Our Battle and Our Victory

After week three of language school finished, my mind was something like a washed-out river bank. I felt like I had been pelted with wave after wave of instruction, and I was just a little bit tired. But it was a good kind of tired - that Wild River County kind of tired - like you just spent four hours playing in the wave pool and now you are utterly exhausted. 

Learning language is a complex activity, not just for the mind but for the heart as well. What I mean is this: it is hard to actually measure your progress or how well you are doing, which makes it hard on the spirit as well as on the mind. For example, I can have a great conversation with someone and actually walk away feeling successful. The next moment, I can't understand a word being said and I struggle to get the right sounds to come out of my mouth. I feel victory one moment and defeat the next. It's a wild ride, kind of like a see-saw. I am having fun with the ups and downs, and I realize that both are necessary. 

So after week three of language school, I came home and sat down to eat lunch with Charlotte. I was tired. And I kind of didn't want to speak any french at that moment. Stanislas arrived to join us, and he brought with him a friend from Togo who is also working on a Bible translation project. This friend struck up a conversation with me, asking about how I came to Burkina Faso. 

"That's a big question!" I responded in French. I knew how to form that statement, but I didn't know if I actually had the words to answer his question. 

Sometimes Stanislas and Charlotte will step in for me in the middle of a french conversation when they know I need help explaining something, but this time, both of them sat on the couch and looked at me with eyes eager to hear what I was going to say. 

I gave it a go. I told him about my desire at a young age of becoming a missionary. I told him that I chose to study nursing because I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as he spent his time on earth preaching and healing. I told them about my trip to Tanzania followed my trips to Burkina Faso. And I told them that I had prayed, asking God where he wanted me to go, and he opened the door for me to come to Burkina Faso. 

It wasn't perfect, nor was it complete. But when I think about it, I think I hit the most important parts of the story.

After I finished, he said that my story had touched him, and I could tell by the look of contemplation in his eyes that it genuinely had. In that moment, I realized that God is indeed teaching me french, and he can use the little that I know to accomplish something, even to create a testimony for himself. The Togo man (what is someone called when they are from Togo?) told me that he would remember to pray for me...especially since the work of a missionary is filled with spiritual warfare. 

"Tell me about it," I wanted to say as my stomach rumbled. The truth was that this was the first full meal I had eaten in a few days due to some little parasite friends that invaded my digestive system this week. I might be enjoying all this African food a little too much. Or maybe it was those strawberries...

But anyways, spiritual warfare here is real. It is physical and spiritual. Satan has been losing every spiritual battle that he has thrown my way since I got here to Burkina Faso, and since he cannot gain any ground on my heart, he has now attacked my body. But he will not win this battle either! 

I am reminded by the rumbling of my stomach and by the words of my friend from Togo that spiritual warfare is real. But I am also reminded by the Words of God and the words of my friend from Togo that victory is ours in the name of Jesus Christ, and prayer is our best weapon against the enemy. 

"In all things we are more than conquerers through him who loves us." Romans 8:37

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him." 2 Corinthians 2:14

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14

"For our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers and authorities and powers of darkness in the heavenly realms...Take up the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God." Ephesians 6:12

Someone told me once that if we truly had eyes to see the spiritual warfare going on around us, we would be ducking our heads from swinging swords every second. But like Elijah's servant in 2 Kings 6, we would also see God's vast angel armies that are fighting for us. 

Together, from this side of the world in Africa and from your side of the world in America, let's pray for proper perspective on the reality of the spiritual battle going on around us, let's pick up our swords, and let's claim the victory that we already know is ours in Jesus Christ!