World Renewal International
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
She Could Not Have Known What It Meant
(I think you can see on Carol's face the joy she feels as she holds her first grandbaby. I am thankful I have been the subject of that joy as well. Happy Birthday Nanna!)Today is my wife's birthday. Happy birthday Carol! I don't have the words to tell her, and certainly not any of you, what I feel in my heart about her. My mind always returns to 1 Peter 3:7 on days like today.
"Husbands in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayer will not be hindered."
It is that part about sharing the gracious gift of life that really gets me. Carol only has one life. One life! That's it! We will have been married 36 years in August. Carol was raised in a secure loving home and environment. She left that secure part behind when she married Evangelist Gary Wright when she was twenty. We started going together, then dating in High School. Our relationship spans 41 years. When the really insecure times comes as they have this past quarter for our support here at World Renewal, I don't always know how to show my gratitude to her.
In reality it means that we both lay in bed at night and stare at the ceiling and say "Lord Jesus, we are trusting you to provide as you have in the past." Christians say to me all the time, "I could never do what you do." When I ask them what they mean, it is usually that my family lives on donations for our support to World Renewal. Although they don't come out and say it seems they are saying "You have to beg for your lunch." Well, in reality sometimes I have had to sing for it too.
I do know that the number one reason that more people do not do mission work as a career has to do with raising their financial support. I have learned that the men find it easier to say, "Yes!" than the wives. In family counseling we learn that security is a huge issue for the ladies. I am not blaming or shaming, it is a bigger issue for most women. We men have other challenges. This one is usually a major step for the ladies if couples are going to do mission work.
The vast majority of people doing mission work must raise their own support like we do. It is called "Faith Missions" as opposed to denominational or organized subsidized ministry. Campus Crusade is the largest mission organization in the world, everyone must raise support. While raising this kind of support is Biblical, when you are raising your support by sharing the vision of your ministry and trusting God to direct people to support your family as you go about this ministry, it is still very humbling. It is humbling even when you have done it for over twenty years. You soon recognize that when some Christians say, "I could never do that," they also seem to be saying you should not do it either. That's even more humbling.
What I am really saying is, I have a wonderful wife who has chosen to live with me in all that this ministry of thirty-eight years includes. Thankfully, that was the way it was when she married me. I was an evangelist who lived on the offerings and support given to us. She could not possibly have known what it really meant, but she was willing and has been. I know remarks and things said to her over the years by those she loved and respected have been humbling. She had one life to spend, she has chosen to live it with me. No words of gratitude and thanks are sufficient. It was not what she was used to growing up. Hopefully, I can and have communicated what I feel and know of her faithfulness to her Lord Jesus and to me. I also know only the Lord can truly bless her for what she has chosen. Hey Babe, you resemble HIM more everyday. You are the best!
Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for caring and praying.
:: posted by Gary Wright, 1:23 PM
