Are You Pregnant With Promise?

It was the Christmas season of 1991.  Thousands of Foursquare youth were gathering from all around the nation to meet together for a gathering called Summit ’91.  It was an incredible conference filled with great songs, awesome teachings and new friendships!

I remember distinctly a workshop that I attended at that gathering.  The woman (whose name I don’t remember or I would give her a shout out!) talked about how Mary had been pregnant with Promise.  The Holy Spirit had divinely placed within her a part of God’s amazing, redemptive plan.

She went on to say that each of us is pregnant with something, too.  Each of us carries within us the unique calling and purpose that God has for our lives.  We each have our part to play in the redemptive story.  I remember being so moved by that!

God would go on to use that pregnancy analogy over and over in my life.  He has given us promises and spoken prophetic words to us repeatedly that carry this pregnancy theme.  He has placed dreams and callings within Craig and me that remind us of what He wants to do through us to further His Kingdom here on earth.  He has divinely placed within us things that will bring hope – that will point others to Jesus – that will bring new life to those facing spiritual death.

And He has placed those things within each of you, as well.  We are called to establish His Kingdom on earth in all aspects of life!  Maybe He has given you a new way to do business.  Maybe you have a creative idea for the entertainment industry or powerful ways to help other parents.  God has placed you exactly where He wants you to be and has redemptive things for you to do in that place!

I love how another phrase for being pregnant is that a woman “is expecting”.  Because there is A LOT of expectation about pregnancy, isn’t there?  What is the sex of the baby?  When’s the baby due?  What will it look like?  What will labor be like?

Maybe you are like we are – expecting!  Waiting for God to birth what He has placed within us!

And maybe you have been pregnant a long time.  We have been pregnant for 17 years!

As any woman who has had a baby will tell you, the longer you are pregnant, the harder it gets.  Your body gets bigger.  You feel pain and discomfort.  It is challenging to do the things you could easily do before.  You are so excited, but so tired!  You just want the birth to come, already!

Maybe you are feeling that in your life.  You have dreams and hopes that God has placed within you.  But you may feel like a woman who has been pregnant a long time.  You are uncomfortable and in pain.  The waiting is hard, even disappointing.  You feel tempted to give up on what God has put in your heart.

I was feeling this way very distinctly back in 2007.  I was reading a magazine and happened upon an article that would change my perspective completely.

Heidi Baker, who runs an incredible ministry called Iris Ministries, wrote an article about being pregnant with the promises of God.  Here’s what she wrote:

“The Lord spoke to me recently about the church and said, "No more abortions." No more aborting His promises or prophetic words.

No more aborting what God has placed inside us.
He told me to ask the church: "'Who will carry that which I've placed within them to full term? Who will allow Me to stretch them and break them and mold them and cause them to be inconvenienced? Who will allow Me to utterly transform their lives by the shape of the promise within them?'"
I hope and pray you will. I believe carrying a prophetic word is like being pregnant with a baby: The way you walk, talk, move, everything is totally transformed. That has been my experience. It was Mary's experience too.”

When we give up on the God-given dreams and promises that He has placed within us, then we are spiritually aborting what He wants to birth through us – whoa!

Though it can be so very difficult to wait, the beauty of the timing of pregnancy is what it produces in us.  We are enlargened in our capacity.  We are stretched beyond our own selfishness to give our very lives for God’s purposes in our lives and for those He has called us to share His love with.  Much happens in the pregnancy process that makes us ready for birthing a promise!

Because it’s ultimately about surrender, isn’t it?  Trusting God’s word is true, trusting His timing, trusting He will do what He said He will do!  And trusting Him, even in the face of all that we will face along while pregnant, just as Mary did.  She did not allow fear of the repercussions of what God had told her to change her answer.  She would carry what God had placed within her.

She said yes to being pregnant.  And yes to giving birth.

If you are discouraged on waiting for God to fulfill the dreams in your life, and are weary of still being pregnant with promise, remember this truth from Isaiah 66:9:

“Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord.  Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.

Don’t give up!  God will bring to pass all that He has placed within you!

Reacting Versus Responding

You know those times when you've had a bad season?  Life has just taken it’s toll – bad day at work, too many bills, stress at home - you are weary and tired and everything just gets on your. last. nerve.

So when we're in that bad place and someone just sends us over the edge with their words, we no longer think before we speak. 

With our emotions raw and our sensitivities on high, we REACT.  We don't take the time to think through an appropriate response.  We just blow.  (Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s done this!)

Let’s be honest.  We know this broken reaction never brings peace.  It always makes the situation worse.  It makes an already weary heart even more burdened by creating additional drama and problems.  Things do not get better when we merely react.

Friends, I think the Church in America is in a bad season  We are continually in opposition to all our society values.  We are facing discrimination we never thought we would see in America.  It is hard not to be fearful of how much worse this is going to get.

So for many, in their fear, in their hurt, in their pain, the actions of A&E to suspend Phil Robertson for his comments got on their. last. nerve.

And a lot of people who say they love Jesus. . .reacted.

Did it make anything better?

I agree that these are frightening times that we live in.  But what are we doing with that fear?  What are we doing with how we feel when we hear about judges who are approving discrimination against Christian businesses or read stories about the continual stripping away of Christianity from schools, holidays and government properties?

What if we brought our very real fear, anxiety and pain to Jesus?  We can pour out our deep fear before Him and take in His love and His words.  Would we respond differently?

Could we let Jesus give us His perspective on our culture?  Could we allow Him to bring peace to our hearts as we keep our eyes on Him instead of our gaze focused on the chaos of this country?

Could we RESPOND in the wisdom and love of God instead of REACTING out of fear and anxiety?

Here’s what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 10:26-22 (The Message):

“Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

Don’t be naive. Some people will impugn your motives, others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don’t be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they’ve done you—and me—a favor, given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don’t worry about what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.

When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.”

Church, I think it’s time for us to realize that things are not going to go back to how they were. 

So instead of longing for the old days, what if we ground ourselves in reading the Word of God and find out how to wisely walk in the days we are in?

We can’t hunker down, safely within our church walls and hide.  We were sent for this, meant to love in the midst of this hate.  

Just as Jesus did.

But we can’t react.  We must respond with the heart of God.

Favor With God

Whenever we move toward the Christmas season, my daughter Kelsey and I LOVE to watch the movie, “The Nativity Story.”  It’s a live-action version of the Christmas narrative.  There’s something very profound about putting flesh and blood on the stories we read in the Bible.  Words on the page come to life when we remember again that these were people – just like you and me – living out the stories we are so familiar with.

I am always amazed by Mary.  An angel appears to her, telling her that she, a virgin, will bear a child – and not just any child.  She will give birth to the long-awaited Messiah, the one who will save her people.

The angel delivers this news and Mary says yes.  Quickly.  Right away.  She didn’t hmm and haw.  She didn’t “get back to him after she’d thought about it a while”.  Mary’s immediate reply to what God sent the angel to say was, “I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38).

That just amazes me about this young woman.  Mary simply says yes.  She doesn’t allow the implications of what God has said to give her pause.  Because believe me, there were implications.

Mary lived during a time when women could be stoned for being found pregnant before they were married.  So she could face death, at the worst.  At the least, she would face rumor and gossip, being ostracized for this pregnancy.  She would face being misunderstood and doubted.  And she had to face her family.  And her fiancé.

God’s will was going to require everything from Mary.  It was going to cost her physical comfort (all the mama’s out there understand that one!)  It was going to cost her emotionally, socially, relationally – her whole life was about to be hijacked by God.

But ALL of that paled in comparison to saying yes to God.  She wasn’t ruled by fear of what man would think or say.  She was overwhelmed with the honor that God had chosen her.  And she immediately decided her life was God’s, to do with as He pleased.

There have been times in my life when I have known that the Lord has called me to do certain things.  When He has directed me in areas of obedience I need to take or things He’s wanting to accomplish in my life.  And in that moment, I wholeheartedly will say, “Lord, I give You my life.  Do with it what You want.” 

I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m praying that prayer to surrender to God’s will for my life, I’m surrendering to what I think God will want me to do – or what I’m hoping He will do in my life.  And that usually includes pretty fantastic things like having enough money to be able to give to people in need or God using me in a significant way in someone’s life.  You know – something grand.

But when I pray those prayers of surrender, God takes me at my word.  And He uses my life. . .on His terms, not on mine.  And sometimes – many times – grand things don’t happen.  At least not right away.  In fact, sometimes it seems like the path becomes filled with difficulties.  Just like Mary must’ve felt.

Rejection, loss and pain were all a part of Mary’s experience as God was using her life to so beautifully bring forth the Savior of the world. And that pattern is pretty consistent throughout the Bible.  People, like you and me, who said yes to God also said no to themselves – their own will and their own comfort.

It’s ultimately a tragedy that we have bought into an idea that when God is at work in our lives, it should look so easy.  We long for the lack of conflict and worldly success.  We think that if God’s in it, things should just fall into place.  Troubles are kept far from our path.  Doors just open. 

But favor from God does not look like a perfect life.  Wealth, worldly success, everyone else’s opinion of us – these are not necessarily the signs of God’s favor.

I’m not saying that there are times when those things do happen.  But I think if we were to ask Mary what God’s work in her life looked like, she would say many difficulties came with becoming the mother of the Messiah. 

In Luke 1:30, the angel told Mary that she had found favor with God.  He was about to bestow a precious responsibility upon this young woman, and He knew she was a woman who would say yes to His plan for her life.  He also knew what He was asking of Mary would require a lot from her.  Yet He asked it of her anyway, knowing His will and His plan were ultimately the best thing for her – and ultimately for the whole world. 

All the difficulties she would encounter were not a sign of not having favor with God.  In fact, she was facing all that she did BECAUSE she had found favor with God.

And it’s funny (and by funny I mean NOT FUNNY AT ALL) how when we take steps of obedience to what God is calling us to in our own lives, our lives can begin to exhibit things that seem the very opposite of favor.

Sometimes it’s that we have said yes to being the kind of man or woman God has called us to be. We’ve committed to loving our spouse the way God loves us.  We’ve determined to respond out of love instead of anger with our kids.  We’ve chosen to be a light in a dark workplace.

But then, somehow, we face rejection for standing for truth.  We try to be patient with our kids, only to have them respond badly (and usually in public!).  We set the alarm to get up early and spend time with the Lord before heading off to work and then face persecution with co-workers who don’t know God.

The difficulties we face each day can seem to be the opposite of the great things God has said He wants to work in our lives. God told Mary she would bear His Son – but then she had to ride a donkey for days on end at 9 months pregnant and give birth in a stinky barn.

If you’re having a donkey, stinky-barn kind of season in your life, then be assured, my friends – you’re in very good company.  Mary, Paul, even Jesus Himself all had days like this on this earth.

Sometimes we need to pause and ask the Lord to remind us that He is at work in our lives.  Difficulties don’t mean God isn’t with us.  And it doesn’t mean He’s not up to far greater things in us than we could even imagine. 

Each of us has found favor with God.  And when we say yes to His plan and our plans falls apart, we need to remember that truth way deep down in our souls.

In fact, like Mary, God may want to birth something through us.  More on that in the next blog…

Thankful

Hello, friends!

You may have noticed that we have not posted as often on our blog this last month.  Our family has been adjusting to Craig’s new job, which has been an incredible blessing.  We are just so amazed at all that God has done for us!

As we look to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, now more than ever, we are keenly aware of God’s faithfulness.  He was faithful when we had no job.  He is faithful now that we do.  He has not changed.  But His faithfulness has changed us.

In the seasons of unemployment, loss and death, I have been angry.  I have been scared.  I have begged God to move us quickly through these seasons.  I have cried buckets of tears. 

And in my crying out to Him, God has taught me surrender.  He has changed my anger to trust.  He has humbled my pride – the part of me that has determined I knew what was best for my life – and He has replaced it with a deep and abiding trust for my all-knowing Savior.

Jesus has loved us deeply and reminded us of it often.  And through every season of our lives that has brought changes, both good and bad, He has stayed “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb.13:8).  And I am so thankful that He is the same and we are not – He has changed us!

When Craig and I got married, Pastor Jack Hayford gave us a couple of specific verses at our wedding.  One of them was Philippians 3:13-14:

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

There were days in our dark moments where forgetting what was behind literally meant forgetting yesterday.  That I wasn’t going to allow my trust in God today to be determined by what terrible circumstances had happened the day before.  Keeping our eyes on our precious Savior each and every day is the only thing that has gotten us through.

So this Thanksgiving, let’s choose to forget what’s behind and look forward, keeping our eyes on Jesus.  Our victory is through our unmoveable and unchanging Savior.  Amen!

Fruit and the Finish Line!

Along this difficult journey of unemployment, I have struggled to not focus solely on the “finish line”. Over the last 19 months, I have realized the importance of focusing my heart and mind on what God is doing on the journey each day and not just on the destination I’m hoping to finally arrive at.

It has been crucial to walk a path of daily surrender and to ask God for His supernatural grace for each day.  The Lord richly gives me what I need for today and what it holds – but I will also need a ton of grace again tomorrow!

And as I go day by day, I begin to see my life from God’s perspective.  I begin to value what He is showing me each day, though the days have seemed long.  One of the things He has been faithful to show me is the fruit of this long season.

A few months ago, my daughter, Kelsey, wrote me this letter:

I was so blessed by the truth my daughter was reminding me of – and I was grateful for all God has made real to her ten-year-old heart.  What fruit it is to know God is working in my kids through this time.  That alone is worth all of this difficulty!

So I have learned to see what God is doing day by day.  And then, one day, a “suddenly” happened that changed everything

I am pleased to report that after 583 days without a job, I am no longer unemployed! The Lord created a “suddenly” in my story and a finish line popped up out of nowhere. I have been blessed with an incredible job that I started yesterday.  It will provide me with an incredible opportunity to be blessed more then even before!  Only our God can work out something like that!

The Lord family stands here as a testament to God’s faithfulness.  I love and trust God more than I ever have before.  He has brought deep healing to my heart.  My family is closer than ever.  My daughters have found God in deeper ways for themselves.

Unemployment is not something I would ever wish on anyone.  But having experienced all of the fruit that God has worked each day along the journey, I would not have changed a thing!

Defining the Abundant Life!

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

To fully understand what it means to have the abundant life that Jesus promised, we have to start with the fact that it is God who defines abundant life.  It is not defined by the fulfillment of our fleeting human inventions or desires.  It is a powerful and precious life that Jesus Himself both promised and modeled for us.

See, back in His day, people had expectations about their lives and the way they wanted God’s will to play out for them, just as we do.  The people of Israel were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their promised Messiah.  And they knew exactly who they thought He should be - an earthly King who would defeat their earthly enemies and bring them to freedom and prominence. 

Instead, what they got was a lowly baby, born in a stinky barn.  He was not royal by earthly standards at all.  In fact, the Bible goes so far as to say there was nothing attractive about Him!

“He grew up like small plant before the Lord, like a root growing in a dry land. He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him; there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.   Isaiah 53:2.

He came from humble means, was nothing special to look at and would end up being questioned by His own earthly family during His ministry. 

Jesus was persecuted and lied about.  He was rejected.  His cousin was murdered.  In His final moments, His closest friends betrayed and abandoned Him.

And yet. . . 

Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s thoughts and plans for a Messiah for His people.  And He lived an abundant life.  He knew who He was.  Even at age 12, He knew He was to be about His Father’s business.  And though He faced the same humanity that we all do, He knew an intimacy with God that sustained Him, as evidenced by the many, many times He would go away to pray.  He experienced the life-giving power of the Spirit that enabled Him to walk on this earth.  Jesus’ abundant life was found in doing His Father’s will. 

And Jesus knew that we, like Him, would face incredible difficulty and pain on this earth.  He knew we would ache with rejection and grieve in death.  Still He promises us so many things:

-He would carry our burdens and give us rest (Matthew 11:28-29)

-He will give us peace of mind and heart, far beyond what this world can give (John 14:27)

-He wants to bring healing to us – He is a God of miracles! (Matthew 8:3, Mark 1:42. . .and so many more!!)

-He will give abundantly to us:  a good amount, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into our laps (Luke 6:38)

-He told us we don’t need to worry about what we will eat, drink or wear – He will supply all of our needs as we seek Him first (Matthew 6:25-34)

-He said when we ask, we will receive… we will find… and the door will be opened to us (Luke 11:9-10)

-He will always be with us, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).

These are only a few of the promises Jesus makes that show us what abundant life looks like – and there are so many more! 

But we get confused when we see the promises through human thinking instead of God’s way of thinking. 

It is very hard for us to encounter illness and death on this earth and still believe that Jesus promises miracles and healing. 

It is difficult for us to be down to the last pennies in our bank account and believe that Jesus tells us not to worry about what we eat or drink, but that God will supply all our needs.

But here’s another promise that Jesus makes to us:

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33

Jesus does not sugar coat this fact: we will have a lot of pain in this life.  But He also offers promises in the midst of pain.  Hope in the face of tragedy. He has overcome for us!  Do we believe it?  Because that is the definition of an abundant life. 

Abundant life is not merely a life of ease - it is a life of victory.  A life of overcoming.  A life of hope when all looks hopeless because we know Jesus paid for our victory.  We know Who holds our lives in His all-powerful hands.  We can rest in His perfect peace that passes finite human wisdom.  We don’t have to strive when things are falling apart – we can cling to the promises of Jesus, even if our circumstances may be opposite to those promises.

And that kind of abundant living is a beautiful mystery to those who don’t know God!  Why can we find stability in the midst of chaos?  Why can we wrestle with pain and yet still find peace?  How can we deal with rejection and still know that we are passionately loved by our Creator?

The beauty of abundant life is not in its earthly excesses, but in its power for living in every day! 

It is knowing we have victory in Jesus – even when victory doesn’t look like we thought it would. 

It’s in living a life surrendered to Jesus as Lord, and trusting He is with us, for us and moving on our behalf, no matter what our circumstances are.

It is choosing by faith to believe that because of Jesus’ work, we will overcome, even when facing adversity.

I’ve wanted God to provide for us by giving Craig a job.  But His provision for us has looked so different than I thought it would.  His thoughts and plans about this season of our lives have allowed us to feel the love of God’s people, see His miracles and trust Him more deeply as we wait on His timing and plan.

And when we seasons of blessing come – as we know they will - when our barns are full and life is sweet, abundant living means this:

"God has given you this good stuff so that you can show the world a person who enjoys blessings, but who is still totally obsessed with God."  (Francis Chan)

That’s the kind of abundant life Jesus modeled and died for us to have.

We can live in victory because of Jesus!  And when we submit to Jesus as our Lord, we can live surrendered lives that allow God’s will to play out in ways beyond what we can imagine.  We can show those who don’t know Jesus that we passionately love Him and trust Him, no matter what we are facing.  That is the abundant life!

Abundant Life vs. the American Dream

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  John 10:10

Abundant life.  It’s something that sounds so appealing, doesn’t it?  So fulfilling and hopeful.  It’s something that Jesus said He came to give to us – what a promise!

But as I look around today, I think there’s some confusion in the Church about abundant life. 

My fear is that the Church is being dazzled by the promise – not of abundant life – but of a Christianized version of the American Dream.  That somehow the goal of our faith is not a passionate, intimate relationship with Jesus and living to do His will.  Instead, following Jesus is a means to end - to end up with what I want, my own “heaven on earth”. 

My friends, this is not what Jesus gave His precious blood to give to us.

The American dream is what everyone wants, after all.  We want the 4-bedroom house with the white picket fence.  We want both us and our families to have what we need AND what we want.  We desire, not just financial security, but financial windfall.  (Which we usually want to happen overnight!)  We want to “live the dream”, follow our passions, become successful (and for many, insert ‘become famous’ here)!

I’m not, in any way, saying that these things are necessarily wrong or bad. Many of us have these things and they are a blessing from the Lord!  But what I am saying is that those things fall far short of being the definition of abundant life.  Attaining status and wealth were never meant to be a guarantee of a relationship with Jesus.  In fact, in some ways, those things can be the very enemy of the abundant life that Jesus suffered and died to make available to each one of us.

I’m reminded of the story of the rich young ruler in Mark 10.  He comes to Jesus with an honest question:  “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus shared with him, “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.”

But the rich young ruler was a rule follower – he told Jesus he had already done all those things, and from the time he was young!  Yet still he knew something was missing.

So he asks again what he must do.  I bet in hindsight, he wished he hadn’t asked.

“Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Fellow believers in America, I want to ask us to see ourselves as the rich young ruler.  We say we want eternal life.  We want salvation.  We want grace.  We want eternity in Heaven.

We want Jesus to be our Savior.  But friends, we aren’t sure we want Him to be our Lord. 

We want the free gift of eternal life.  But we don’t want it to cost us something.

The Bible says that Jesus looked at that rich young ruler, with all his wealth and possessions, and genuinely loved him.  Just as Jesus genuinely loves us.

But Jesus also told him that if he really wanted to walk with Him, he had to surrender everything of his earthly treasures to truly follow Him.

This young man had followed all the rules.  But Jesus wanted more than his actions – Jesus wanted his heart. Jesus wanted to be Lord and Master of this man’s life.  He wanted the young man to surrender what was most important to him on this earth for the all-surpassing Treasure of Heaven.

Jesus asked.  And the rich young ruler said no.

He was not willing to surrender his earthly treasures.  His stuff had his heart.  So he walked away from Jesus.  He felt bad about it – but not bad enough to change his ways or to give up his riches to follow Jesus.

Have you ever experienced that moment with Jesus?  Where He asks you to give up something that you love?  Something that you may have worked hard for?  Something you treasure?

I know I have.  And it has happened more than one time.  Making Jesus the Lord of our lives is a continual choice.

Jesus will let us make that choice.  Notice He did not run after the rich young ruler to try to convince him to change his mind.  He does the same with us. 

But if Jesus is asking me to surrender - if He’s asking me to let go of something I’m holding on to and reach out to take the hand of my Lord and follow Him more closely. . .

. . .is there danger in saying no?  I think that there is.

I don’t ever want to get good at saying no to Jesus.

I believe that Jesus stands today in front of the American church.  He’s looking at us with genuine love.  He knows all the good things that we’ve done and the ways that we’ve obeyed His commands. 

But He’s standing here asking us if we will also give up those things in our lives that we value more than we value Him.  He’s asking us to allow Him to be the Lord of our lives.

Maybe for some of us, He’s asking for riches.  Maybe for others, it’s surrendering our kids.  Maybe it’s our job.  Maybe it’s our dreams.

I invite you to wrestle with the Lord over these issues.  He understands that we are dust and that we struggle to let go of the treasures and rights that we hold so dear.

About three years ago, the Lord challenged me on my right to spend money the way I wanted to.  And let me tell you, this was especially hard when it came to going out to eat.  I really do enjoy a good meal that I didn’t cook! 
Jesus was asking me to let Him tell me how to spend our money.  To let Him decide where our dollars would go.  It wasn’t about the fact that we could afford to go out.  It was about the fact that I had to let Him tell us how we appropriated our funds.

I wrestled with God because I didn’t realize how much I just did what I wanted with money.  And frankly, I wanted to spend it as I wanted to!  French fries were never so tempting to me as they were in that month that I struggled with surrendering this to the Lord.  I know it may sound silly, but it was hard for me to let go of this!

How grateful I am that the Lord allowed me to wrestle this out with Him.  It took – no joke – a month of praying, arguing, and frustration on my part.  But I remember the moment, on my knees, when I gave my rights to our finances to God. 

In hindsight, I am amazed at His goodness in preparing me for this season when our finances would shrink to so little.  Not only was He asking me to be Lord of how we spent, but He was preparing me for a season I had no idea was coming.
That is the beauty of allowing Jesus to be Lord.  If I had said no, if I had walked away from Him – well, this may have all played out very differently.

When we contemplate surrendering to the Lord what we hold most dear, we are only aware of the loss.  Of what we feel that we are giving up and how hard that it is.

But we are trading these earthly things for the treasures of abundant life.  And not abundant life as defined by us, but as defined by God.  And that is a life beyond our wildest dreams and desires.


More on that in the next blog. . .