How does one move on after the dust of unexpected, harsh reality begins to settle? Elisabeth (Elliott) would tell you to simply do the next thing. She would know. Those are the words that the Holy Spirit whispered to her as she sat in the jungles of Ecuador hearing the news that no young wife wants to hear; her husband was dead. Jim Elliot, and four other missionaries had been speared to death by the Auca Indians, an unreached tribe that they were praying would come to know Jesus.
As Elizabeth sat at the ham radio, stunned by the news, she asked God how she could go on in the jungles without her beloved Jim, and as a single mother with an ten month old baby girl. The Lord impressed a question upon her heart, “What needs to be done next?” She looked down at her ten month old and thought, Valerie’s diaper needs to be changed. Elisabeth changed Valerie's diaper. And then she did the next thing that needed to be done and then the next thing and then …. Elisabeth’s “do the next thing” mantra got her through many dark days. It is the way to move on from harsh reality ....
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