I love stories where the underdog wins, stories where people do things that may have seemed impossible, where they barely make it out. Take Argo, where American embassy workers barely make it out of Iran alive through a fake movie the CIA came up with. Even better, people working for IJM and rescuing people out of the pits of human trafficking or Katie Davis who in her early 20’s rescued girls from life as orphans in Uganda. We love stories of people doing things that everyone would call impossible.
We love it because we all want a story like that, in the deep recesses of our hearts, we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Often, though, we see the troubles of life come pouring in and we forget those dreams, we decide to be more practical, to grow up. I daresay, though, we are all called to something bigger than ourselves, but how do we get there? How do we drown out the troubles of the world that seem so urgent in order to chase after the mission God is giving us?
I think we all start to live stories bigger than ourselves when we start saying yes to God every time, in the big, the small, the easy, the hard, the inconvenient, the costly, and the scary. When we start to say yes to God, we start living a story grander than we could have dreamed up, more on the edge than we would have ever dared go ourselves, and worth the pain and tears that may come.
This is something I learned during month one in India. One day we were walking through the dusty streets after leaving a coffee shop opened by a Christian ministry as outreach to the people in the neighborhood. While walking, I heard God softly prompt me to go talk to a man sitting in a shop, my team and our host were with me, we were all tired from a day of doing ministry, the sun was going down, and we were frankly just ready to be home. So I told God no. I decided not to take the journey that day with God, I told Him someone else could do it, I told Him next time. Later that evening, I went and sat in my hammock with The Lord, I prayed to Him and asked Him to use me for something big in His Kingdom like He had with the ministry that opened the coffee shop. I asked Him to do something great with my life, I told Him I was ready for whatever He had. As soon as I prayed that, though, I heard the Spirit reminding me of earlier that day, not condemning me as we don’t worship a God who condemns (Romans 8:1), but gently reminding me of my ‘no’ from earlier. I then wrote in my journal, “You don’t open coffee shops in slums or safe houses overnight, you do it by saying ‘yes’ to the Holy Spirit each and every time.”
The truth is, we don’t magically wake up with a budding ministry or an orphanage or the ability to beat back the darkness of this world. We get there by saying yes each and every time. God in His goodness will give me a second chance, He already has, but He only speaks as much as we are willing to say yes. For years I felt God asking me to be obedient in my life, and I said no, and so every time I asked Him for more, I would be reminded of that which I was still holding a death grip on. I would be given an invitation to let go, trust God, and move forward, but in fear, I would often reject that invitation, choosing instead to stay stuck. I’m the one who was losing all along, missing out on God’s best for me.
As I was reflecting on this with a friend, she pointed out that Jesus did not kind of die for our sins, He didn’t say “it’s kind of finished,” no He died once and for all with a thunderous proclamation, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). And so I don’t get the option to say yes and die to self 50% of the time, I don’t get to average my times of obedience, no I must choose to die to self every time, I must choose to say yes every time. And you know what happens when we do that? We get to walk amazing adventures with God, we get to live in the peace that only comes through obedience to our Creator who knows what is best for us in the first place.
To the world, coming on the World Race was a big yes for me, I left my job, my family, my friends, my house and my stuff. You know what, though, to me right now writing this, it seems like the littlest yes of all. It seems like this was too easy, too perfect, too in step with where I should be. There were hard moments like crying in Half Priced Books as I despaired that the funding would not come in, moments where I realize that I am walking a separate journey for a year from those who I love, and yet, it all pales in comparison to what God is doing. It pales in comparison to being able to say that I am walking in the sweet spot of God’s will. It pales into comparison to how God chose me and you to be part of his grand story.
It doesn’t always look like selling everything and going around the world. In 2014, for me saying yes to God’s will looked like working out and eating healthy in order to lose weight. While it was hard and not always a joy to wake up at 5:30AM to work out, it was worth it a 100 times over and I wish I had been quicker to say yes to God’s prompting because I found the freedom of following a Creator who knows what is best for us. On the backend, I think we always say we wish we had been quicker to say yes, quicker to renounce the things that were holding us back and plunge in.
So can we all do this together? Can we all pray:
“Lord, what are you asking me to be obedient in? What are you asking me to give up? What are you asking me to do? I believe your ways are always the best ways. I believe you have the best for me. I believe you are a Good Father who has the best plans for me. I believe you are not trying to rip me off. I believe that any sacrifice I may make in this life pales in comparison to the sacrifice of Christ. I praise you for the peace that I get to receive because of the sacrifice of your Son. I praise you for asking me to be part of the grand story you are writing. I praise you for using people to do what seems impossible. I rebuke any spirit of comparison to what you are calling others too. I speak against feeling like your call is small or despairing because I can’t see the outcome. I resolve to follow even when the next step is confusing or I can’t see the fruit. I invite you to speak to me and ask you for the strength to say yes every time.”
You won’t regret it!
