Four times now, just in the first 7 months of this year, I’ve been given a chance to pursue or even grasp something which would take us “home,” back to NC, back to family and friends…back to what’s comfortable.
As Amanda and I talk through things, pray and consider all we’ve been through to get to where we are, and, to be honest, how terribly we still miss home, it’s tempting. And yet, each time, the overarching feeling is “God’s not done with us here.” That’s comforting, don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to say no to things that would make life easier, at least in some regard.
The easy thing, like water running downstream, would be to pack up and go back. Comfortable. We could probably make each opportunity work…for a while. Eventually, it would crumble, because that’s not Your way, Lord. You don’t take the easy road.
This road we’re on is hard, yet there are blessings on the journey. That’s not just our life; that’s all of us.
Maybe just maybe it’s not about us being comfortable but rather about trusting, in the midst of our discomfort, that our Father is not unaware.
Maybe, call me crazy, but maybe He’s got work to do on us that’s best done in the valley and not the heights. Maybe, just maybe, these desert times teach us to search that much harder for water.
And no matter how deep we drill, He’s deeper still.
He’s the end goal; not a job, a house, or even a clear answer to the elusive “what am I supposed to do with my life?”
Jesus is.
So we may never feel “at peace” here. Am I ok with that?
I need to be.
I want to be.
Some days, I am. Some days…not so much. But when I stop and consider all He’s done, when I think back over all the little Ebenezers (stones of remembrance) along the way, I go “yep…He’s led us this far…I think I can trust Him with the rest.”
That sounds trite, but man it’s so easy to pick up the reins and try to drive! It’s so easy to go from trust to self-reliance! To remind me of this, over and over this summer those familiar words of Paul in Philippians have kept coming up:
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 1:6)
He will finish what He started.
The Wading Pool 