Launch date will be here before I know it. And I still have so much to do….
- funds
- backpack
- tent
- vaccinations
- clothes
- Continue to prepare myself physically, spiritually, & emotionally.
My list of things to accomplish gets longer and longer. Anxiety and nerves have set in. I have ran through hundreds and thousands of “what if scenarios” (What if I don’t get along with the team? What if I don’t like any of the food? What if I get really sick? What if….) I can’t help but feel a little sting every time I think about all of the milestones that I will miss in the lives of my loved ones. I think of how blessed I am to be serving in a church that I love so much. Sometimes when I take a step back and look at my life now I think…. “You are crazy for leaving! Why would any person give this up?”
Then I remember….. Because God called me.
When I take hold of that simple truth; my list of things to do does not get any short, my “what if” scenarios are not suddenly answered and the reality of what I am leaving does not change. But peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7) overwhelms me. My head stops spinning and my heart becomes full. Because God called me… that’s all there is to it.
We are doing a series in church: its a picture of an iceberg and you see a small portion of it above water and it is labeled “The Seen” look under the water and you see the massive remainder of the iceberg and it is labeled “The Unseen.” The series is about living your life with the right perspective; knowing that what you see is not the entire picture. That we as Christians can’t live by what is seen (the bills to pay, the family to feed, the corporate ladder, etc.) we must change our perspective and live according to what God sees (the whole iceberg).
Its a daily challenge to live according to what God sees and not by what we see. For me, this journey is choosing to live by the unseen things. Some days I do better than others. One day I can fix my eyes upon Jesus and I know in my heart of hearts that He sees everything that I need and that He will provide for me, I am assured of it to my very core, there is no doubt in my mind! Then the next day I look at my life, (its wonderful, comfortable, filled with love), my list of things to do and anxiety rises, panic sets in and I think “maybe I should go next year, or maybe I just shouldn’t go at all.” You see… living according to unseen things is not easy. It requires a lot of faith, trust and courage.
Yet… when you have faith, trust and courage to allow God to show you have to live according to unseen things, your life is full. You are provided for. You have tremendous peace. Unspeakable joy and your soul is satisfied. My encouragement to you is Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
