My dear friend Rebecca Friday has inspired me for years with her longtimecommitment to “visit and look after the fatherless,” as James admonishes usin James 1:27—in Rebecca’s case ...ver maisMy dear friend Rebecca Friday has inspired me for years with her longtimecommitment to “visit and look after the fatherless,” as James admonishes usin James 1:27—in Rebecca’s case referring to the orphans of CentralAmerica. I have watched over the years as God has utilized Rebecca’smissionary work not only to improve the lives of orphans but also to sanctifyher. We who follow Jesus surrender ourselves to a process by which Godconforms us day by day, little by little, to the image of His Son. This iscalled our sanctification. Difficult as that is, we steadily learn self-sacrificeand develop the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Rebecca presents abeautiful example of a fruitful, sanctified servant of God.Rebecca’s preparations for her missions trips say so much about herChristian walk. These times of preparation are not just about shopping andpacking. They are times of deep spiritual tempering, during which she putson the full armor of God and tunes her spiritual ears to hear the voice of herShepherd, without whom she cannot effectively serve. She can’t imaginegoing on these trips without God and His protection. Her missionary workand her whole life thus reflect the blessing that comes from deep dependenceon God. You’ll see what I mean when you read her stories.God is a missionary God, and He sends people out on missions for His glory.Friday calls herself “an unlikely missionary.” Maybe everyone surrenderedto God’s will in the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has sometimesfelt “unlikely.” I know I have. I am far too aware of my failings to considermyself anything but unlikely. We all, saved by grace, are unlikely candidatesfor contributing to His awesome drama of redemption. We must come awayfrom times of dedicated service to God with a keen awareness of ourpowerlessness and God’s limitless power. We’re left marveling at Him. Hegets all the glory. We are weak so He can be strong.Let my friend Rebecca and her God-honoring life inspire you to be bold inbringing the love of God to your own mission field, whether you are calledto a faraway land or to those in your own household.In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sentHis Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so lovedus, we also ought to love one another. (First John 4:10–11ver menos