On their visit to Rehoboth in May, Jonathan & Zoe Norgate shared with us the Lord’s leading for them to go to serve him with Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Here Sandra brings a personal reflection on the changes for all the family:
By the time you read this the Norgate family will be on the first stage of their journey to Cambodia. They will be in Singapore for three weeks, during which time they and the children will have time to meet with other OMF missionaries and be inducted into the expectations and the customs of the Cambodian peoples prior to the final stage of their journey to Phnom Pen, the capital city of Cambodia.
As I shared a few weeks ago, their departure is for us as a family and for me particularly as a mother and grandmother a bitter sweet event, but I have been amazed by the graciousness of God as He has answered so many heart cries with assurances of His presence, guidance, love, compassion and faithfulness.
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of sharing a few of my thoughts at a tea organised for Zoe and Jonathan and the children, prior to the commissioning service that evening at Christ Church, Fulwood, Sheffield.
I used the words of Steve Metcalf’s mother, recorded in his book “In Japan the Crickets Cry”, she said; “It breaks my heart to say goodbye to my children. However, some people only have their children in this world; we have ours for all eternity.”
Those words continue to sustain me and how grateful I am to God that He prompted Elizabeth to buy that book and to loan it to me to read! Further to that, the gift of that same book from the author himself a month or so later, so unexpectedly was truly a confirmation that God was indeed in control and was giving me the earnest of His spirit! He knows those moments of grief that come with even temporary loss and He is the God of all comfort and encouragement.
From that same book I shared this verse: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory :no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11
“We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right.
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who’s lost
People need the Lord, people need the Lord
When will we realise that we must give our lives
For people need the Lord.”
Sandra Piggott
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