To whom it may concern,
If you believe in God and have given your life to obedience to him, if you love Him with all your heart, mind, and soul, if your heart breaks knowing that there are some people who do not know Him as their savior and lord, then this is for you.
There is a great misconception that serving the Lord, dedicating our whole life to him, is for the great Christians. For those who have great amounts of faith, above and beyond the ordinary. It is for the Elliots, the Carmichaels, the Hudsons, and Careys of the world.
But it is not. As Nik Ripken wrote in his book, The Insanity of God, "It is a simple matter of obedience. If He is our Lord, then we will obey Him..."
Simple obedience.
True, it does look different for different people. Some He will ask to go to faraway places. Some he will ask to be countercultural in the culture they were born in. Some he will ask to use their talents loudly and publicly. Some he will ask to work faithfully in the background. For some the ministry will be obvious, for others less so. But He calls us all to be obedient. He calls us all to lay everything upon the altar.
So if you are reading this and thinking, "Sure, that's great for you. But I could never…", be very careful before you fill in the blank.
As my two years as a Goer ends, so does my time writing blogs. This will be my last one and as I write I think back over the many things I have learned over the last two years, it is difficult to condense it down into a single blog. All the big moments, all the small wonderings, all the lessons.
I have learned a lot during these last two years, but probably the biggest lesson is being willing to be stretched. Many of the things that I thought were impossible or that I could never do, were the very things that the Father placed before me. And in one sense I was right. I couldn't do them. Not in my own strength and not relying on my own knowledge. But I was very wrong in another sense, because I did not have to do them alone. When I was willing to walk forwards in obedience, He would stretch me and I could succeed. Or maybe I should say, he succeeded for me.
Another lesson I am continually learning is to not say, "Anything but ____" or the various forms of that. Usually that comment shows an idol in your life, something you are unwilling to give up, that you hold above God. That area where I had a lack of trust often became the next place of growth and learning, as he taught me again to lay everything down and rely on him alone. Sometimes I would fail at those lessons but He was faithful to allow me to repeat them again and again until I learned.
Other lessons:
-Coming to the end of yourself is not always easy. Sometimes you think you are there and he reveals more that needs to be stripped away. But if you allow him, he will slowly pull back all your barriers until you have nothing left but to trust in him.
-Rest is holy and true rest is in His arms.
-God does not need us. Nothing we can do can make Him love us more.
-Nothing we can do can make Him love us less.
-Often in troubled or hard times we ask why. But truly, we don't need to know the why. If we trust God and know that his purpose and plans are good (as He is good) then we can walk forwards in faith not needing to know all the details and the purpose. His plans are higher than ours. We can try to piece together the plan or guess at the purpose, but we would be wise to admit that we don't know. Maybe a better question to ask in these times would be, "Where?" Where are you? Where do you want me?
-Happiness can be fickle but joy is deep and abiding.
There are so many other lessons but most lessons have to be learned firsthand.
So if you are reading this and thinking, "What have I to offer? How could he use me?" take the leap. Ask Him to use you, to show you the next step of simple obedience.
Be fairly warned, if you take the next step, it will cost you everything. But it will be eternally worth it.