For His Glory

So, my journal is posted, and we are now past the initial shock and disappointment of this situation we found ourselves in awaiting Samuel’s visa. It’s been a few weeks since our trip and I have begun to see little nuggets of truth and insight that have really helped me to continue persevering through this trial. With all the scripture everyone was sending us in emails and messages, it seemed pretty convenient to just print off the emails and pray through the many verses right there on the paper. A few days later I was able to jump back into the Psalms which I had been reading through prior to our trip. The Psalms are quite applicable to my heart right now, and I am finding so much comfort in reading them.

I also just finished the book I had started at the beginning of our trip to Ghana - Crazy Love by Francis Chan. He has SO many good points……like this one:

I wrote this book because much of our talk doesn’t match our lives. We say things like, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Then we live and plan like we don’t believe God exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn’t come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His promises.

We are consumed by safety (and I would add for myself that I am consumed by staying in my comfort zone). Obsessed with it, actually. Now I am not saying it is wrong to pray for God’s protection, but I am questioning how we’ve made safety our highest priority. We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God’s best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.

Would you be willing to pray this prayer – God bring me closer to You, whatever it takes….

People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.

Sounds pretty crazy doesn’t it? But the question is clear - are we willing to go ‘all in’ for Christ? Will we have the faith to enter where God leads us, even if it looks uncomfortable, painful, or possibly even really hard? Will we be Christ-followers who are more concerned about God’s glory being revealed through our lives and trials and situations, than our own comfort?

These questions have resonated through my soul over the past weeks. Am I willing? Can I have a joyful outlook in this trial because of the way God has and will display His glory through it? The apostle Paul willingly served Christ in this way. In 2 Corinthians 4: 8-10 he says:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

There are so many purposes in suffering and in trials. And one of them that I have been reminded of over the past few weeks is that God uses trials in our life to demonstrate His awesome power, presence and sovereignty. In this adoption we have witnessed some awesome stuff that God has done. Time and again. And I'm looking forward to the end of the story.

God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through. –Francis Chan-