Teachers are a rare and beautiful gift and often impact your lives in ways that they will never know. I can’t actually pinpoint the first time I met Vanessa I know it was in our homeschooling circle. I would see her at curriculum fairs and events where she would be working with the Voice of the Martyrs speaking at the conference. Vanessa is a beautiful soul with a natural teaching gift. Warm, caring, passionate, artistic, hilarious and full of joy are just a few words to describe this amazing woman! She loves her family dearly and the work that she does for VOM. Before Covid hit, the co-op I was leading was in full swing and Vanessa was teaching the upper elementary class which included one of my daughters. She created her own curriculum and along with her incredible artistic talent blended an overview of  Voice of the Martyrs and art. Together the class created a calendar with all of their art represented in it. It was amazing to watch my daughter be impacted significantly through her teaching about what was going on around the world with persecuted Christians. You are in for a treat today as she shares the meaning behind true joy. It is a challenge to be joyful in all circumstances, but Vanessa (and her family) have learned how to maintain joy in the midst of trials. It is my pleasure to welcome Vanessa to Seasons of Motherhood on the blog today!

 

 

 

 

 

Vanessa Brobbel, a veteran homeschool mom & artist, works alongside her husband Floyd for a mission called The Voice of the Martyrs. For the past 20 years she has spoken at conferences & women’s retreats across Canada in this capacity. This ministry purposes to create an awareness of the persecution leveled against Christians around the world, while actively providing tools to mentor the Body of Christ both domestically and internationally to grow through adversity.

 

 

 

 

 

♥

 

Joyful Praise!

 

I don’t know what carpooling kids in your van look like, but in ours, there is always music. We sing loud, passionately, with arms in the air and sometimes more than a little off-key! When others need to catch a lift, they’re warned, “You don’t have to be crazy to ride with us, but it helps!” It doesn’t take long before even the most painfully shy start bopping to the praise tunes, because joyful praise is contagious! Joyful praise has been a cornerstone and place of refuge in our lives, especially when circumstances have been difficult, and there have been many of those both personally and professionally.

As a homeschooling family, we have journeyed through medical errors leading to surgeries and severe learning challenges, dyslexia, multiple moves, huge financial and emotional pressures of working in full-time ministry and living with systemic lupus. I only mention these dips in the road to lend assurance that the Holy Spirit—through joyful praise, can open even the most tightly gripped fists of pain, sorrow, and loss.

Our family has always loved to sing, but there was a turning point where singing turned to praise, and praise turned pain into joyful gratitude. This is a sound bite of that journey…

Although my husband Floyd is the son of the founders of The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, and the ministry had literally grown and developed around their family’s dining table, we had kept working with VOMC at an arms-length during the first half of our marriage. Our thinking then: Daily facing the details and images of the horrible things that happen to persecuted Christians worldwide…um…that’s gonna be a hard pass.

Through a series of circumstances, we found ourselves in Calgary, Alberta. My health had tanked, as had the business venture we had moved out to begin. We had been so certain that God had called us to leave all that we knew and move from Ontario to Calgary. Yet everything seemed to be going wrong! I remember crying out to God early one morning in desperation, “Lord! What gives?” Clearly, these words were impressed in my mind, “Vanessa. You like games. How do you win at the game of Scrabble?”  I was utterly miffed! “I’m crying my guts out here God, and You’re asking about Scrabble?” Sigh. “I don’t know. I guess you have to have the difficult letters in your hand to win because they’re worth more points.” Instantly the reply came to mind, “Exactly! Vanessa, I’m handing you the tough letters, because I’ve called you to overcome and succeed at a master’s level. I’m asking you to play the “Q.”

We tend to think of difficulty and pain as punishment, lack of favour, fault, failure. When we get hurt, the humanity in us longs to blame something or Someone. It’s like stubbing a toe on an unseen, metal bed frame. The first words exiting our mouth at that moment inevitably revolve around dressing down —in loud, clear terms, the bed frame. Truthfully, the bed didn’t move. It’s got no hidden agenda or ability to plot the destruction of our toes. Yet, when we’re hurt, we blame.

 I was hurting. My family was hurting, but God was teaching us to look past the pain and trust that this was an opportunity for us to move strategically across the board. In the quiet space on my couch, Graham Kendrick’s album began to play. It took me from “I Kneel Down” to “What Grace,” “To The King Eternal” leading me to realize “Lord You’ve Been Good to Me.” I began instilling in our kids the lesson I was learning; God is far more interested in your character than your comfort.

At this time Floyd and I had begun representing VOMC at a couple of homeschool conferences out west. This was something VOMC had never done before. We worked to convince the leadership that there was a whole generation who didn’t know much—if anything about how Christians all around the world were standing boldly for their faith though it cost them dearly. The Lord had been burning into us was one that He was opening the doors of opportunity for us to share. An opportunity we would not have had if we had not been in Calgary at the time. Can you hear the “Q” being played when it seemed like we had completely missed the mark with no “U” in sight?

 

“I began instilling in our kids the lesson I was learning; God is far more interested in your character than your comfort.”

 

Our efforts at the conferences were overwhelmingly blessed, which lead to an unexpected phone call…Floyd was downstairs in the basement of the house we had recently rented. The phone rang. It was Glenn Penner, who was then the CEO of VOMC. Glenn was sick with cancer and realized that VOMC needed someone to take over the growing responsibilities tied to international projects as well as to help with the myriad of tasks that were quickly becoming difficult for him to manage alongside his treatments. He had taken notice of the work Floyd and I were doing, and there was already a bond of trust and relationship due to Floyd’s longstanding connection and understanding of the ministry. Glenn asked if we would be willing to move back to Ontario?

Floyd told Glenn he wasn’t sure since we had just signed a lease agreement for the house we were living in, but he would talk it over with me and we would pray about it. He hung up the phone and began to walk up the first flight of stairs. He got as far as the landing when the phone rang again. This time it was our landlord: Floyd, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I need to sell the house. I know we have an agreement for the next year, but if there’s any way you could see fit to move, I’d be eternally grateful!

A year to the day, Floyd pulled out of Calgary to head back to Ontario with a U-Haul full of our things. The kids and I followed a few weeks later due to three significant deaths in our family and the managing of those details. It was such a stressful time, but I would turn up the tunes and blast Christian music so loud the enemy would take off just to get away from the sheer volume! The day the kids and I pulled onto the Trans-Canada Highway our little Hyundai was packed so full we couldn’t have squeezed a cockroach in there if we tried! It was a scorcher and shocker; we were stuck in dead-stopped traffic due to construction. Is that highway ever NOT under construction? People were getting out of their cars since we hadn’t moved an inch in over an hour. There was no way I was going to risk letting three small children and a dog loose on the highway, so, after having exhausted every Adventures in Odyssey CD we owned, I had to get creative to keep my crew in good spirits—turn on tunes! We began to sing every child’s praise song known to man complete with actions. We were having a fantastic time laughing and praising God in our cramped little car when finally the traffic began to move!

Just ahead was that beacon of blessed hope: Tim Horton’s! We pulled off and piled into the restaurant, which was now filled with all the motorists freshly released from the highway. When the kids and I walked into their midst, suddenly they began to clap and cheer. Every eye was on…me? What I had not realized as I lead the kids in worship was all those people, who had been angry and irritated at being trapped on the highway had caught sight of a little red Hyundai filled with children and their crazy mother going full steam with, “Pharoah, Pharoah! Oh, baby let My people go!” That day I learned that joyful praise is contagious. Joyful praise born out of pain submitted to God, well, that has the power to affect more lives than we could ever dream possible!

 

Vanessa Brobbel

Manager of Special Projects

The Voice of the Martyrs Canada

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a little background to Voice of the Martyrs Canada with Vanessa’s husband Floyd:

Floyd Brobbel, CEO for The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, joins Greg Musselman on 100 Huntley Street to talk about his new book, Trouble on the Way, in which he examines the various stages of persecution. Floyd also shares about his journey to lead the ministry his parents started 50 years ago.

I have not read Floyd’s book yet, but it is on my list! Here is a synopsis and where you can purchase your own copy:

https://store.vomcanada.org/purchase/trouble-on-the-way

Winner of a 2021 Word Award, by the Word Guild of Canada
While most of us have heard about Christians suffering for their faith, we tend to think “persecution” mainly impacts believers in times past or in hostile nations today, far removed from our daily lives. But this eye-opening book describes the various stages of persecution, revealing that persecution is something all followers of the Way can expect to face in this fallen world.

Trouble on the Way will not only help readers recognize persecution in all its forms but enable them to stand firm against it. The book does not promote a “doormat” Christianity but rather asserts quite the opposite—a victorious, resilient faith that not only survives but thrives as it encounters the very gates of hell.

Sharing from his decades of experience with persecuted believers near and far, author Floyd Brobbel invites you to:

• Discern God’s purpose for His church in an ungodly world
• Learn how Christ endured and responded to persecution
• Discover how His followers, past and present, emulate Christ in His suffering
• Recognize how persecution seeks to hinder Christian faith and witness
• Learn how to respond to any persecution you face with confident love

What Grace (Father To You) Graham Kendrick

 

https://www.vomcanada.com/