This Chick met the Sister Chick

I was privileged to meet Sister Chick  Robin Jones Gunn

at a writers' conference in Oregon months ago. 

In rereading my notes from her messages,

I was so refreshed, I wanted to pass her encouragement on.

You might not dream of becoming published,

but you all have dreams of using your

talents and abilities to serve and honor the Lord.

**********

At the age of 12 at Bible camp, Robin committed herself to being a missionary.  In 1976 at Urbana, Inter Varsity's Student Mission Convention, she filled out a form with all her special gifts and talents. Information was fed into a computer and the students were matched with mission openings that suited their abilities.

Robin matched the position of Laundry Supervisor in Nairobi, Kenya.  She said it was "not exactly what I had in mind," but threw herself into praying and readying herself to minister in Africa.

She was rejected.  Devestated, she wondered how she could be such an  ineffective Christian she wasn't even fit to be a laundry supervisor.

As she shared her disappointment with her Sunday School girls, one girl raised her hand and told her she should tell stories. Robin didn't take their urgings seriously until she saw what they were reading on a church outing.  The Christy Miller series was born and the rest is history.

Years later, she was at a Conference and met a woman from Africa who was thrilled to meet the author of the books she had been reading to her students.  Through these books some kids had trusted Christ as their Savior.

Robin shared her early life disappointment of not even being fit to be a missionary laundry supervisor with her new friend, and sister in the Lord.  She said to Robin, "You didn't need to come to Nairobi to wash clothes, God sent your books to Nairobi to wash our hearts."

The  early love and desire to serve Africa was answered years later, in a way Robin had never imagined possible.

"I didn’t go to Africa, but those stories did."

When she finally made it to Africa,

her friend let her do her laundry,

just for old dreams' sake.

"Be prepared to be surprised by God.

He has planted these dreams in your heart long ago.

It is fire in the belly, it won't go away.

But, maybe you are restricting the way those dreams can go

 by being so limited on how it has to happen.

Open your heart..."

When Robin was aksed how she keeps her writing fresh, her answer was applicable to anything we are doing in our lives for the Lord as we minister in our homes, our neighborhoods and our local fellowships.

"The joy of the Lord is our strength, so drop a  bucket into well of joy,  so you keep full in the Lord."

"Those Dreams,

because they're His,

were planted in your hearts from the very beginning."

Robin Jones Gunn

What spiritual dreams are filling your hearts?