Seeing God's grace through the eyes of a child

Recently we marked a special day for our family: Rachel celebrated her 9th birthday AND also closed out 2 years of attending a Russian elementary school here in Ekaterinburg. Hanna pointed out that she has celebrated 1/3 of her birthday's on Russian soil - yet another reminder that life has gone on and time has flown during our service here. We also celebrated the last day of school at School 94 by attending the traditional awards ceremony (very much like any awards ceremony at the end of the year in American schools). It was festive and the mood was obviously light as students looked forward to 3 months of "no more teachers, no more books..." Teachers were also excited to close another year and see their students grow and move on....

It was in this setting that I was struck by the richness of God's faithfulness and grace. I had almost forgotten that when we moved here almost 3 years ago, one of our greatest fears was that Rachel (and Caleb) would struggle to adjust to life in Russia. We knew that if our kids could not manage here, that our very ability to be here on missions would be in jeopardy. I even remember one missionary family warning us that it was possible (and normal) for Rachel to go through a full year of "crying herself to sleep." We were aware that she was at a great disadvantage since she was going to go right in without any prior knowledge or experience with Russian. We were even advised to consider exclusively home-schooling Rachel since it was not considered healthy to try and force a 6 year old into such a stressful situation. We prayed, stressed over things, and ultimately decided that we wanted to at least give her a chance to be in a Russian school. We really wanted to be as involved in our community and in the lives of the Russians around us. We knew we were asking a lot of Rachel, but she understood why it was important for her to have Russian friends and learn the language. Her maturity (even at the tender age of 6) in understanding that we are Jesus' witnesses here, her desire to honor us, but more importantly, please God was a testimony to God's power in her life. She struggled, but never gave up. She experienced stresses that most average 6 year olds would never even think about - communicating in Russian, unfamiliar school rules, mystery foods in the cafeteria, you name it. That first year Hanna and I prayed, often with tears that Rachel would make it. We were scared to death that she would breakdown at some point or experience scars and hardships that would affect her later in life. We knew that so much could go wrong...rough relationships with classmates, difficulties with teachers, language problems leading to further misunderstandings, etc, etc., and this doesn't even include the normal stresses of grades and homework! Imagine the stress a family normally experiences sending a young child to school and then multiply that exponentially. In the end, our prayers kept boiling down to the basic hope that the Lord would never have led us to Russia if He didn't have plans for us to be here. He is absolutely faithful and we understood that faithfulness to blanket Rachel and Caleb, as well. We also knew that our Heavenly Father loves Rachel infinitely more than either of us ever could. Finally, we knew that as a believer, Rachel would never be tested in a way that would break her faith.

....jump cut to today's awards ceremony: I was blessed in such a rich way to see Rachel playing and carrying on with her friends, being loved and recognized by her teachers, winning an award, and even having the entire school sing happy birthday to her at the end of the awards assembly. This was truly a testimony to God's amazing grace and stalwart faithfulness. He was with her all along, He heard our prayers and answered in ways that even we could not have expected. Rachel didn't just survive here, she thrived thanks to her Heavenly Father. As we got ready to leave, many parents and classmates asked us to make sure we kept in touch, gave gifts for Rachel to remember her time in Russia and reminded us, more than once, that Russia would always welcome Rachel back. One teacher even went out of her way to praise Rachel for her strong character in taking on such a daunting task and succeeding. I guess it really does take some intense pressure to make diamonds. Rachel didn't simply go to school here, she touched lives and bore witness for Jesus Christ! Perhaps the most telling sign of God's grace was found in Rachel's own response to all of this. When we asked her if she was excited that school was finally over and that we would be returning to the states this summer, she actually said that she wasn't sure how she felt. She said that she was very happy because of how great her time at Shool 94 has been, but also sad that it had ended. She did not sound like a girl who had suffered in Russia and was now chomping at the bit to get back to America.

In the bigger scheme of things, I realized that Rachel's big day represents one of the reasons we have been able to experience such a powerful ministry here. I began to think: "Where would we be if Rachel couldn't have managed here? Where would guys like Pasha, Ignat and Alex be today? I wonder if we would ever have gotten to be as close to Oleg and Sana?" I was overcome with thankfulness to God for beautifully orchestrating so many things so that He could be glorified through our missions efforts here. Rachel's faith and God's grace are no small part of our effectiveness here over the past two and a half years. Only a living, loving God could do this.

Yes, Jesus truly knew what He was talking about when He praised "child-like" faith. It was special to see God's grace through the eyes of a child.