At seventy-five years old, I smile at the unexpected turns my life has taken. When I entered the mission field five decades ago, I imagined a lifetime of raising a family, serving the Lord, and ministering to people. What I didn’t imagine was how quickly those years would pass, or how quiet my home would one day become.
I raised five children in Southeast Asia. I watched them grow up among rice fields, village roads, and friendly neighbors. Then, one by one, I watched them leave, returning to the West for college, careers, and eventually marriage. Each departure was a joy and a grief woven together—a mother’s pride wrapped in a mother’s ache. Eventually, I wondered what the next chapter of my life could possibly hold.
When I thought my most fruitful years were behind me, God opened new doors I never expected. “His mercies … are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22–23). His calling is also renewed every morning.
Today, I sit beside children with cancer who need encouragement and with orphans who long to be reminded that they matter. I visit poor village children whose laughter fills rooms with no electricity but that overflow with joy. I realize that God still has work for me to do.
When I say, “It’s never too late to begin again,” I am speaking from a life reshaped by the faithfulness of God. Isaiah 46:4 is precious to me: “Even to your old age and gray hairs … I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (NIV).
Moses was 80 when God called him to confront Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7). Caleb was 85 when he asked for the mountain God had promised him (Joshua 14:10–12). Anna the prophetess spent her last years proclaiming the Messiah (Luke 2:36–38). Scripture never paints old age as a season of decline, but of ripened faith that still says, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).
Starting again means embracing whatever God places before you, believing that the righteous “will still bear fruit in old age” (Psalm 92:14).
Once, I was afraid of growing old alone. Now I see that I am never alone or without purpose. Every time I step into a hospital ward with children fighting for their lives, or sit on a bamboo floor with village families, or comfort an orphan, I feel the Lord whispering, “This is your new beginning.”
No matter our age, God’s story in our lives is never finished.