She Knew the Cost

By an Alliance missionary in Africa 
 
There is a question heavy on my heart. What does it cost to obey Jesus?  
 
     It’s been one month since Umu reluctantly but obediently returned to her husband.  
Her friends all told her not to go. They were afraid for her and her children. They said, “You’ll die out there. It’s too far away, and there are no doctors.”  
     It was a hard journey for Umu, returning to a place where she and two of her sons had nearly died just seven months ago. Yet she loves her God, and He loves her unsaved husband. God gave Umu His burden for the man. It weighed so heavy on her that she could barely think of anything else. The Lord let Umu know that the only way He would love her husband was through her, and the way to love him was to live with him and show him what God was like. Love him she has.  
     Umu spent the last thirty days teaching her husband everything she had learned about Jesus during the ten years she had been following Him in secret. She worked beside him in the field and taught him songs of worship as she and her boys sang together. Also, Umu nursed her husband’s other wife when she was sick. Umu has shown her husband how to love and how to pray in Jesus’ Name. 
     Today, when they buried her eleven-year-old son, it was Umu who comforted the many women who came weeping and wailing, spilling their sorrow on her, throwing themselves on the ground in despair. When our eyes met over the heads of those women who were sobbing at her feet, I could see the peace of God that passes all understanding shining through her tears. God had indeed lifted her up in His arms, and He had taken her pain. 
     She knew the cost. They all told her. They argued with her and begged her not to return. 
This mother of five sons had wrestled with God in the depths of her soul. She knew the cost before she began this journey, and she willingly chose to obey her God—the God who gave His only Son for her. 
     Umu’s child has been dancing circles on golden streets for more than 24 earthly hours now. In my mind’s eye, I see him laugh as he skips up ahead of his Savior. His smile as he looks into Jesus’ eyes can almost be felt by his mother, who did not think this cost was too great. Umu’s joy will not be complete until the names of her third son and her husband are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

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