Persevering in Your Kingdom

An example of someone who acted with God within her "kingdom" —the range of her effective will—was Rachel Saint. Her brother was one of the five missionaries killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador. Rachel lived among the tribe who killed her brother and dedicated the remainder of her life to being with them. Before she died, she told her nephew, "Stevie Boy, when I came to serve the Lord, I really didn't have much to offer him. I was never much of a linguist. I was pretty old when I came to work with the Huaorani tribe. I couldn't teach and preach nearly as well as other people. I was no theologian." Then her nephew asked her, "What do you think it was that the Lord honored in you?" She thought for a moment and said, "Well, I loved the Lord with all my heart, and I trusted him completely. And I was willing to obey him, because I trusted that he wanted me to do what I was doing and that it was best for me if I did it." And then she paused and said, "I guess I just learned to persevere. I just learned to keep on going with whatever he gave me to do." And then Rachel Saint's nephew reflected wisely, "When an ordinary man or woman commits their life to Christ, God does uncanny supernatural things with them. That's the story about Rachel."

Dallas Willard, The Scandal of the Kingdom

Rachel Saint didn’t see herself as especially gifted or impressive. She wasn’t a theologian, a great preacher, or even a natural fit for the work she was called to. But she offered what she had—her trust, her obedience, her perseverance—and God did something extraordinary through it. Dallas Willard reminds us that when an ordinary person commits their life to Christ within the range of their influence—their “kingdom”—God moves in quiet but supernatural ways.

You may feel like your gifts are small or your past is too broken to matter. But God isn’t asking for perfection—He’s asking for your yes. Faithfulness in what’s right in front of you, offered in love and trust, becomes fertile ground for divine work. Like Rachel, if you just keep going with what He’s given you, you may find that your ordinary obedience becomes part of an extraordinary story. —DH