Risk!

Risk!

by | Oct 16, 2012 | Devotional

John Eldredge, in his little book, Dare to Desire, says, “God has rigged the world so that it only works when we embrace risk as the theme of our lives…All attempts to find a safer life, to live by the expectations of others, just kills the soul in the end.  That’s not how we find life.”  Eldredge then challenges us to choose a path of eternal significance rather than over-analyzing and feeling the need to always take the most secure route.  He says, “Don’t ask HOW-that will cut your desire off at the knees.  HOW is never the right question.  HOW is a faithless question.  It means “unless I can see my way clearly I won’t venture forth.”  I have come to realize that is how I lived the first 40 years of my life.  I played it safe, I didn’t do anything unless it was safe.  Everything over-analyzed and secure.  I know what to anticipate tomorrow because it will be very similar to today.

God is shaking this up in me and I am finding it very freeing, yet scary!  I have hardly had to look at my calendar for years, because I know in my brain what is going on from one day to the next.  Dan is finding this quite annoying at this time of our lives, because I can not keep track of time.  I don’t know when we were where and when we will be somewhere else talking to people raising our support.

On October 4 through the 6 we were at the Steer Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota. This was a new experience for us as we had never heard of STEER before.  Art and Dorothy told us about this great organization.  While we were there we connected with farmers and ranchers who raise crops or cattle to support individual missionaries.  We also got to connect with many different missionaries from many different organizations.  What an encouragement and wonderful networking opportunity that was!  It was so cool to visit with retired pastors, as well as ranchers and farmers about missions and what God is doing out there in our world!  This gave us some great ideas and thoughts about networking with rancher and farmer friends and offering this as a way to support us in our quest to get to Nigeria.

My point for today is this, “If you play it safe, you truly miss out on His blessing for you.  At the end of your life do you want to think, “What if?”

Maturity

Maturity

by | Oct 4, 2012 | Devotional

“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.         Leviticus Chapter 19 Verse 32 …

As a young woman and mother I had the wonderful blessing of being mentored by many older women in our church.  I was about 25 years younger than the next youngest person in our church women’s group.  I had no idea at that time how very fortunate I was.  I got to learn from women who were missionaries, pastor’s wives, farmers, and so many others.  Strong women, stable women, Godly women.  This is part of my Godly heritage.  I am so thankful for that

Dan and I have spent the last week with Dan’s parents who are 87 and 90.  Elsie and Orville spent the week marking, organizing and getting things ready for another garage sale for us.  They spent a super busy week helping us.  They have done this 4 times this summer.  What a blessing that has been as we have been packing and sorting our belongings getting ready to move to Nigeria.

Two weeks ago we spent the weekend with the Minnesota Christian Campers.  We spent a wonderful weekend visiting and sharing the ministry of GECHAAN with them.  These wonderful people of God encouraged us, loved on us, and blessed us as we shared how God has been working in us through this last year or so.  99% of these people are retired and on the elderly side of life.

Last week we talked with our Senior Adult Ministry at our church.  These people are amazing!  We so enjoyed sharing how God had been working in us and where He is leading us.

Here is the thing.   What is our world going to be like when these people are no longer on this earth?  They give sacrificially, they pray unceasingly, and love their Lord and Savior in a way that amazes me.  These dear Saints know about missions.  They know their God and His plan for the world.  They know about sacrifice.  When I get to this stage in life, will I be able to say, “May all who come behind me find me faithful”?  I truly hope so.

My point for today is this:  What are you doing at the stage of life that you’re at to become a man or woman of God?  Do you have a plan?  Things to think about today.