Death-bed delight

Picture the scene. It's your death-bed and you think to yourself: What did I do with my life? Was it worth it? Did my life make a difference? Too many people are caught with the same thought:

"I wasted it. Oh, how I wasted it."

Let's change the scene to a different, but related scene.

I was able to be part of an extraordinary prayer meeting on Sunday night. Emotional. Inspiring. One couple, nearing the age of retirement, shared their thoughts, looking back over 35 years of work in this part of Kenya. God has used them to reach a people group who knew nothing of Jesus, so that now an 'unreached' people group has become 'reached' in their lifetime; on their watch. They have been able to write down the Rendille language for the first time and translate the New Testament into this local tongue. Checking still has to be done, but the majority of the work has been completed.

And to think, for the first 13 years of living in this remote area, not a single person became a Christian. I think that a lot of people, people like me, would have packed up and gone home. You can only take so much. I'm glad they stayed! Today, the church is thriving and changing lives.

Another couple in the prayer meeting had never been to Korr before. What were they, tourists? Far from it. The guy began to open up. It turns out that they'd been praying for the work and supporting the projects in Korr for about 30 years. They have done what many Christians do: support and pray for places that they may never visit. For decades. Visibly, they were overwhelmed to actually be in the place they had spent years praying for. They were seeing for themselves what all those prayers could achieve.

Let me encourage those of you who have prayed for years and you question yourself:

Is it worth it?

I've seen it with my own eyes. It's worth it. Keep going. God is faithful and He will do it.

And one day, as your life ebbs away, you can rest peacefully in the knowledge that heaven is smiling down on you now.

1 Thessalonians 5

²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.