In This Place

Kim L. Abernethy

Description

In 1985 Kim Abernethy, along with her husband, Jeff, followed a call from God to minister in the small West African country of Liberia.

She writes of the fall of one of her daughters from a two-story building, shares candid emotions from when her husband had a close call with Lassa Fever, and delightfully chronicles many of her husband's adventures of being a bush pilot in the jungle of Liberia.

Whether you are intrigued by the stories of foreign missionaries and how they adapt to a new culture or are heading towards the mission �eld yourself, you will �nd this book enlightening and inspiring.

Inside you will �nd disbelief, tragedy, fear, anxiety, discontentment, and confusion, but there is also humor, delight, amazement, wonder, surrender, and a deep-seated joy as you watch how God - little by little - chipped away at the walls of pride, disbelief, stubbornness, and independence that had held Kim captive.

It is an irresistible story of an infallible God proving Himself more than enough in every fathomable circumstance. IN THIS PLACE is the �rst of two books that record the �rst eighteen years of the Abernethy's unsettled, but yet ful�lling missionary career.

Gleaning stories and adventures from journals that she kept since December, 1985, IN THIS PLACE is autobiographical and concentrates mainly on their �rst four years in Liberia. She is working on completing her second book, IN EVERY PLACE, which continues the Abernethy's missionary adventures from 1990 - 2002.

IN EVERY PLACE is expected to be published by in late fall of 2011.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Missions
• Christian Ministry
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456601638
• Langue: English

Extrait

In This Place
Cultural and Spiritual Collisions Refine a Young Missionary in Liberia, West Africa
 
by
Kim L. Abernethy
 
Copyright 2011 Kim L. Abernethy,
All rights reserved.
 
Cover photo: Heidi Sheppard
Cover Design: Nancy Freund
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0163-8
 
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
Permissions:
For noncommercial use, churches or individuals desiring to share stories for ministry use are permitted to copy or excerpt information from this book or refer to stories as part of sermon illustrations, provided that the author is given credit. In print, please use the phrase,“Reprinted with permission from In Every Place Publishing.” For all other uses, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. To obtain permission or to contact the author, please write Kim Abernethy at: [e-mail] .
 
 
I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark
sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and
our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to
the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His
strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done.
Psalm 78: 2-4
 

Dedications
To my 3 daughters and their families (present and future):
In case you didn’t know, YOU are my favorite.
 
~ Michelle–may you continue to be awed by His holiness
~ Stefanie–may He always prove to be enough in your life
~ Lauren–may you never cease to be amazed by His glory
~ Frank, my first son-in-love–May you continue to know
Hi s peace that endures
 
To Patrick and Crystal Mitchell, when I first met you and heard your desire to make a radical difference in God’s kingdom, you inspired me to make this book a reality. Throughout the writing of it, besides my own family, your faces (the representation of young Christian warriors who desire to know the fullness of His glory) were foremost in my heart. THIS IS MY GIFT TO YOU. WATCH Him do extraordinary things! And KEEP your own journals.
 
To Jeff, my husband of 30 years: The vows we took all those years ago still resound in my heart. “Believing I was made for you only....” That said, God certainly knew I needed adventure in my life. Following you around the world has been extremely challenging, oftentimes difficult, and more times than not, simply amazing, but never boring. I love your heart for Christ. I love your quiet, but strong spirit. You are a spiritual leader in every way though I have not always appreciated that. Thank you for loving me unconditionally.
 
Acknowledgements
Early in 1987 the calling to write this story began deep in my heart. God had given me a desire to keep rather detailed journals of our cultural adaptations and the emotions behind the challenging times we experienced when first arriving in Liberia! The journals were initially written out of a desire to share these experiences with our family. Although most of my journals were either handwritten or typed on an old Selectric II typewriter, I am forever grateful that I committed to document our first years as missionaries in West Africa.
I am even more grateful for my mother and father who kept those journals in a file. About ten years ago, my mother handed me a thick manila folder stuffed with various sized papers. “These are for when you write your book,” she said as she handed them to me. “I know you will write one day about all that God has shown you in Africa. These should help.” Stunned they really had kept all my African journals, the seed to write grew into a plant shuttering with potential.
It has been a five year journey to bring this book to reality, mostly because of the demanding yet rewarding ministry that we have with college students. Carving out time in the summers and breaks, I began to plunder through my journals and was amazed all over again at God. Though our stories are not the most compelling I have ever heard nor the most important, they are real and powerful. Simply put, God asked me to put them down in book form for HIS GLORY! May He amaze you with His sovereign beauty as you read!
Jeff and I are deeply thankful for our parents, Bob and Geraldine Lennon and Hal and June Abernethy , for how they have loved and guided us, for the vivid examples of how Christians should live through all phases of life; and for the many prayers on our behalf. We felt the power of their love and heartfelt petitions deep in the jungles of West Africa. Any spiritual fruit reaped throughout our years of ministry is placed in their accounts! We are blessed more than we could ever describe with our four amazing parents!!
Debbie Benfield, Melissa Carrara, and Joy Almond, TR Black and Kelly Gurley-Scites –You blessed me with taking your valuable time to do some great editing! You were a powerful part of this project and important parts of my life.
Janet Grams –for using your photography skills to provide a great head shot of Jeff & me. The pictures were taken in the botanical gardens on the campus of UNC-Charlotte where we have ministered for the past eight years with Campus Bible Fellowship International.
Heidi Sheppard –an up and coming young photographer. She is the daughter of Mark and Nancy Sheppard, our former co-workers, who are still ministering in Liberia with Baptist Mid-Missions. The picture on the front cover is hers and was taken in Liberia. Thank you, Heidi, for willingly sharing.
Nancy Freund –an amazing graphic designer and editor for Baptist Mid-Missions. She graciously offered to design my book cover while we were working on a CBFI project. It is evident that the cover is a work born out of her heart for God.
April Stinson –you find joy in bringing the beauty out in others. Thank you for being a blessing and going the extra mile. I’ve seen your heart as you work and know that your love for God is real!
 
Barb Stevenson –Over twenty years ago, I aspired to be a Bible teacher/speaker that could touch the lives of others just as you had so powerfully touched mine. You so wisely said to me, “Kim, no doubt you will, but first you must live out your own life stories. You need to see that God is exactly who He says He is.” And so, I have. Just as you said. Thank you being the kind of example that I could follow.
Debbie Johnson– Thank you for going above and beyond on the last edit! “Feed a sneak” is a classic! You are dear to my heart.
 

 
PRELUDE –November 1985
If I believed in omens, I would have been worried. After nineteen months of deputation and five months of planning, buying, and packing a 40-foot metal container with supplies and household items for our “maiden” years in Liberia, West Africa, our departure date had come! November 12, 1985, was the date that we had decided on even though we realized that it was very close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, making it more difficult for our families and us. Undeterred, there was just no stopping those new missionaries who had already turned eager eyes toward our country, our people whom God had given us!
Thinking back on the night before we were to leave, I do not believe that either Jeff or I slept very well. Our hearts and minds were full. We had no idea what to expect, what we should have been feeling, how we were to deal with emotions of that magnitude; a major separation from parents, family, the only culture we had ever known, everything familiar. For all that, the promised grace of God and a youthful, resilient bent for adventure were the things to which we held tightly during those early days. In the necessary letting go of precious things in our immediate lives, it had not yet become obvious to us that this letting go would be the only way to receive the reward of other precious things: souls to present to our Savior and the reality of seeing lives transformed by the teaching of His powerful Word. Often the best things come after relinquishing the good things in our lives. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
Early on the morning of November 12, we received a phone call from our Baptist Mid-Missions field representative. Thinking that perhaps he was just checking on us, we realized that it was way too early in the morning for that; his call turned out to be for a much different reason. During the night (but early morning in Liberia as it was 5 hours ahead of EST), there had been an attempted coup (government takeover) in the capital city of Monrovia which as a result caused the temporary suspending of all airline flights in and out of that country. It seemed there was significant chaos there, so we were told that our departure had been delayed until more news about the situation could be determined. Tentatively rescheduling our departure for December 3 gave us three more precious weeks to make more memories with family and friends. This was also bittersweet because everyone involved had psyched themselves up for our November departure!
Have you ever wished you could know the future? Most of us, at one time or another, have desired to know a little about our tomorrows. That said, I am infinitely thankful that our Heavenly Father did not show us the faintest peep of what we would experience in the next few years because of the changing political climate in Liberia. We were way too young, too enamored with our call, and too ignorant of third world politics to understand the potential fallout this attempted coup could produce in that small country in West Africa.
No, I do not believe in omens, but it might have been evident to someone with more missions experience that the world dynamics were again changing. With that shift, it would become necessary to completely redefine the methods of missiology