{"id":502,"date":"2022-07-04T12:16:01","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T17:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=502"},"modified":"2022-07-04T12:16:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T17:16:03","slug":"hidden-sores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2022\/07\/04\/hidden-sores\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Sores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” -Heb. 3:13<\/td><\/tr>
I felt so embarrassed.Recently I was at the ninja (obstacle course)\u00a0gym my family has been going to the past few months. \u00a0I was struggling even to do the monkey bars that day, and I was embarrassed because I was convinced the other people watching were probably thinking things like, “What’s her problem? \u00a0Why is this so hard for her? \u00a0I would be able to handle those obstacles better.” \u00a0What they didn’t know is that at my workout earlier that week, I had ripped off several blisters on my hands. \u00a0Because of that, every grip on a bar was excrutiating as I tried to power through. \u00a0But they didn’t know my past trauma or my current pain. \u00a0They didn’t know why this was so hard for me.

I think that missionaries can often feel like I did. \u00a0Missionaries go through difficult situations on the field that leave them torn and scarred. \u00a0They\u00a0struggle with things going on back home that no one knows about. \u00a0They are working hard in ministry, which is always difficult, but they are doing it without the support network of their family, friends, and church. \u00a0Relational struggles, daily culture stress, and spiritual attack all add up to make today’s current obstacles feel really really difficult. \u00a0And then they have the pressure of feeling like their coworkers on the field or supporters back home probably are wondering why in the world this is so hard for them. \u00a0No one knows that they have sores on their hands.

I recently heard the story of John Rogers, the first of many Christians to be martyred by Queen Mary for preaching the gospel in the 1500s. \u00a0It is said that he was marched through the town on his way to be burned at the stake so that everyone could see what happens to pastors who opposed Queen Mary. \u00a0To her dismay, as they were marching around, his church members followed along with him cheering for him, saying, “Keep going! \u00a0Keep fighting for the gospel!”

Can I be really honest about something? \u00a0A few years ago I was ready to quit. \u00a0But God gave me grace to keep going, and I know that it was largely because of your prayers, lifting us up before God, giving us courage to persevere.

When we go back to PNG, we get to be involved in member care, which is so near to our hearts. \u00a0We understand the hidden sores that might be on the hands of our fellow missionaries, and we get to come alongside of them shouting, “Keep going! \u00a0Keep bringing the Gospel to those who have never heard it!” \u00a0Please continue to pray for us, that we can do this important task well.

Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck

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Top\/Left: My sore hands one day after Ninja. \u00a0Bottom\/Right: Matt and his good friend completed their first triathlon!

Praise God:
– The new medicine I’m on is working!!! I only had THREE headaches last month!
– God has graciously provided through his people’s generosity so that I can buy the medicine I need for PNG!
– Our work visas and entry permits have been approved!
– Things are coming together as we prepare to leave
Please pray:
– We are still waiting for our passports, with visas inside, to be returned to us from the embassy. \u00a0Pray they get here soon!
– We are completely overwhelmed with what we need to get done before leaving
– For our hearts as we prepare to leave
– For God’s comfort for us and for our boys as we say difficult goodbyes<\/td><\/tr>
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What are we supporting? \u00a0This month’s tribal focus: Pray for the growing Dinangat church.
“In Dinangat, while the Schlegels and Markleys were in there doing some translation work, one of the Bible teacher\u2019s houses caught fire. While literally everything he owned was going up in smoke, Jaspa quoted a verse that he and Jeremiah were just working on earlier, Matt 6:19-20 ‘don’t store up treasures on earth.’
Afterwards, it was beautiful to watch the church come to his aide by donating clothes, pots and pans, water containers, etc. The pain was still there, but he said an amazing peace was covering him!” -Gary Smith<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” -Heb. 3:13 I felt so embarrassed.Recently I was at the ninja (obstacle course)\u00a0gym my family has been going to the past few months. \u00a0I was struggling even to do the monkey bars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}