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Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share a snapshot of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region.

Here along the Silk Road I’m discovering that following God’s leading is always the right choice, even when it isn’t easy.

Recently I was trying to describe what it felt like to move to Central Asia, and the picture of a cliff came to me. You’re standing on the edge of a cliff and God says, ‘Walk.’ Looking down, you see nothing below you, so you just squeeze your eyes shut and move your foot forward. As you take that step, something amazing happens – solid ground appears under your step! Over and over you step, carefully, trusting God, and the more you step, the more ground appears. Now that I have been on the Silk Road for a while, I can look back and say, “That wasn’t so difficult after all,” but I’m reminded that each step has taken faith; each step has required that I trust God and each step has required God to be faithful.

Trusting God

During this season, I have also been learning to function at a deeper level relationally. God is restoring my ability to trust by placing incredible people in my life. I am amazed when I consider the transparency I witness in others, and my own ability to be transparent, but I am discovering that you cannot have shallow relationships in this kind of place, in this kind of work. Our relationship with God must be deep, and our relationships with others must also be deep, or we suffer loneliness and our work is stunted.

Serving on the Silk Road has been an amazing journey, filled with so many amazing things God is doing. I can’t help but be in awe when I consider the activity of God. And every day, as God sustains me, my trust grows. As God moves, my hope grows.

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