Hello Everyone! I would like to introduce myself. My name is Martha Edmondson and I am the Director of Mobilization here at Families Outreach. God blessed me with the opportunity to come on staff with Families Outreach back in May and I am so thankful! I am married to a man who loves the LORD and have a beautiful 10-month-old daughter. God continues to prove his faithfulness to me over and over.
As I look back at my life, there is a continuing theme. God’s faithfulness is always shining through. I followed the LORD with my life when I was in elementary school, but that does not mean I have always been faithful. God blessed me with a little trait called stubbornness and I am constantly trying to control things and do them my way.
When I was in college I studied Biology because I had big plans to go and change the world by being a doctor, but throughout my years at school God began to show me his plans for my future. As a sophomore in college, I took my first international mission trip and my heart would never be the same. God began to break my heart for the lost people all over the world in a way he never had before. He began to ask a question to the depths of my heart, “Would I be willing to use my life to let others know about him?” As I continued in college, I took several more trips overseas each time becoming more passionate about taking the gospel to the nations. Although God was breaking my heart for the world, I still had my own plans. God was asking me to following him wherever he might lead, but I was only willing if it included my plans of becoming a doctor. One day I cried out to God, I said “Ok God, if you want me to give up being a doctor, then you are going to have to make it very clear, without a doubt! You are going to have to put it in front of me in black and white!” In my stubbornness, I opened up the word and began to do my bible study for the day. I was reading in Luke 10 towards the end of the chapter about Martha and Mary, a story I was not unfamiliar with, when God spoke to me in an incredible way. In the story, Martha is frustrated with her sister Mary. You see, Jesus was in their house and Mary wasn’t helping her do anything! She was trying to cook and clean and all Mary was doing was sitting with Jesus. Martha complains to Jesus, “Lord tell my sister to help me.” Jesus replied with the words that broke my heart forever, “Martha, Martha you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” In that moment, God spoke to the depths of my heart and said, “Martha you are so worried about doing what you want, even if it sounds good, it is not what I am calling you to. You are so distracted that you have missed what I am trying to show you. Only one thing is needed, for you to focus on me, for you to fully give your heart to me and surrender to my plans for your life.” I was asking God for a sign in black and white and he spoke to me in red straight from the words of Jesus. Even in my stubbornness God was faithful! How foolish of me to think that by surrendering to God I would be giving something up. His plans for my life have been so much greater that what I could have dreamed up on my own!
I surrendered to go wherever God would lead me, and thus far he has taken me to places all over the world. Today, I am blessed to be able to work with people in the local church and also alongside families that are impacting the world through adoption. God is so good and his faithfulness is overwhelming. My prayer for you is that in whatever walk of life this finds you in, you would look to HIS faithfulness and trust him with your whole heart. Whether you are in the adoption process drowning in a see of paperwork or praying over where God would use you next, I pray that you would not be overwhelmed with circumstances of day-to-day life, but instead look steadfastly at the one who holds you in his hands and is forever faithful.
“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations who love him and keep his commands. “ Deuteronomy 7:9