One of the problems with emailing updates and blogging is how much does one share, especially concerning struggles? This particular update may border on being too honest, so if missionary honesty is daunting for you: skip this update.
The month of December was a dark month for me. The last quarter of 2009 I was traveling lots and struggling with health issues (you can read past blogs for the details www.cox-net.com/prayer_blog). This was already after being away from my family a good deal in the second and third quarter of 2009 (three months out of six). A tremendous amount of energy was poured into the new strategic plan for TWR Africa. When I returned from my last trip to South Africa I was exhausted in all aspects of this word. Add to this I had a resistant strain of malaria for a couple of weeks in December.
There were a number of days in December when it was all I could do to pray: “Lord, please help me….” Discipline of Bible study was gone. Discipline of prayer (other than the above mentioned prayer) was gone. For the most part, any spiritual discipline that you can think of was non-existent in my life. I was very clear with God that if He did not work miraculously in my life, I was done with missions and moving back to the States.
God was very gracious and kind to help me through a dark month and taught me some important lessons in the process; perhaps the dark month (albeit hard) was what God knew I needed. Let me take this opportunity to thank those of you who have prayed for me (special thanks to BH).
Praise God with me for His graciousness and kindness to bring me through a dark month. Pray that I will implement the lessons learned.