Recently, when we opened an envelope received in the mail, we were pleasantly surprised to find a check for an unusually large sum of money. It was a bequest from a donor who had a long giving history with the Prayer League. However, while generous, his past giving did not have a discernible pattern. The gift designations had been to various ministries, projects and missionaries over the years. In checking with our people, we were unable to find anyone who had a current relationship with this individual.
The Prayer League receives gifts from the estates of our partners from time to time. This one stands out by its size and unexpectedness. Receiving estate gifts like this is bittersweet. While we appreciate these gifts that allow us to fund special projects such as our “Go Now Fund,” which I wrote about last month, we recognize that it marks the departure of a faithful prayer partner. That they are now with the Lord, we rejoice; that they are no longer praying with us, we lament.
When we receive gifts like these, we credit them to our Estate Fund, which, as mentioned, we use for special projects as well as our missionary benefits package. We have more recently begun to look at this as our Legacy Fund. The term legacy is defined as something passed on by a predecessor as a remembrance. As a legacy is passed on it provides a means for carrying the beliefs, accomplishments, and values of the past forward to the new generations.
The Prayer League has a history of many generations of faithful missionaries depending on the Lord’s provision and giving their lives to share the gospel among the unreached peoples of the world. This history is shared by faithful prayer partners who also make sacrifices for the Kingdom, such as this person who recently left us this wonderful gift. It is part of our shared desire that our prayers and work today will result in future blessings to the nations.
Please pray with us for wisdom and guidance as we endeavor to find ways to faithfully use this legacy to raise up the next generations of missionaries and prayer partners.