The slight yet oh so cool breeze shakes the air around me. I find myself sitting at the guesthouse we’ve been working with this month looking back over the weeks past. I’m in awe. Awe of the opportunity, awe of the privilege, awe of the process He’s been walking me through.
I want to share with you the flower effect, but first let me give you a little backdrop.
This month we’re in Siem Reap, Cambodia, home of the historic Ankor Wat, and we’re partnering with a guesthouse here run by some World Race alumni. If you know me, business and ministry is my bread and butter, so to have this opportunity to dip my feet in the pool of overseas business ministry is big time! Our hosts are absolutely incredible, and the way they’ve come alongside us, challenged us, poured out their wisdom, and made us a part of their ministry has been so impactful.
Throughout the race God’s been chiseling away my flesh and getting to the heart of my true desires. I often read Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” and thought to myself, is it that simple? I tried to formulate some intricate equation to discover my desires, and it always left me exhausted and more confused than when I started.
Delight, it’s such a simple yet profound word. Defined as a high degree of gratification, joy, and extreme satisfaction, it’s the exact response He calls to have in our relationship with Him. Out of that we discover what our hearts truly crave, and that craving, although portrayed in many creative and differing lights, is ultimately Him.
If I had to describe the Race I’d say it’s global classroom of sorts. The subject of study? Intimacy with God. I find myself sitting back from time to time pondering what a grand privilege I’m living out day in and day out. To be able to experience the world with people I love while at the same time experiencing God in such profound and indescribably beautiful way is absolutely priceless!
Now let me clarify. God doesn’t need the World Race. God doesn’t even need us. I mean if He did that’d be a scary reality, having the Lord of All being dependant on us down here. Sounds like a slippery slope I’d never want to build my life on let alone worship. But that doesn’t mean He doesn’t use us, crave us, and desire us with all He is!
For me personally, He’s used the platform that is the World Race to completely rock my world. It’s been a long, grueling process, one filled with blood, sweat, (especially here in Asia) and many tears, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Hard, true love is what He’s all about, and that’s what He’s been giving me big time lately. I find Hebrews 12:11 to describe this beautifully. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
I’ve been through the valleys, days where I was pounded by the devil and wanted to shut down and just call it, days where I wanted to run as far away from where I currently was, and days when I was just tired of it all, the people, the ministry, everything. But without walking through those valleys I’d never have experienced the depth of growth that God jealously desired for me, let alone be able to fully appreciate the view from the mountain peaks.
So let me wrap a bow around it all and bring you back to the flower effect.
When we first arrived in Cambodia God told me to “enjoy the flowers, enjoy the season.” Simple enough, I thought, but how about some fruit Papa? Asia seems to be the fruit capital of the world, it’s everywhere, and therefore fruit is a very tangible concept for me, so I tried to throw that in with the flowers. Revelations touches on this, but God had to remind me how He doesn’t need anything added to His Word. Even if it don’t make any sense to me at the time that doesn’t take anything away from its absolute validity.
So the other day we put on a date night for our beautiful hosts. I was on grocery shopping/flower duty and so I spent a good hour traversing on my bike through Siem Reap in search of a flower shop. Crossing the language barrier can be rough at moments, so I was directed from locals there and back again on my quest for roses. My frustrations grew as I found myself, as Samwise Gamgee would say, “going in circles.” I finally took a few moments to just breath and ask God to help me out with this one. Tid bit of advice, this should be step number one always. At last I arrived.
My expectation as I entered the shop was to simply get a few flowers wrapped up in a some paper of sorts, and be on my way. However that was not the case.
The florist had me pick a few flowers out of the bouquet, pulled out a chair for me to sit on, then went behind the wall to get them prepared. I sat there as this cute little girl sang itsy bitsy spider while clinging to who I assumed was her mother. Shyly, she kept looking up at me as I joined in the song, she was so ridiculously cute! A few minutes went by then the florist reappeared holding what looked like an ornate rose collection readied for a wedding.
The Flower Effect – God will always get us to the exact destination He wants us at, and upon arrival it will always be infinitely more beautiful and ornate than we could have ever dreamt up! So with this fact in place, why don’t we start living out of joyful expectation rather than frustration. An expectation for all the goodness and love He promises to pour out on us not just at our destination, but in every footprint on the journey there!
This past week has been filled with some unexpected obstacles. A few days ago I received the news that instead of a tax refund that I was expecting to get, I owed upwards of $2300 for taxes this year. Talk about a little punch in the gut. I share this not to entice sympathy but to bring home a point.
If you know me well enough, and my family will know exactly what I’m talking about here, you know I’ve often struggled with being overly “sensitive” with money. Long story short, I really don’t like spending money. So put pre Race Abel in this scenario and panic would be a very likely response. Thankfully God is all about this thing called transformation, so that wasn’t the case.
I won’t deny it was hard to swallow, but the peace I experienced, incredible. I sat and talked with Dad about it for awhile and He told me I had two options. The first, wallow over it, wishing it hadn’t happened and worry about my financial state, or the second, trust that He’s perfectly sovereign and when He says He’s got me, He means it. Decided the latter option sounded better, so that’s where I’m at.
While in this world we’ll get thrown punches from all sides, that’s the nature of the beast, but it’s all about how we respond. Our destination is set, our journey completely secured in His hands, so let’s respond in a way that exemplifies the One we belong too, the One we delight in.
