Laborers of Love

...your labor prompted by love...

                                                 1 Thessalonians 1:3

    
               "We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor 
                 prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

    I'll admit it. I've needed some love. I'm a big believer in the seasons of life, some wonderful, some slightly darker, all of them good gifts from the Lord. This season of preparing for Haiti has been both a mountaintop experience of faith, and one of the loneliest times in my life. I'm stressed. Not tearing my hair out stressed, but the ocean churns internally. You know the feeling. Apprehension, anxiety, the struggle. I've told Satan more than once that He can not have my joy, it's not his to steal.
     And what do you say to people- "So, by the way, I'm uber grateful for this opportunity from the Lord, and I can't wait to go and serve, but in the meantime, I'm not doing so hot. I need a hug, maybe twelve. Can you help me?"
    It's a struggle, preparation. And if we're honest, much of life is just that - a struggle. 
    

     But then you add in love... 

                               and oh, how sweet the struggle.

Nothing God does in our lives is ever minus love. Christ never operated outside the framework of love, nor were we meant to. 

     God labored to create a world with words of love, cradling it and molding it in two God-shaped hands.  
      Christ gave His labor of amazing Love on the cross to give us Life and Freedom, and Peace, and Hope, and sweet, glorious Joy. All those things that feel so often like they rest just outside of our grasp, until we Know Him.
      Life is struggle, but isn't it sweet with love. Recently I was reminded that I do not labor alone. I was never intended too. God gave us Love, in the form of people called the Church, the Body, Dearly Beloved.  

I needed some love in the struggle and God sent it. Of course it was there before my eyes, but God sent me an extra dose. Laborers prompted to share their Love, share their hugs, share the struggle.

My mom used to tell me that anything worth doing is going to most likely be a bit of a struggle. I'm so thankful my struggle includes Christ and His precious people. I'd never trade this sweet Labor of Love for anything.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

...He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
                                                                 Psalm 121:7b-8

     August 26 it is!

Jonah had a rough week to say the least. No matter what we did, he was discontent, whiny and unhappy. I was perplexed. He's normally a pretty easy child to please. Throw him in a room with some legos and we're good to go. 
     
But what are you going to do? There are 3 other children to take care of, life moves ahead. We asked him if something was bothering him, but got nothing. So, we went about our business. 

Then, as we're riding in the van to go visit friends, the back seat burst forth - 
        "What if the plane crashes, what if we fly into the ocean,
                           what if, Mom??!!! What if...??!!"

Oh, Jonah.  My heart hears and understands. Jonah has flown before, in his wee toddler years, but I'm sure he doesn't remember, nor does it even matter. New things are scary, whether you are 8 or 98. And we're introducing a whole lot of new into their little lives. So, I respond in honesty...
 
 "God's already there, Jonah. I don't think our plane will crash, 
                                                     but even if it did. God's already there." 

     He sat back, "August 26th, huh?" "Yep, August 26th." 
      
We arrived at our destination and the conversation was forgotten. 
Then this week I went to check Jonah's grammar. The assignment, evidentally, was to create commands out of these words...love, read, take, help, and stand. This is what Jonah came up with...

Oh little man! I love how God works in you! Resolve. I like it. God has a plan and a purpose. So it is, we have a date with an airplane to Haiti. August 26th, 6am, Detroit Metro Airport. 

Preparing...

Wear sandals,
                 but not an extra shirt. Mark 6:9

I admit it...I'm a bit freaked out. A little over 3 months and we'll be in Haiti. Praise the Lord, right?! After all this waiting and waiting, we'll be there, living and working, making friends to cry and laugh with, trying to figure out what peppers are hot, when the water is the warmest, and how on earth to do anything of lasting value...

There it is, the question that has me rolling over at night, praying aloud -
  "Are you sure, God? What in the world do we even have to offer?"

I read books and blogs, I watch documentaries, I study social work articles until everything is a blur. I feel so unprepared...

My daily litany is "Lord, How am I supposed to do anything of impact? How are we supposed to make a dent of difference in even one person's life in 8 short months?"
 
Then I came to grips with it...Reality.

            Who knows what we'll do. We'll share Christ. We'll smile and laugh, be frustrated, and exasperated, we'll cry...with brothers and sisters a world away who open themselves up to sharing life with us. We'll try to teach, but we'll be taught. We'll support, but be built up.

I can prepare and prepare, but what I'm really called to do is share.  
                                  God knows what we'll do. That's enough.

So instead of preparing this week. We jumped in. I read this verse from Mark in bible study and God spoke to my Spirit. We had enough money in our bank account for 6 one-way tickets to Haiti, so we bought them. I put on my sandals, metaphorically speaking, instead of worrying about the extra shirt.

I'm enough for those God puts in my life, because He is enough. We'll support and guide, and build up our Haitian brothers and sisters, we'll blunder and fall flat on our face, but He'll  make it beautiful.

Who are you called to share with in this life? Strap on those sandals. Jump in.  
                                                                           He's always enough.
  
             

Ditching my GPS

This is what the Lord says - your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord, your God, 
               who teaches you what is best for you, 
                     who directs you in the way you should go..."
                                                                                                         Isaiah 48:17

    My GPS thinks it knows. It thinks it is so smart.
    It thinks that County Rd C is the world's best way to get to Toledo from our house, although in reality there is a minimum of 42 stop signs on that route.
   
    The GPS thinks it knows... even though it doesn't account for stop signs, it doesn't account for school buses, and it doesn't account for farming equipment.
    Last week I tortured my GPS. I took Highway 24! The inhumanity! The GPS doesn't recognize the new highway. The new highway, however, shortens the drive to Toledo by about 15 minutes. The GPS claims you are driving in a field in the middle of nowhere. The GPS is so freaked out by Highway 24, that it eventually freezes up and shuts itself down, as if to say, "Fine! Don't listen to me! Risk your own neck, but you're not taking me down with you!"

   The only reason this is all funny, is because it's so obvious. Obviously, the GPS does not know best. Obviously it's a machine, that is certainly useful, but sometimes, it just doesn't know.

    We think like that GPS sometimes...oftentimes. We think we know. We travel in one direction, not even imagining that there is another way, a better way. We take the way that sounds good, to the world, to ourselves, but...
                          there is a better way.
  We think we're the best GPS...but God knows. He knows infinitely more than we ever could. He sees the whole picture. He knows what roadblocks we'll encounter along the way. He knows....He actually knows.
    And we don't simply have a God who knows. We have a God who knows us, and cares for us. We have a Redeemer. Who thinks we are more precious than we could even imagine. 
       
    That road may look pretty scary, though. It might have rough patches. It is often uphill, and it is certainly rarely easy. He never promised that. But it will be worth it.

I'm gonna take that risk. I'm gonna travel where He directs. 

I may never see more than one day ahead, I may not see the next turn, but it's so worth it. I promise you, He promises you. It's so much better.

There's a song I love, by Group 1 Crew -----
         "I wanna live dangerous...risk it all for you, Lord. I want you to wake me up, 
           from the life I've known before."

What part of your life could stand to look a bit more "dangerous"?
Where is God calling you to risk it for Him?

I promise you He's faithful. He has the best way.

So if our life looks a little crazy, a bit risky, you know why now.

I ditched my GPS. I'm going with Him. Haiti, here we come.

Free at last...

...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. .                                                                            2 Timothy 1:7

     I have this ridiculous fear of snakes. It's ridiculous. For years, I avoided National Geographic shows for fear of coming eye to screen with a snake. I didn't read reptile and amphibian books to my kids, I avoided nature magazines. I walked the long way around the snake house at the zoo. 
     Then I went to bible study.
     That's what happens when you go to bible study, by the way. Stuff happens. Life changes.
     What would happen if your worst fear was realized? What's the very worst case scenario?
     Hmmmm...venomous snake, painful death. I felt silly. Everyone else had serious fears- husband's leaving, children kidnapped, cancer. No way was I sharing my snake thing. 
     
But here's the crux I learned in the study. So what?  
     Get bit by a venomous snake and die. I'm Christian. Dying has nothing on me. Dying means life. 
     
     So what else you got Devil? Emotional trauma, desertion by all those I love, the loss of everything that matters to me. My God's bigger than that. So, here's the truth I know...my God loves me. I don't want to live in fear. He says I don't have to. I'm tired of it.
     Then, what is the alternative? God's answer... Freedom. 
      I want to live free. I opened my heart a little more to God's plan that day.

     Then I went to a conference and had to share my amazing insight with a group of women (thinking I was so wise and learned). One woman at my table turns to me and says, "A long time ago I stopped praying for God's will in my life. Now I pray, Whatever you want for my life, Lord. It's yours, just take it."

    I was taken a back. Was she serious? I mean, if I prayed that, things would happen. What if I was actually killed for my faith. What if He had a plan for my children I didn't like? If I opened my mouth and prayed that prayer any number of things could happen! (Snakes could be involved. :-)) What if...

    So I did what any normal person would do and I sat on it. I let it ruminate in my heart for a good year. Then one day, I had enough. 
    "What do you want from me, Lord?"  
    I got my answer - "You."
    And I realized, He meant all of me. Not just a piece, not half, not most. He wanted all. So, I did it. I opened my heart. Not just a little. 

     I know it sounds like works righteousness to all you good Lutherans, but it's not. I know it's the Spirit. I know it's the Lord's work in me. But I thank God, He does not stop at the font. He keeps at it....every day.
     I prayed, "Whatever you want, Lord. Whatever." And life is transformed. Life is turned upside down. And as Queen Esther said, "If I parish, I parish."
     There are so very many reasons to be afraid. But God trumps every one. Snakes and all. 

 

God said, "Yes!"

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us - by me and Silas and Timothy  - was not "Yes" and "No,"
                                                                but in Him, it has always been "Yes." 
                                                                      2 Corinthians 1:19
    
       There are plenty of times in my life when God has been the parent who planted His feet firmly in the soil and said a powerful, "No." Both for my own safety and to lead me to paths of spiritual growth. But isn't it nice when the answer gets to be Yes! When the path we travel is firmly planted and rooted in God's will, that you can feel in your bones a resounding "Yes" from the Lover of our souls.
       Sometimes, however it's hard to discern God's will in your life, the path He's leading you down. You sit, staring at the fork in the road and wonder,
                                                                     "Which one Lord...which one?"
    
        And so Dave and I sat, months ago, staring at that fork...One street sign said Ohio, the other Haiti.                                                 
                                                                      "Which one Lord...which one?"
     But this Sunday, we found our answer. As Jonah's 8-year old faith boldly proclaimed,
                                                                       "God said, 'Yes!'"
     Because as 2 Corinthians goes on to say 
"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God."
         When we are talking about God's call on our lives, not just our own ideas, or pursuits of earthly wealth and stuff, and glory for my own purposes, but talking about God's call on our life and serving Him unabashedly, God's answer is "Yes!". He sees life differently than we do.
         In our life, Dave, mine, the kids...we could only see one path. In my best-case-scenario, I saw our path as life in Ohio, with a slight divergence onto a small hiking trail called Haiti, and then back onto the main road, back to Ohio. This is certainly one way to look at life, but I think we risk oversimplifying God's plan. God has a plan for His glory that is so much bigger than I can imagine. God revealed, this Sunday, that 
                                                                 His plan was both.
      Our church voted in nearly full confidence for us to go to Haiti, with their support. St. Luke and Haiti. Ohio and Haiti together- one path, where I could only see two. God's work need not be limited to the way our human minds might see life. He has a plan, and His plan is always better. 
                                                                His plan is "Yes"!

       So what is God calling you to in life? What path is the Spirit leading you down? Don't be afraid, when you're in Him, you know where you're going. With Christ, the answer is Yes.   
  

 
 

"Ooooo- Snows!"

He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'

and to the rain shower,  'Be a mighty downpour,'...

                                                         Job 37:6

     
   Walking across the lawn yesterday to get to church Zeke was surprised and enamored to see the snow. He walked out the door and said, "Ooooooo- Snows!" It's one of those precious, treasure-these-things-in-your-heart moments for a mom. As he tromped further into the snow, I watched his wonder as he picked up a teaspoon of snow in his mittened hand and let it fall, only to gather up cupfuls of snow in his little palm and let it rain over his head. It was precious, and I began to wonder...

         What will he discover in Haiti? 

   My littlest son...what will you discover? What are God's great plans for you in a land far away? Children have such a capacity for learning that I think we can only begin to imagine. It's so fun to watch them grow and learn, but the best part is the awe. They see everything as if for the first time (and often times it is!). 
   They take a moment to stare in wonder and amazement at all of God's goodness around us. Because God really does say to the snow, "Fall!" and to the Sun, "Shine!" Children are not fooled by the world around them and all of the experts of science. They embrace the creation with joy and expectation of God's next good thing, even in the mighty downpour, even in the hurricane, even in the loss. They seem to take a moment to say, "Wow!" to a Creator who certainly is capable of Wow.

          What will he discover in Haiti? 

     So, what will it be- the sparkling blue of the Caribbean, the pleasure of the sand on the seashore, the unexpectedness of the palm trees...or an understanding of compassion for those around him, joy expressed in a new tongue, a new language, with new friends...
maybe even a stirring to share what he has with the little one sitting next to him who has so little. 

What "snows" has God presented in your life? How does he reveal His Glorious self to you, His much loved child? 

May we all be on the path of discovery, to Know Him just a little bit more each day.