Normal—more than just a setting on your dryer.
I well remember the hilarity of Patsy Clairmont’s talk entitled, “Normal is just a setting on your dryer.” This statement framed her side-splitting presentation about human behaviors which clarified the reality that there is no such thing as normal. While this is quite true in just about any area of life, I wonder if there just might be a more “normal” Christian life than most of us experience in the western world?
The book of Acts records the earliest chapters of life for the first Christians. Their lives included much hardship, and yet they experienced great joy! Their daily focus was on sharing the good news of the gospel, bringing many people into His way of Truth, and strengthening and encouraging one another in the faith. At the same time, it was quite common for them to be persecuted as a result of their faith in Jesus. They continued to serve Him, and even to suffer for Him, while enjoying fellowship with one another. This was normal for them!
Yes, normal for Christians in the first century was characterized by both difficulty and unbridled joy. Many of the women we serve in Africa, Asia and the Middle East bear a striking resemblance to this same type of normal. Women in the Window International has the remarkable privilege of serving women who are experiencing a normal Christian life that far surpasses the quality of ours in many ways. Their daily reality holds much suffering, sorrow, limitations and loss. Yet they focus on those things that are eternal—their relationships with God and one another. Their daily realities are much closer to the biblical standard of normal. What a privilege to serve them, and to teach and train them—knowing that all the while we are learning so much more from them…perhaps learning how to be normal ourselves!
Please pray with us for the following Women in the Window International trainings. We will send more specific prayer requests in the coming weeks, but do need your prayers for provision and Christ’s power to be released in each step of our preparation!
- September – Lebanon, Servant leadership training and retreat
- October – Egypt, Next generation leaders’ training
- October – Lakota Native Americans, Trauma healing training
- November – East African widows’ ministry, Training in micro-enterprise
- December – Nepal, Leadership development training
May it be said of us, even as it was said in the book of Acts 19:20, “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”
Yours because I’m His,
Kim
