Is Jesus Enough?
One Christmas we experienced a very real celebration of Christ’s birth. Due to civil war and anti-French sentiment in Cote d’Ivoire where we were working, we left forever our home and our place of service for the previous five years. My children and husband came out on an Italian military transport plane with only one backpack apiece. We finally reunited in Dakar, Senegal, where I had been attending a conference.
Having already evacuated the country twice previously when violence had erupted and schools had closed, we felt that we could no longer effectively minister with this continued pattern of unrest. Our hearts were broken and for the moment we were homeless.
After staying a week at a guest house in Dakar, we were told that there was “no room at that inn,” and that we had to move to another guest house. After a brief stay, we were informed by this new guest house that they closed for Christmas, and that we’d have to find new lodgings, so back to the first guest house we went.
I sat there late one night in this unfamiliar living room, gazing at the borrowed Christmas tree with its paper snowflakes, craft foam ornaments and strings of popcorn, and wondered at the surreal quality of the whole situation. None of this was in the plan when we agreed to be sent as missionaries to West Africa. The Cote d’Ivoire was a country of peace and prosperity. Why was I here?
Abidjan had been an easy place to serve with a great team. Mark was involved in a ministry that he loved and that fulfilled him as nothing else ever had. Then war came along and everything changed. Our team broke up. We lived in a kind of limbo not knowing when the next violent outbreak would occur. The children’s school closed down repeatedly. One by one all my supports were taken away.
So now here I was, in a strange country, in a room that was not our own, in the glow of Christmas lights on a tree that was not ours, wondering how God was now going to use us, and feeling very sorry for myself.
In my mind I heard the words of the traditional African-American Christmas song, “Children go where I send thee? How shall I send thee? I’m going to send thee one by one. One for the little bitty baby born in Bethlehem.” I knew that up to now I had enjoyed the going for what I got out of it. Our life was good and the feeling of being part of a large team involved in exciting ministry was so rewarding. Now God was asking me if “the little bitty baby” was reason enough. If I never again knew the “fun” of missions, was Jesus enough?
There is so much need in Senegal—our new place of assignment—so much bondage, and all I could think of was the luxuries I had lost. I felt humbled and ashamed, yet at peace because ultimately I knew that Christ is reason enough to go wherever He may send us, for He is my all in all.
-- Linda Louw, missionary to West Africa, is married to Mark Louw, and is the mother of four daughters.
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