My baby is not really my personal guardian angel. I know that images of cherubim are cute and the idea can be very healing for some, but the idea that my baby has to somehow continue to work for me does not sit well in my heart.
The Bible tells me that the people of heaven are very different than the angels of heaven, and my baby most certainly is a person in heaven, rather than an angel.
Yet, even with these truths, the images of sweet naked little babies with halos are one of the only symbols that our society permits us to actually hold onto as we grieve and acknowledge the reality of our children who have died and entered Heaven.
My baby’s work is finished.
I am the one still here.
I still have a responsibility to partner with God – to let Him lead me, and to obediantly follow.
Many loss parents feel this calling. We know that we are the only ones who will speak on behalf of our deceased children – we are the only ones who will validate their very real lives and speak of the meaning they have moved in our hearts (whether we utilize the very few symbols we are permitted to use, such as angels, or not).
We are, in short, missionaries, proclaiming the truth, proclaiming their truth, to the world.
Let us encourage one another, as missionaries not only for God, but for our children.
Below are 100 mission mottos (borrowed from Harvest Ministry). Choose the one that best speaks to your journey in grief and your path to healing. Leave a comment below, including the number of the motto you most align with, and why.
100 Mission Mottos
1. A man may die leaving upwards of a million, without taking any of it upwards. – William Fetler
2. A nation will not be moved by timid methods. – Luis Palau
3. Anywhere provided it be forward. – David Livingstone
4. As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both. – J. L. Ewen
5. Can’t you do just a little bit more? – J.G. Morrison (pleading with Nazarenes in the 1930′s Great Depression to support their missionaries)
6. Christ alone can save the world, but Christ cannot save the world alone. – David Livingstone
7. Christ not only died for all: He died for each. – Billy Graham
8. Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God. – William Carey
9. Go straight for souls, and go for the worst. – William Booth
10. Go, send, or disobey. – John Piper
11. God had an only Son and He made Him a missionary. – David Livingstone
12. God isn’t looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him. – Hudson Taylor
13. God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him. – Hudson Taylor
14. God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. – Hudson Taylor
15. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. – Jim Elliot
16. I am destined to proclaim the message, unmindful of personal consequences to myself. – Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf
17. I believe that in each generation God has called enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth. It is not God who does not call. It is man who will not respond! – Isobel Kuhn, missionary to China and Thailand
18. If God wills the evangelization of the world, and you refuse to support missions, then you are opposed to the will of God. – Oswald J. Smith
19. HUDSON TAYLOR – THE PROGRESSION OF A MISSIONARY CALL:
As child, at age 5: When I am a man, I mean to be a missionary and go to China.
As a young man: I feel I cannot go on living unless I do something for China.
Late in life, as a veteran missionary: If I had 1,000 lives, I’d give them all for China.
– Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China
20. I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light. – John Keith Falconer
21. I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ. – Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf
22. I have seen the vision and for self I cannot live; Life is less than worthless till my all I give. – Oswald J. Smith
23. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him. – Oswald Chambers
24. I pray, and I obey. – David Yonggi Cho
25. I want to be where there are out and out pagans. – Francis Xavier
26. I would rather die for Christ than rule the whole earth. – Ignatius
27. If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice? – David Livingstone
28. If God’s love is for anybody anywhere, it’s for everybody everywhere. – Edward Lawlor, Nazarene General Superintendent
29. If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him. – C.T. Studd
30. If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is not obeyed until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of God. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found together. – Arthur T. Pierson
31. If ten men are carrying a log — nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end — and you want to help, which end will you lift on? – William Borden
32. If the Church is ‘in Christ,’ she is involved in mission. Her whole existence then has a missionary character. Her conduct as well as her words will convince the unbelievers and put their ignorance and stupidity to silence. – David Bosch
33. If the Great Commission is true, our plans are not too big; they are too small. – Pat Morley
34. If we have not enough in our religion . . . to share it with all the world, it is doomed here at home. – David Livingstone
35. If you don’t have a definite call to stay here, you are called to go. – Keith Green
36. If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn’t it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death. – Dave Davidson
37. If you take missions out of the Bible, you won’t have anything left but the covers. – Nina Gunter
38. In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God’s work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer. – Dick Eastman
39. In our lifetime, wouldn’t it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions? – Dave Davidson
40. In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been. – Robert Moffat
41. It is possible for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions. – John R. Mott
42. It’s better to obey God rather than men. – Brother Andrew
43. Let my heart be broken with the things that break God’s heart. – Bob Pierce, World Vision founder
44. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing! – Helen Keller (she wasn’t a missionary, but this is an inspiring mission-minded thought!)
45. Life is precarious, and life is precious. Don’t presume you will have it tomorrow, and don’t waste it today. – John Piper
46. Live God LOUD! – Ron Luce, TeenMania
47. Lost people matter to God, and so they must matter to us. – Keith Wright
48. Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love. – Roland Allen
49. Missions is not just for missionaries; God’s call is for all. – Ann Dunagan, The Mission-Minded Family
50. Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. – John Piper
51. Missions is practicing God’s presence until His passion compels us to obey. – Ann Dunagan, The Mission-Minded Family
52. Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God’s delight in being God. – John Piper
53. Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is — where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge. – Robert C. Shannon
54. No reserves. No retreats. No regrets. – William Borden
55. Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself? – John Wesley
56. Oh, that I could spend every moment of my life to God’s glory! – David Brainerd
57. Oh, that I had a thousand lives and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved mortals. – Robert Moffat
58. One Way: Jesus! One Job: Evangelism! – T.L. Osborn
59. Only as the church fulfills her missionary obligation does she justify her existence. – Unknown
60. Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop. – Kurt von Schleicher
61. Some wish to live within the sound of church and chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell! – C.T. Studd
62. Someone asked, Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we — who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not — can be saved. – Charles Spurgeon
63. Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ. – Francis Xavier
64. The best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet. – David Livingstone
65. This generation can only reach this generation. – David Livingstone
66. Sympathy is no substitute for action. – David Livingstone
67. The Bible is not the basis of missions; missions is the basis of the Bible. – Ralph Winter, U.S. Center for World Mission
68. The Christian is not obedient unless he is doing all in his power to send the Gospel to the heathen world. – A. B. Simpson
69. The Church must send or the church will end. – Mendell Taylor
70. The church that does not evangelize will fossilize. – Oswald J. Smith
71. The mission of the church is missions.– Oswald J. Smith
72. (Related to the previous quote.) God’s mission for the family is expanding God’s family.– Ann Dunagan, The Mission-Minded Family
73. We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first. – Oswald J. Smith
74. The church which ceases to be evangelistic will soon cease to be evangelical. – Alexander Duff
75. The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time. – Carl F. H. Henry
76. The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed. – Hudson Taylor
77. The Great Commission is the Great Adventure of Christianity. – Ron Luce, TeenMania
78. The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. – Samuel Zwemer
79. The light that shines farthest shines brightest nearest home. – C. T. Studd
80. The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity. – Mike Stachura
81. There is nothing in the world or the Church – except the church’s disobedience – to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility. – Robert Speer
82. The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become. – Henry Martyn, missionary to India and Persia
83. The supreme task of the Church is the evangelization of the world. – Oswald J. Smith
84. The will of God — nothing less, nothing more, nothing else. – F. E. Marsh (also attributed to Bobby Richardson)
85. To know God and to make Him known. – Loren Cunningham, YWAM
86. To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map. – William Carey, pioneer missionary to India
87. Untold millions are still untold. – John Wesley
88. Walk away from your own preoccupations . . . and see the perishing multitudes. – K.P. Yohannan, Gospel for Asia
89. We are debtors to every man to give him the gospel in the same measure in which we have received it. – P.F. Bresee, founder of the Church of the Nazarene
90. We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The greatest need is prayer. – Wesley Duewel, head of OMS International
91. We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God. – John Stott
92. What can we do to win these men to Christ? – Richard Wurmbrand, The Voice of the Martyrs (referring to the men who were persecuting him)
93. Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice, before everyone has heard it once? -Oswald J. Smith
94. Will you go to His feet and place yourself entirely at His disposal? – William Booth
95. Will you shed your tears for the souls of the nations? – Wendi Stranz, Pastor’s wife
96. World missions was on God’s mind from the beginning. – Dave Davidson
97. You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving. – Amy Carmichael
98. You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. – Oswald J. Smith
99. You must go or send a substitute. – Oswald J. Smith
100. You have one business on earth – to save souls. – John Wesley
This giveaway is now closed. The winner is YLMBreadless! Congratulations and thank you everyone for participating! Please use the feedback form or comment below (it won’t be published) with your address, so I can ship these lovely items to you!
