After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:10 NIV).
Never had I been so tempted to pretend I didn’t hear what God was saying as I was when He began to speak to me about Japan. However, I didn’t want failure to keep the promise I’d made to God in 1980 to interfere with my walk with Him. So, one day when Donn was going to be away all day, I said, “God, I have to know…. Am I just getting all emotionally involved in this book, or are you trying to tell me that you want us to go to Japan?”
Immediately, my mother’s copy of Springs in the Valley, compiled by Lettie Cowman, came to my mind. I opened it to that day’s devotional and read the verse above, which comes right after Paul has had the vision of the man from Macedonia begging him to come over to help them. I began to weep as I sensed that the Holy Spirit was saying there were people in Japan who were also pleading for help.
Then I remembered I’d seen something written in the front of this book so I flipped there. In my mother’s handwriting, I read, This book sailed across the ocean to Japan in 1945 and sailed back home again in 1946. (My father must have taken the book with him when he went to Japan to help rebuild after WWII.) My tears fell faster now because I believed that the Holy Spirit was using this inscription to confirm our Macedonian (missionary) call to Japan.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for faithfully confirming things our Father is saying, even when we really don’t want to hear. Amen.
(Devotional adapted from Homespun Faith, Reflections from the Seasons of Life, copyright 2014 Daisy Beiler Townsend. Available as paperback or e-book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Xulon Press. There are Links on this website on the Where to Buy Homespun Faith and Sarah’s Legacy page. Locally at Fresh Grounds, M & M Grocery, Penn Alps in Grantsville, Maryland, or from me 724-373-8445.)