✨ ✨ To The Missionaries
✨ Those Who Walk With Jesus ✨
To The Missionaries
📝 Their Message (Summary)
This post is written straight to the missionaries—both those currently serving and those who once wore the name-tag. It’s about the mismatch between expectations and reality, the Naaman-like pride we all wrestle with, and the way Jesus uses missions to strip us down until we are clean.
The author remembers opening their call—dreaming of Europe or Australia—and instead being sent to Tokyo, Japan. The MTC was brutal, the field harder still. Nothing went the way it was “supposed” to. But Tokyo was the exact Jordan River they needed to bathe in. Like Naaman, they had to lay aside expectations and pride, dip themselves again and again in submission, and trust God’s promise that He could cleanse, heal, and change them.
Every missionary enters the field like Naaman—arriving in style, expecting fireworks, only to be told by the Spirit: “Go wash. Serve. Forget yourself. Stay in this humble place. Do the small things.” It is not the glamorous Abana or Pharpar rivers. It is the muddy Jordan. But if we yield, it works the miracle.
By the end, there is no better mission than the one God chose for you. Because the “dross” you lose—your own plans, pride, and fears—becomes the very way you discover His strength.
A.W. Tozer’s words seal the point: everything we cling to—our callings, talents, even family and friends—are only safe when committed to God. Possessing nothing, we finally have everything. The tearing out of idols is painful, but when God dwells in the temple of your heart without rival, then the Light Himself shines there.
🔥 My Reflection
This post could be read by every discouraged missionary and every returned missionary who still feels “less than.” It hits the heart of why the mission matters: not because of numbers or glory, but because it is where Jesus strips away the false self until all that’s left is Him.
The comparison to Naaman is brilliant. Prideful expectations always cloud the miracle. But once he obeyed, he came up clean—like a child. The same is true for anyone who surrenders their mission (or their life) to Christ.
🕊️ The Invitation
Missionaries, remember: the worth of your mission is not measured by baptisms or transfers—it’s measured by how much of you is surrendered to Him.
Don’t compare your “river” to another’s. Your Tokyo, your Texas, your Utah, is holy ground if He sent you there.
Let Him strip away the idols of self-sufficiency and pride until your heart belongs wholly to Him.
📖 Scriptures to Ponder
“Wash, and be clean.” — 2 Kings 5:13
“Let all your doings be unto the Lord.” — Alma 37:36
“Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good.” — Alma 37:37
“When I am weak, then am I strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:10
🔗 Walking with Jesus — A Family’s Story
This is part of a series sharing the six-year testimony of a family walking daily with Jesus.
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