“Let it be said of me…that I fully followed you…I held nothing back. I obeyed your call to me…” God has been calling me. And I’ve been saying “Here I am Lord” I opened a door when I came to England this month, and I closed a door on what/where/how I thought my life was going to look like one year ago. Some times life sends major curve balls. God is not surprised and God has a way for everything! One thing I know for sure is that I can’t hold on to the past and what could have been, but I can take hold of my future and how I respond to unexpected, difficulty and even painful life experiences. I would not have chosen some of the things to happen the way they did, but I can choose my responses in hope, faith and love… Walking with God is becoming an adventure again. This past year I feel like God and I took some very important steps together. God hasn’t always given me the full picture at once but he has given me the faith and the courage to take the necessary risks at just the right times, moving me way out of my comfort zone at times. I have trusted God to be with me in the darkest of times and places. Alejandro Rodriguez is one of our YWAM speakers who talks a lot about going into the “Risk Zone”. Putting ourselves in situations and circumstances where god has to come through. Miracles happen when we need then, when we stretch ourselves beyond what is possible for us in our own strength. But that means we venture into areas where we are dependent on God. Loren Cunningham says regularly “I want to lean on God so hard that if he moves I will fall over…” When I look at the past year, I see now that I have done this over and over again. I’ve put my trust in God repeatedly for practical help. Some of that had to do with hearing him at the last minute for trips he wanted me to take—to Colombia and England and even more recently to Switzerland. The big question from his side was, “Do you trust me?” And I just said “yes” and went where he wanted me to go. We did it together. I have that sense even as I write this. I am at the Harpendon base outside of London today. I had some challenges trying to arrange my housing the past couple of days and yet as I rode up from Midlands, I had a deep sense of peace that it would all work out. I had heard from God. He was with me in it. I find the more steps of faith I have taken this past year, the easier it is to keep saying “yes”. To rest in the fact that anything is possible. God is not limited to my plans and my finances or my ideas of what he can or cannot do. The next four months will be an adventure. I have to apply for YWAM staff in England, get a visa, find an apartment, buy a car and raise my monthly support significantly. Within all this I am flying to southern Germany, flying back to the United States and having to do all that is required to say “goodbye” in Berlin. And I have so much grace and peace about it all. I keep thinking it should feel overwhelming. But I have a sense of freedom and faith in it all. There is a lot to do in it…but I am not worried. There is no stab of fear or worry to steal my joy in the adventure. It feels like God and I are moving out together. He is right here. There is a smile I have when I look at the future. I don’t kow how or when, but I know that God Is going to provide and make a way. My hope is in Him. |