I don't know where on the run it happened, but all I know that is when I was about a half a mile from getting back to my car, I knew my time to leave my current ministry position was coming soon. God had been putting this on my heart for a while, but spoke tenderly as I ran this day that the time was coming, not if anymore, but when. As I processed that thought, prayed about how I would finish well the next six months, I also prayed about what was next. I had a sense because of a couple of things that God had burdened my heart for, but was still so unsure of where I would be heading & what was next for me in life & ministry. But as I was praying, God brought Abraham to my mind and the direction that God had given him in his life:"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you."
(Genesis 12:1)
(Genesis 12:1)
Little did I know how God would lead & guide me over the next few years...all I knew at that time was that God was saying GO. From your country, from your kindred, from your father's house...from all that you have known, from all that identifies you, from all that has shaped you, from the relationships that have been your life...GO. 
And as I thought about Abraham, going without knowing where or how he would get food along the way, how he would know where he was going without specific directions, where he would sleep at night, I realized that this journey of "GO"ing would be more difficult than I could imagine. Over the next 6 months, I cherished all that was familiar that I was leaving in ministry, and as I preached my last sermon, from Genesis 12, God continued to teach me from Genesis 12. A man who had served in the middle east in the military came up to me after one of the services to tell me about the landscape that Abraham traveled on his journey. His success on his journey was directly tied to how close he stayed to the Euphrates River - apart from that river, he would surely perish from dehydration, overheating and so much more. And as he spoke about this landscape, I realized that God was teaching me that to succeed on this journey He was calling me to over the next season, as I was called to GO, I was to persevere through the hard times, stay close to the only One who can bring me life, and remember that He was shaping me as much on the journey of "GO"ing as in the end of where He would lead me to.
Little did I know how true this verse would be in my life over the next few years as I left the land I was familiar with, literally packed up our family farm & helped my dad move off our land, and spent much time in a country that I didn't even know existed in fall of 2008. (Read more about that here).
And as I thought about Abraham, going without knowing where or how he would get food along the way, how he would know where he was going without specific directions, where he would sleep at night, I realized that this journey of "GO"ing would be more difficult than I could imagine. Over the next 6 months, I cherished all that was familiar that I was leaving in ministry, and as I preached my last sermon, from Genesis 12, God continued to teach me from Genesis 12. A man who had served in the middle east in the military came up to me after one of the services to tell me about the landscape that Abraham traveled on his journey. His success on his journey was directly tied to how close he stayed to the Euphrates River - apart from that river, he would surely perish from dehydration, overheating and so much more. And as he spoke about this landscape, I realized that God was teaching me that to succeed on this journey He was calling me to over the next season, as I was called to GO, I was to persevere through the hard times, stay close to the only One who can bring me life, and remember that He was shaping me as much on the journey of "GO"ing as in the end of where He would lead me to. Little did I know how true this verse would be in my life over the next few years as I left the land I was familiar with, literally packed up our family farm & helped my dad move off our land, and spent much time in a country that I didn't even know existed in fall of 2008. (Read more about that here).
No comments:
Post a Comment