Happy Birthday!

Today is a very special day for a very special lady. My brother has the honor of being married to this wonderful lady, and in turn has given me an amazing sister-in-law.

Today I'd like to say "Happy Birthday" to Christina!

I would love to tell you so many things about her, but I will hold myself back, as she is very shy, and just seeing her name here is probably making her feel faint. But, I do want to share one testimony of hers that has always stuck in my head.

My brother and Christina, with their two children, are missionaries in Malawi, Africa. They have suffered many hardships, but consider it a privilege to serve in God's ministry.... and I don't ever hear them complain. They have seen many, many souls won to the Lord... this is the story of one of those:

One day, as Christina was going into a shop, she saw two men sitting on the curb by where she had parked. The native tongue in Malawi is Chichewa, and English is not widely spoken. Christina only had English tracts with her, but she followed the Lord's leading and gave each man a tract before entering the store. When she returned to the car, one of the men approached her and thanked her for the tract. He told her how he had been having such a hard time in life and explained a lot of the details in his terrible, broken English. Then, he reached into his pocket and showed her a small bag that he said contained poison. He had bought it to kill himself with because he couldn't see things getting better. Christina's Chichewa was as limited as this man's English, so she showed him the phone number on the back of the tract and asked the man to call my brother at home, since my brother speaks Chichewa fluently. She even gave the man money so he could go to the phone bureau to make the call. The man did call to speak with my brother, and he accepted Christ as his Saviour, right over the phone. AMEN!
I love that testimony! Christina could have easily said to herself that giving these men an English tract was a waste of time and materials.... but instead she listened to God; who, of course, knew best.

Christina, thank you for always being a godly influence to me. I hope you have a wonderful 30th birthday!