"Anywhere with Jesus"

(A musing of mine through the words of a great saint of old, 

Lilias Trotter-Former Missionary to Algeria.
Words of Lilias in bold.)

How many of us have said and sung with all our hearts

 "Anywhere with Jesus," 

"In those early days of newly born faith
our hearts cry these words aloud,
and our words define our passions.
For me it was, anywhere,
and hopeful that anywhere would include
my own husband,
our own children."

but at the same time we did not realize all that it meant for us. 

 "As the years pass by....
 I become as one who has woken up from a deep sleep,

and I realize life is not always cloaked
 in blankets of the bluest skies...

The tranquil clouds a midst rays of light,
the arching of  iridescent rainbows---

They are here,
they are.

But so are the angry darkened skies
water drenched clouds

thunder and rain,

like tears from the abyss.

So are the tornadoes,

the droughts---the times of waiting and clinging

and confessing lack of faith,
lack of wisdom,
lack of discipline,
lack of self-control,
lack of patience.
absence of that woman I hoped to be.
Oh, it's harder than I thought.
Somehow in my daydreams,
I didn't include the thorns among the roses...

I guess that's why it's called
dreaming."

 and let us take very good care not to make a misery of anything that "anywhere" brings us.

"Oh yes, I did pray for all of this didn't I?
  I did say to the Lord,

in those early romantic days of new faith,
 use me Lord!  

Use me however you want!
Change me and make me who you want me to be!
And now do I begrudge his methods?  

May it not be.
Every hardship in my life,
every tear spilled on my pillow
Every ache felt deep within
It's you.  It's you who are
an extraordinary answer to prayer.
  

To us in Algeria it must mean sometime or other, Arab food.  Do we object of it? 

And mice, do we mind them?  And mosquitoes, do we think them dreadful?  In some parts it means close contact with dirt and repulsive disease.  

"In my home, in my role, among other things it means,

in the midst of all these blessings, there is pain.

In the midst of smiles, and joy that wells up

There is testing and failure

repentance and faith.

repentance and faith.

Again.  and Again.
He told me to trust him yesterday, and the day before that
and the day before that, and he did today,
and he will tonight,
and he will tomorrow,
but mainly today I hear his voice,
"Trust me, I am God.
Yes daughter,
I AM."

Yet if Jesus is there, what have we possibly to complain of?

"Your home with me aren't you Jesus?
Wherever I go there you are.
After all, your name is Emmanuel, 

the God who is with us.  

Indeed, you did say, 

"Lo, I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

I'm not alone.

No.  Not ever."

  It means living among a stiff-necked and untrue people 

"That's me.
That's me who stiffens my neck to
giving
to dying, to sacrificing.

That's me who needs to bend my knee in the morning,
in the noontime, in the evening."

and struggling with a strange and difficult language.

"Jesus' language of love.
It is foreign.

He speaks the language of 

Not keeper of a record of wrongs.

I suffer long with you.  for you.

I am patient.

I am kind.  I am

Goodness.

Gentleness.

I am faithful.

I am One who uses self-control---not one who tries to control others.

A beautiful language it is....
of joy in all circumstances.

Stillness of peace.

Covering of trust deep within."

  And yet let us evermore write over all our miseries, big, and for the most part very little, 

these transforming words 

"With Jesus." 

"And all of a sudden,
the mundane becomes the mission field.

The ordinary becomes holy ground.

The common breaking of dawn,
 the opening of a sacred day of worship.

Hardship or ease...

Every moment unfolds...

into fellowship with Him."

 And then the very breath of Heaven will breathe upon our whole being and we shall be glad."

"Yes, right here at home,
right here anywhere,
in any circumstance
in any weather
in any trial
anytime

He has made me glad."

Lilias Trotter, "A Passion for the Impossible"