Faith - Julia Lundy

In Ezekiel 37:1-14, the Psalmist calls upon the Lord in his time of need. The scripture in John 11:1-45 deals with the death of Lazarus, and how Mary and Margaret welcomed Jesus. Their belief was that, if Jesus had been there, Lazarus wouldn't have died. What do these scriptures show us? That their faith was so prominent.

With news coverage of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, my thoughts have returned to the time in the 1950’s when we, as missionaries, lived in SE Asia. While stationed in the Philippines, we were constantly aware of the threat of communists.

One of our most frightening experiences was when we received a call from the American embassy. We were advised that, for each family member, we should keep a packed bag containing one change of clothing & all necessary items for that person. (Not easy to do with three very small children!) We were told to expect a call that would tell us when we would be picked up, taken to a launch, and then out to one of the ships of the 6th Fleet, which was sitting in Manila Bay.

During this time, we had no idea whether we might end up in Australia or India. Fortunately, this threat of evacuation never happened. And there was another wonderful outcome: we realized the strength of our personal faith and how it had carried us through "our trials and tribulations."

It's a shame that we must be confronted with such times of fear and anguish in order to know what our faith means to us. We should constantly be aware of the caring of our Heavenly Father. We don't really know the strength of our faith until we are tested; therefore, we should continually build on our faith.

Julia Lundy