About a year or two ago I started praying Psalms 139:23-24 every morning before I get out of bed. “Search my heart… see if there be any wicked way in me…”. I wanted God to help me see the areas of my life I skipped over, I avoided and didn’t even know existed. Guess what, He started doing it. He began revealing areas of selfishness and pride that I was seeing for the first time. He revealed self-dependency and lack of trust that I was seeing with new eyes. It has not been pleasant, but it has been refreshing at the same time.
I have been most shocked to see these areas of my life and realize they have been there for quite a while.
At some point I wonder if someone tried to tell me about these areas.
I wondered if I would have listened.

Peter was in a similar spot. He just didn’t know it…
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.[a] 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Galatians 2:11-14

We all have blind spots, we all have areas of weakness, we all have a need for a good friend to help us through them so we are not compromising our witness for the Gospel.

I like this idea of a close friend or brother when we talk about partnerships with churches and missionaries. When churches genuinely do life together with their missionaries, when they set up intentional areas of communication and care, they are positioning themselves to be a help to missionaries beyond the logistical ministry needs. These genuine partnerships and relationships lend themselves to point out the blind spots we are all missing.
We need someone to speak truth to us.
We need someone to point out the blind spots.

FOR THE CHURCH: Have you cultured a true relationship with your missionaries that show you genuinely care about them beyond just their ministry success?
FOR THE MISSIONARY: Are you willing to hear what your partners have to say? Do you have these needed partnerships and relationships that are open and honest helping you be the best of who you are?

If you are a church or a missionary that would like to cultivate relationships like this, please let us know. H2T would like to walk with you through this process and strengthen your partnerships. Contact us at [email protected]