Ruth Mayforth --
Recently I have sensed God’s presence powerfully in my life. Two days before this series began, God called me on an adventure that is both thrilling and terrifying - like jumping from a plane without a parachute on - just free falling and counting on Him to catch me.
Usually at major turning points in my life (and rarely at other times), I have heard God’s voice - not an audible voice, but such a strong powerful thought so distinctive from my own –something I would definitely NOT think up on my own – and something that is always consistent with His Word. Discerning His voice has taken practice – responding to His voice in obedience even more practice - because it can make you do scary things like standing up in front of a couple hundred people sharing intimately about your life.
Instead of sharing a story about me – about my many failures and shortcomings, He has asked me to share my story about Him - about His faithfulness and leading in my life. I’ve been walking with Him now for forty years, and He has never failed me.
For those of you who don’t know me, I grew up in Japan – my parents were missionaries there. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was four or five years old and have loved Him ever since. Even as a very young child I remember dreaming of working in Africa as a doctor with lots of children. My first big turning point came when I was sixteen at a Christian camp - I wanted desperately to be used by God, and begged Him to use me. He said “I can’t use you, Ruth, until you love your father.
His reply stunned me - because I hated my dad – he had become an alcoholic, and I hated him for how he treated my mother, for humiliating us when the police came over, for bringing shame and dishonor to God, for his hypocrisy in continuing to preach. But I really wanted to be used by God… so I told Him, “If you change him, I’ll love him.”
And God said, “I love him. And I need you to love him too. Whether or not he changes.” So I told God “You’re going to have to help me love him, because I just can’t.” It was two years of continually asking for God’s help and acting in a loving way before I finally felt love in my heart for my father. And after He changed me, He changed my father. And Dad has become a remarkable man of God – whom I love deeply and has powerfully influenced my life.
When I was about 17, God gave me a “life passage” – Isaiah 58:6-14. It’s a long passage so I won’t read it all, and even though that was almost 30 years ago now, somehow I’ve always known that His purpose for my life is wrapped up in these verses. They promise that if we fight injustice, and help the poor, oppressed, hungry, homeless, and naked, that:
9Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and He will say: Here I am...
If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail…
14then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights.
Once I left home for college, I was financially on my own. Somehow God always provided (usually at the last minute) for books, tuition, rides home etc. 20 years later my college roommate wrote about it as the most faith-building experience of her life as we watched Him answer our prayers over and over again in remarkable ways. She called them miraculous. Then came medical school. I was scared to go– the cost of tuition was staggering and I cried to Him for help. Two weeks before medical school started, He provided a scholarship that completely paid for tuition and living expenses to go to medical school and get a PhD.
At this point in my life, I still had this vision of working overseas but it seemed too scary and unrealistic and I decided I wanted to become a wife and mother and a medical researcher. But God had other plans. After years of dating and just never seeming to meet the right person at the right time, I told God that if He could use me more effectively single, I would be single – as long as He promised to stay EXTRA close to me. And I think He has. J!
My next turning point was at the end of my third year in medical school. For the previous two years, I had tendinitis and wore splints on both hands and had had my left hand operated on. Two weeks into my surgery rotation, He called me to become a surgeon – I had this powerful sense that “this was what God has created me to be all my life.” But it made absolutely no sense – did He see my hands? Yet His calling was so strong on my heart – I sensed He wanted me to trust Him and take a giant leap of faith.
He said “Your hands are Mine.”
And He made it clear that they were to be used for Him, by His power, for His glory. And I was never to forget that they were His and that He was in control. The two greatest talents He has blessed me with – being a pianist and a surgeon – are critically dependent on my hands. Yet He has made me completely and utterly dependent on Him to use them.
Five years later, He called me to become a pediatric surgeon. I really didn’t want to - I thought it would be very hard on my heart to be around other people’s children all the time when I didn’t have children of my own. Yet I heard Him say – “What if these are the children I am giving to you? Are you not going to receive them as a blessing from My hand?” And it has never been hard– only a blessing. He has just given me a LOT more children than I ever dreamed of!
Three years later, I was looking for my first job as a pediatric surgeon. I had pretty much decided to take a position at the University of Iowa, but the Spirit prompted me to take another look at the position in Springfield. So I told Him OK, but that I was going to take the job at Iowa unless I heard a very CLEAR word from Him. I had been meditating on the following verses from Jeremiah: “You will be Mine, and I will be your God… I will make an everlasting covenant with you…”
At the end of the second day of interviews here, David Rogers (who is a pediatric surgeon here and also attends Hope) sat me down and said, “Ruth, what I am going to offer you is not a commitment, but a COVENANT, that my family will be your family… and as David continued talking, God’s voice was booming in my head: “Did you hear the word? COVENANT. That is MY Word. Did I make that clear enough for you?” So here I am in Springfield.
Seven years later, last April, the Lord began a new calling, and told me “Don’t worry about your inadequacies – they will just ensure that I get the glory.”
Because I had just been arguing with Him, kind of like Moses, that I had too many problems to be used by Him – too many weaknesses – most of them health problems, like the problems with my hands. And my feet. And two sleep disorders. And bad problems with motion sickness. And migraines. And vestibular hypersensitivity. Yet He gently reminded me that I have had ALL of these problems for the past 20 years – and He has worked through me in spite of them – or maybe, because of them – because they have kept me pretty much utterly dependent on Him. I just needed to keep trusting Him. And letting Him work.
Last September, it was my joy and blessing to be part of the team from Hope that went to Mathare Valley in Kenya. While over there, I had arranged to visit a children’s hospital where David Rogers has a friend who is a pediatric surgeon.
I fell in love with the Children’s Hospital in Kijabe pretty much immediately and felt God’s presence there in a very special way. I thought “What a great place to do some short-term mission work.” Once again, it seems that God had different plans.
The past few months I had been going through an unusually dry season and felt like I was just mechanically plodding my spiritual feet along. I had been meditating for several weeks on the verse “If you seek Me, I will be found by you.” Just two days before this series started – well, I found Him. I’ve never heard His voice so loudly before – like the thunderous roar from a waterfall - and I’m just going to share His words to me directly from my journal. He said…
“I AM calling you. I have chosen you – invited you on this adventure. I will be with you – like I have in the past, throughout your life, upholding you with My right hand.”
I again argued that I was too weak – had too many problems… and He said
“You are weak. But I have chosen the weak things of the world so that I can get the glory – so that you will never forget that your strength lies in Me alone, that without Me you are nothing. I will provide the way for you – I am your strength and your power and I make your way perfect. WALK THROUGH the doors that I will open for you…
“Wait on Me. Be of good courage. Do not be afraid. I will be with you. And we will have a glorious adventure… Do you want a comfortable life or one that counts for My Kingdom?”
“I have called you to Africa. I need you to be actively preparing to go. It won’t be easy. It will be very hard. But it will be the “trip” of a lifetime.
Come with Me... Just come. COME ON!!!!”
Then He gave me some specific steps to take. One was to tell Blake. The next step was to write to Dan Poenaru, the pediatric surgeon in Kenya. I prayed that if God was leading me there, that his response would not just be positive, but enthusiastic. His response could not have been more enthusiastic. And I learned that by some Divine “coincidence”, David Rogers “happens” to be friends with the ONLY missionary pediatric surgeon in Africa - who works at the ONLY mission-based Children’s Hospital in all of Africa.
And there is a general surgeon there who helps with pediatric surgery who is retiring next year and they need help. And this retiring surgeon is visiting the States and happens to be traveling near the Springfield area with the development director of the children’s hospital and they would like to meet me in two weeks.
WHOAH!! As is my natural tendency, I began feeling extremely overwhelmed and inadequate – and He told me:
“I don’t expect you to do this. I am just inviting you to come along for the thrilling journey of watching Me do this. But I need you – to be the physical hands and feet through which I will work and accomplish great things for My glory and My kingdom…. Stop worrying! Do not be afraid! Just stay very close to Me!
“If you want to do something with your life that really matters for Me, it will be scary and feel overwhelming and it will be something that you CANNOT POSSIBLY DO ON YOUR OWN.”
“But it will be a life that REALLY MATTERS.”
“Live it! Share your journey with others!”
So I’ve begun what’s typically a 12-18 month-long application process with Africa Inland Mission, and I’m hoping to work at that children’s hospital in Kijabe. And I’m asking you to pray for me. And to hold me accountable.
But I also feel compelled to challenge you:
For those of you who don’t know Him or are in a spiritually dry place:
Seek Him. He WILL be found by you.
And it will delight His heart. J!!!!
If there is baggage in your life that prevents Him from fully using you:
Ask Him for His help. And deal with it!
Then consecrate yourself.
And if He is calling you to do something incredibly scary for Him with your life:
Get very close to Him.
Then Jump!
It won’t be easy.
But it will be the adventure of a lifetime.
And I’m looking forward to hearing the stories of your wild ride.
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and He will say: Here I am...
10And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
13If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on My holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please
or speaking idle words,
14then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride
on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance
of your father Jacob.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
– Isaiah 58:6-14 (NIV)
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