Called Without a Doubt

Before God could call Doug and me to serve as a family, He had to call us individually and then bring us together. So our story began when we were still in college.

We grew up on opposite sides of the United States. When God first knocked on the door of our hearts to serve cross-culturally, Doug was attending Walla Walla University, and I was attending Atlantic Union College. In my third year of college, after attending a vespers service during which return student missionaries shared their experiences, God planted within my heart a greater desire to serve Him. God’s call was clear and persistent, so one day after class I visited the student mission office and asked to look at the call book (now you can look for calls by visiting vividfaith.com, but nothing was online in 1987). I sat in the office and flipped through the pages of a large three-ring binder filled with mission opportunities, or “calls,” to serve around the globe.

God placed on my heart a specific burden to share Jesus with children, and I prayed for God to lead me to the one call that was mine. My search began to focus on teaching kindergarten, and as I read through the various job postings, one stood out to me. A kindergarten teacher was needed on the island nation of Palau, located in the South Pacific region of Micronesia. I was excited about my new sense of purpose and began the process of getting ready to go, taking a student missionary preparation course, raising funds, and so on.

The youngest in my family, I was a shy girl who had grown up in New England, had never traveled outside the United States, and had never moved homes. The journey to serve in Palau was daunting for me, but God continually provided me with confirmation and assurance at each step in the process.

One of those confirmations was that I found out that a classmate and friend of mine (Paul Poyser) had also signed up to go to Palau. Classes were finished, and money had been raised; we were all set and ready to go. That is when tragedy struck. Paul was in the choir, and they were on a summer tour with a stop in Waikiki, Hawai’i, where Paul drowned in a scuba diving accident. Our college and town were devastated. For a brief moment I was no longer sure if I wanted to go, but God gave me peace and a sense of urgency that the children in Palau needed me now more than ever.

Meanwhile, Doug had just finished his freshman year at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington. He hadn’t planned to go as a student missionary just yet, but his band teacher shared an article written about Paul Poyser[*] and suggested that Doug consider going in Paul’s place. That’s when God began convicting Doug to go as a student missionary. “Lord, how can I possibly go?” he questioned. “The schoolyear has already begun, and I am not ready.” But God reminded Doug that when you face an impossible situation, with Him “all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). By God’s provision Doug was able to raise the needed funds and fulfill all the requirements to travel to Palau, where he would serve as a second-grade teacher and assist in the library.

So our friendship, our story, began in the mission field. When we got married four years later, the missionary component of our relationship remained a vital foundation. God used cross-cultural mission as a compass that would direct our future in profound ways.

For a brief moment I was no longer sure if I wanted to go, but God gave me peace and a sense of urgency that the children in Palau needed me now more than ever.

A Call to Trust

Fourteen years later, after pastoring our first church, completing seminary, church planting on a secular university campus, and having two children, we sensed God calling us to something new—but where? We explored calls to a few places in the United States, but we felt no peace. We continued to pray about where God was leading our family, and agreed to move only when we both had clarity and peace, claiming His promise in 2 Samuel 22:33: “God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.”

During his devotions one day Doug had been wrestling with God about what He was calling him to do in his ministry, and came out of that time with God with a job description. Just a few days later, after praying together about where God wanted us to serve, we received a phone call from a missionary friend (Rick McEdward) that we hadn’t spoken with in quite some time. He and his family had been in the mission field and were now in the Philippines. He proceeded to tell us that he was helping find a missionary for the Hope for Bangkok church planting project, and God had brought our names to his mind. Then he proceeded to go over the job description for this call, and it was the job description that Doug had written down during his time with God. There was no doubt in our minds that this was the call God had prepared us for. But to Thailand? A country so far away, with a language and culture that were completely unfamiliar to us. Yet we leaned on God’s promise in Ephesians 3:20 that He is able “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (NIV). God gave us the peace to move forward, trusting that He would be faithful to do the work within us that was needed.

Our children were young at the time: Joshua was 8, and Hannah was 6. We felt strongly, however, that God had called our entire family, and we each had an important role to fulfill in Thailand for Him. As the reality of this move settled into our minds, doubts also began to grow in mine. I began questioning God about many things, but He faithfully answered each one through Scripture. 

I was pursuing my master’s degree in elementary education. I told God that I really needed to finish it before moving. God assured me that I could be “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [me] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

When I questioned Him about whether it was a good time to move our kids, God assured me that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

When the idea about being so far away from the support of family and friends troubled me, God reminded me that He shall “supply all [our] need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).

When I felt overwhelmed about how we would learn the Thai language, God reminded me that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (verse 13).

When fear about moving from small-town Pullman, Washington, with 21,000 people, to the massive city of Bangkok, Thailand, with a population of more than 12 million people, reared its head, God reminded me to “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5, 6).

The greatest challenge in our journey to mission service—the leap of faith to trust God completely—was also our greatest blessing. He was so patient with me and helped our family conquer each challenge we faced. Every doubt and fear I presented to God was resolved. The children were able to finish their school year, I was able to finish my master’s degree less than a month before we moved out of our home, and our house sold after only three days on the market. Friends graciously offered to store some of our belongings, and one by one every detail was taken care of, until we moved to Bangkok in August 2006. During the 10 years that we served overseas, God provided more visits with family than we might have had while living in the U.S. God is so good and delights in caring for us and bringing us joy.

God led us as we served and shared Jesus with people in the communities of the 19 church plants, slum communities, prisons, schools, and parks across the city during the six years that we lived there. Then came another transition as we accepted a call to serve in the Philippines for an additional four years before returning to America, our home country.

Mission is the foundation of our church, and God wants that mission to beat strong in the hearts of each of His children. Each of us is gifted, needed, and treasured, and God has a special and unique purpose for each one of us. When we surrender and ask Him to lead, God can do great things—both in us and through us. My call may look different from yours, but every call matters. We are part of His mission until we reach our eternal home.

So what do you say? Let’s join together in the mission to share Jesus—with our families, our neighbors, our communities, and the world.

[*] David Valdes, “In Remembrance and Celebration,” Atlantic Union Gleaner, Aug. 4, 1988, p. 11. Find the article online at https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/ALUG/ALUG19880804-V87-08.pdf.