“What am I going to do with my medals?” I asked Deon as we zipped up the bag. “Nobody wants them. I can’t sell them, and I can’t give them away either.”

“Just keep them,” Deon said, putting the medals at the bottom of the worn suitcase filled with Spirit of Prophecy books no longer available in our language. It had been nine years since we joined AFM. I counted the years on my fingers to make sure.”

It doesn’t feel like nine years,” I mused. “Sometimes it feels longer, sometimes shorter.”

We reminisced about our experiences and our journey thus far: the people we have met, the places where we have worked, and the blessings we have received. We thought about our careers left behind, our children and family members, our home church and those no longer with us. We looked around at the familiar and unfamiliar things — familiar because we’ve been here for four years, yet strange because we are still outsiders.

We examined our spiritual lives, wondering if we had grown or gone backward. Making a difference feels like weaving a tapestry, one thread at a time: feeding the hungry, teaching a child a new skill or spending time with family when they need it most.

None of us deserve to serve God, but God can use anyone; He can even use a donkey.

As the Spirit of Prophecy says, “By serving, we grow more like Jesus.” We are called to serve, and Jesus came to serve. As Christians, we need to embrace that call.

Our medals may seem insignificant, but they represent moments of service, love and sacrifice to precious souls. They remind us that serving others is our highest calling, and in doing so, we become more like the One who served us all.

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