We are now officially in the midst of our support raising. We are only in the early phases and can already see what an emotional journey it will be! A good friend once told me that every Christian should have to raise support because it will put your faith in the Lord to the test like nothing else. It nearly forces you to become humbled at his grace and mercy.
This statement is becoming more and more real to me each day. Although we must be the hands and feet of fund raising, I’m learning that every cent we raise is only because God has provided it! Our lack of control is becoming evident and I believe, while uncomfortable, this is where the most growth occurs.
As a nurse, I’m a hands-on learner. I learn best by doing. I feel accomplished when a task I’m given is completed successfully. Nursing involves specific skill sets and the ability to assess a situation, evaluate it, create a plan to remedy the situation and then implement that plan. With this being said, I like to work efficiently, organized, and I enjoy checking things off my to do lists!
Why am I explaining the mechanics of a nurse’s job to you? I’ve noticed that I’m already trying to check support raising off of my list, and anything on my list must be completed as quickly as possible. Somewhere along the way I got the impression that the more work I do, the better our results will be. However, my plan leaves little to no room for God to move!
Throughout this journey, He has begun to show me that I often place more faith in myself than Him. I choose to put energy into earthly, incapable idols rather than an all powerful and eternal God! His love breathes life and has the power to satisfy longings in the deepest of hearts.
Isaiah 55 says…
“Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money,
come buy and eat!
Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you
will hasten to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has
endowed you with splendor.
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God,
for he will freely pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways are my ways,
declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without
watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the
sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth;
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow in the pine tree, and instead of briers, the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”
This passage encourages me to strive for simplicity. Why waste my time attempting to fill my soul with things of this world when we serve a God who is everlasting?!
Growing up in a Baptist home gave me a love for gospel music and hymns. The messages in hymns are simple yet strong. They are old and outdated yet still speak truth in this post-modern era. As I look forward to not only the remainder of our support raising but to the race itself, I want my prayer to be that I truly can have “Just a closer walk with thee.”
