to us and giving us direction (if you doubt or question this, I recommend my pastor Ben Dixon’s book “Hearing God” for further understanding). Ask God for confirmation, for proof of why you have the urge to do what you are about to do. The Bible says that when we ask, we will receive. So ask. This confirmation can include prophetic words prayed over you, God speaking through a sermon you heard, a word that stuck out to you as you read the Bible, a dream or vision God gave you, or any other creative way God reveals His calling to you.
I am 100% convinced that the forms of confirmation I collected before I became a full time missionary ten years ago, were what got me through the terrible spells of loneliness amidst great physical and emotional exhaustion during the trials I faced my first years. Later, as I faced a rape and kidnapping threat, I was able to continue doing my missions work without fear, thanks to the Anchor of Confirmation and the promises in Jesus that He had stored up in my heart. Even as I faced my most recent challenges with my health, I continue to tightly grasp onto my anchor in Jesus Christ and won’t let anything move me from what God has called me into. Just as a ship relies on an anchor in the storm of the sea, so will you rely on God’s words as you face life’s adversities in a world where nothing is familiar but God Himself.
Lets look again at 1 Peter 3:15, but now in the Message version:
“If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.”
Bless you.