Mobilization of one woman’s soul

Like a baby chick waiting to break out of her shell, I’ve felt like I had been in an incubator these past two years. My husband and I are “open nesters,” and it’s been very quiet at home as our children are living overseas and we’ve had few visitors. I had not traveled by bullet train nor been to any camps or retreats. I was waiting for the time that my shell would crack open so I could get out again. Realizing my great need for in-person fellowship, I decided to step out in faith and attend the JEMA Women in Ministry retreat, held in early March of this year.

Refreshed along the way

As long as I was going to be traveling from Osaka to Tokyo, I decided to visit some friends along the way. My first stop was Nagoya, where I stayed overnight with a Zoom prayer friend. How refreshing it was to be in a home with children again! We played a game, did lots of talking, and ate freshly baked cookies. The laughter of a large family brought healing to my soul and made the food taste extra good. Ah, life was coming back into me.

The next day I continued on to Mishima in Shizuoka Prefecture, where I visited another Zoom friend. How excellent it was to meet in person for the first time. She took me to a small park, where the plum blossoms were in full bloom. Mt. Fuji was in the background and again I was refreshed as our heavenly Father was mobilizing me back to life. I realized not only the importance but also the beauty of Hebrews 10:24–25, which reads “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching” (NIV).

How I thanked God for beginning to mobilize me back into society and fellowship. I continued on to the retreat. I knew about Okutama Bible Chalet (OBC), as my children had participated in different camps there, but this was the first time for me—the mom—to experience it for myself. Again, my heart was thrilled by the blooming, light pink plum blossoms as I pulled my suitcase across the wooden walkway bridge over the Tama River, en route to OBC. Not only was winter over and spring was coming, but this also symbolized the “winter of my soul” ending and the spring of new life returning!

A place to come to be restored

I learned that the location of this camp had been discovered by an American missionary, Clarence Swanson. He was assigned to find a place for such a camp to be built and SEND established it in 1960. I realized that God has been doing many great things in Japan for many years, and, even from long ago, pioneer missionaries have been “laying the tracks” for those like us, who would come after them. How blessed I felt to attend a camp that had been planned and established years ago. Even then God knew how much we would need a place like this where people could come to be refreshed and restored.

Meeting women from a variety of locations, missions, and nationalities, I was in awe of the glorious and diverse ways that these sisters were serving Christ throughout Japan. I had an epiphany that God had been mobilizing his army in Japan for a long time, and I was just getting a little glimpse of it. Faith was being transfused into my heart as I no longer felt isolated and alone, after staying home for two years. Hope was rising up in me as I made new friends and bonded with old ones. I felt the Father’s deep love for Japan. This feeling was amplified when I joined JEMA and saw the many facets of this ministry. As I skimmed through the directory I was delighted to see over one thousand members throughout Japan.

Certainly God knows the plans he has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future. I received a fresh sense of this through my week of travel. How I thank him for pouring his love into my heart and mobilizing me back into in-person fellowship and for the many people along the way whom he used to make this happen! 

Photo of WIM retreat submitted by author