"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life." Matthew 19:29 (ESV)
When I came across this verse in Matthew the other night, I began to weep. Leaving our families and friends in the deep South to do ministry in the Mid-west caused some heartache, yet I didn't really feel like these verses applied to us. I couldn't help but think of the men and women who leave our country and minister overseas far far away from family and friends and everything they know as normal. The people who move and adopt a new way of life, a new culture, and a new language solely to tell people about Jesus are the ones I envision when I read this verse. Leaving my normal doesn't begin to compare to what these servants do. I felt God calling me to pray for them much more often. We have around five thousand missionaries overseas in my denomination (Southern Baptist) alone. There are many from other denominations who go. There are even some who travel from afar to be missionaries here in the United States. We must to pray for these people because leaving is hard. I'm thankful that their reward is great.
