I’ve been using The Upper Room as part of my devotional materials for years and learning so much. The devotional for Monday, the day after Easter, “Go Anyway,” was no exception.
The meditation was based on Mark 16:1-8, focusing especially on the verses that speak of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome taking spices to anoint the body of Jesus. Mark tells us, …they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ (Mark 16:2-3)
The author of the devotional is making the point that the women didn’t let the fact that they didn’t know who would roll the stone away stop them from setting out on their mission. They were on their way to the tomb even though they didn’t know who would roll away the stone.
In her devotional Lisa Stackpole says, I thought about all the times I have felt God leading me to do something, only to hesitate, convincing myself that I wouldn’t succeed because of some obstacle I could not overcome on my own. How often have I left things undone due to my hesitation? How many blessings have I missed by not stepping forward in faith and trusting God to provide the help I need?
These words reminded me of how easily Donn and I could have missed the opportunity of going to Japan as missionaries for the very reasons she mentions. In the beginning, I thought, How could God use us as missionaries in Japan? We’re too old and we don’t know the language.
We had no idea that all our ministries in Japan would be in English, where people start learning English in the 3rd grade, or that Japanese pastors or their wives would provide devotionals in Japanese for most of our ministries. In addition, God spontaneously provided an interpreter (a person who spoke good English and Japanese) every time I was doing personal ministry with someone who didn’t understand English. And our age was never a hindrance.
In addition, Donn, who was on blood thinner that needed to be closely monitored, had many concerns about how it would be monitored in Japan. How far would he have to travel? Would the doctor speak English? How much would it cost?
Again, we had no idea that the wife of the senior pastor of the Japanese church on our OMS Campus was a doctor! She had a clinic on the edge of the Campus. She had trained in the U.S., spoke good English, and accepted national insurance as full payment from missionaries. But we didn’t discover the answer to Donn’s questions until we arrived in Japan—if we had waited until we had the answers, we would never have gone.
One of my concerns was fibromyalgia, a condition for which I received medical massage in the United States to control pain. How would I find someone to do medical massage in a country where I couldn’t even read the yellow pages?
Again, we didn’t discover the answer to that question until we had arrived in Japan. One day on the bike path, I struck up a conversation with someone I thought was an American. Julie was actually Ukrainian but spoke English. She told me she was a physical trainer, and I asked if she knew of anyone who did medical massage. She said, “Come, I’ll take you there.”
In a clinic about a ten-minute walk from our Campus, Julie introduced me to a doctor who did acupressure. I suspect he gave me a special rate because it only cost me the equivalent of about $3.00 a week, so I was able to go weekly. I had one of the best years ever physically.
I could tell you other stories of how God intervened in ways that we could never have predicted to roll away the stones that would have prevented us from doing ministry in Japan. But those interventions came only after we had obeyed God by going to Japan by faith that He would roll away the stones.
Be assured that the important thing isn’t to know who will roll away the stone (remove the obstacles from our path), but to be sure it is God who is calling you; then to obey even though you don’t have the answers to all your questions. If God is calling you and you “Go Anyway,” He will roll away the stone.
Father, how wonderful to rest on your promise that Faithful is He who has called you, and He also will do it (I Thessalonians 5:24). If you have called us to do something, you are responsible to roll away the stone! Amen.
Health Update
My appointment and treatment went well on March 27, especially my appointment with the oncology PA.I told her I wished I understood better how they decide if women who’ve had breast cancer need the aromatase inhibitors—the pill they want you to take for five years to get rid of the estrogen in your body. She said one of the things they consider is, based on the type and stage of the cancer you had, what is the likelihood that you’ll have a recurrence. Bless her heart, she looked through my chart online and said I only have a 10% chance of having a recurrence of cancer—regardless of whether I do this five year pill. No one had ever told me that and it is so encouraging to me. I feel much better about stopping this pill if it continues to cause me a lot of pain. Thank you so much for all your prayers.
I also had my appointment with the ophthalmologist who did my cataract surgery on March 27. He is very pleased, as I am, with the results. My vision is almost 20/20 and I hardly need cheaters at all. He gave me a prescription if I want to get progressive lens with a little better distance vision and some close up. It’s the first time since I was nine that I’ve been able to see without glasses! Thank you so much for praying!