Casting

I had written a post a while back entitled “Casting Our Cares” which covered the importance of literally throwing or hurling our cares upon the Lord. This post has recently collided with another post entitled “Testing My Words” in which I shared how God will test us on lessons we have learned. I can do nothing more than laugh at the fact that these two things are having a full out head on collision with one another yet again, and I am quite sure this meeting will not be the last time. I don’t know about you, but I have a tendency to cast with a fishing rod and reel instead of with a ball and glove. If you have read my post entitled “Worry Wart,” then you already know that by nature I wear that badge quite well, but it is one I wish I could simply throw, toss, hurl away and never to have it return. But as I just mentioned, I cast with a rod and reel, so inevitably I end up reeling back in whatever I have thrown out.

In preparation for our Missionary Ambassador position to Liberia, in West Africa, we have sold our house and made the move to live with family. While I have inevitably seen the hand of Christ in every step of the way and by no means doubt the calling, that does not mean it has not riddled my mind with worry over when we are going to get this thing done, and how are we going to finish that thing all before we have to leave. Oh, and did I mention in the tangled mess of worry comes wrapped around haunting thoughts of insecurities? I have had to rehearse time and time again that whom God calls God equips, and “I can do all things through Christ” Philippians 3:13. The scary part is that my efforts to rehearse the truths of God’s word has not hushed the voice of worry that swirls around inside my head. It is all because I have cast with the rod and reel.

Control issues

What exactly is the difference between the rod and reel and the ball and glove when it comes to casting? The biggest and most important difference is whom we allow having control of the end result! When we cast with a rod and reel, no one has to be on the other end because the control is never actually transferred to anyone. We hold the control to reel back into our hands the worry, anxiety, and strife. So in essence, we never actually get rid of the anxiety in the first place. We are still literally attached to it. When we cast with a rod and reel, our hands never actually become empty. We still continue to carry around the burden that we tried to cast away earlier. And whether we realize it or not we will inevitably reel that thing back in because we remain attached to it. On the contrary, when we cast with a ball and glove we transfer the end result to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one on the other end. He is never going to toss back our ball of worry. And therefore, we are left with an empty glove free from the heavy burden of worry.

Two to play that game

Another difference is the fact that with a rod and reel we could play that game of catch all day and all night by ourselves and never need to have a relationship with anyone else. With the ball and glove, it takes two to play that game. We must rely on our relationship with the Lord. In the natural playing, a game of catch is always better when we have a friend. This is what God desires, for us to have fellowship. We are designed to for relationship! We are not to go through this life on a self-reliant basis because all that does is leaves us holding on to the same old worries we had yesterday. But with Jesus, our hands can be free of yesterday’s worries, so when today’s worries come flying out of nowhere, we can be ready to hurl those at the feet of Christ too.

How about you? Have you ever cast your worries with a rod and reel instead of using the ball and glove that the Lord desires?

Lord, help us to get out of this rod and reel mentality of casting and into the ball and glove mode of casting. You desire to have a relationship with us and that is not a possibility when we keep on pulling our worries right back into our laps every time we try to cast them off. Show us exactly what we need to do in order to keep from holding that old fishing rod in our hands. Thank you, Lord, that you care about our worries, anxieties, and troubles. Thank you for desiring to keep them and not give them back to us. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus.

Sold Out

It's been said that sin will take you farther than you want to go, deeper than you had ever imagined and cost you more than you thought possible. But, may I also say that the sold out Christian life will catapult you into water so deep you will literally be in over your head. The sold out Christian life WILL  lead you into the back side of the wilderness at times (just as Jesus was) and it WILL cost you your whole life. Compared to living a life of sin and self-centeredness the life of a sold out Christian life is beyond hard, it's impossible without the Lord holding our hands through each and every step of the way. It's no wonder so many non-Christians don't want to commit, and why so many Christians don't want to sell out.  

It’s the very reason why in Matthew 19: 21-22 Jesus told the rich young man...

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
“When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

This section of scripture is interesting because of just one little word.  It begins with an “if” statement. So, in other words, Christ is giving this rich young man a choice. Christ also gives us that same choice to sell out or bail out. However,  when we choose, Jesus tells us that we absolutely must “go” out, “sell” out, “give” out and “follow” Him. How many of us are really willing to sell out, give out, go out, and truly, wholeheartedly follow Christ? Do we really even want to? It is hard to sell everything for the sake of the gospel. Speaking from personal experience, there will be people around you who do not understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. When we sell out for the sake of Christ, we will leave people flabbergasted and scratching their heads. Sometimes even other Christians around us will not agree with our decision. But if Christ says “go,” then we must GO and not look at the expressions on the faces of those around us. We absolutely must keep our eyes focused on the face of Christ.  My family has gotten a small glimpse of this one. As you all know, we have gone through a major life change. We not only sold our house, but we sold so many of our personal belongings as well. We liquidated pretty much an entire household of stuff. And honestly, it left people thinking we had lost our minds. All I could do was try not to think about what others were thinking and focus on what we knew God has spoken to our hearts. God has spoken to our hearts that it was time to go and that “the cloud is moving.” Let me tell you when your cloud is moving you better move with it, otherwise, you will find yourself without the covering of Christ and that is one very dangerous place to be!  

When we examine the response of this rich young man we see that he was not willing to sell out for Christ. He was not willing to leave behind the cares of this world to invest in the cares of the kingdom. The sin of self-centeredness had taken him farther than he had planned to go. He was not willing to immerse himself in the deep waters of Christ. He only wanted to dabble in the shallow waters of self. And as scripture tells us it left him feeling sad.

A life not completely sold out to Christ will leave us feeling empty. There is nothing that can replace the peace and joy that comes from fulfilling the call of Christ on your life. I want to encourage you that when Christ beckons you out of the comfort of everything you have ever known. Do not be afraid to go. You never know what might happen. You might even find yourself walking on water.

Lord, I pray that as you call us to come deeper that we come without any hesitation. Helps us to learn from this rich young man who was too scared to sell out for the sake of the kingdom. Help us to sell out, go out, give out and follow after you with every ounce of our being.

Life Update

I realize it’s been quite some time since my last post. I have no excuses other than to say, when you are asked to juggle too many balls it is inevitable that some of those balls will get dropped. Unfortunately, this blog has been one of them. I am hoping that I can begin to place this juggling ball back into the rotation of things once again, but please extend some grace in this area as our family embarks on a new chapter of our lives that will be full of the unexpected. Please continue reading to learn more about the changes that have happened and are continuing to take place.

I did a post awhile back called “Dodging Bullets.” In this post, I shared that we had an interview for a position that would enable us to raise funds for Liberia more on a full-time basis. We received word that we got the full-time position as “Missionary Ambassadors.” From the instant we received this news, we were hurled into a full steam ahead no turning back whirlwind. Within 7 days of that news we had a verbal agreement on the selling of our house and three days later we signed the paperwork. We never advertised, nor did we even put a sign in the front yard. We spoke with one person and that is who ended up purchasing the property. We did not even have to negotiate price. They offered us the exact amount that we wanted without us ever telling them what that price was, they were the ones who spoke of price first. The people who moved in, even purchased some of our furniture from us, right down to the bed I slept in. No one other than the Lord is able to work out those minute details. Things have been pretty much falling into place, but at a pace faster than I can keep up with!

If you don’t already know that when the Lord moves, so does satan. Satan will try to dig deep into his bag of arsenals in order to keep the plans and purposes of the Lord coming to pass. One of the many weapons satan so quickly hit us with had to do with our rental property. We own a duplex and one of our units were not paying rent. So this meant beginning the eviction process. Now, if any of you know anything about evicting anyone, it can easily turn into a long drawn out process with no guarantee that you as the landlord will see a penny of any of the money that they owe. We had tried as best we could to be gracious and patient, but when there are bills to pay and income not coming in that you have a contract stating that it will come, it begins to create a bit of an issue. From the day we were legally allowed to take possession of the property to do any work, we had just one weekend to turn it around, and even then the tenant's things were not off the premises, just simply moved to the garage. With the help of friends and family, we were able to get the apartment ready to turn it over to property management.

As if a marathon of work on a rental unit was not enough, we also got word that my grandfather had passed away. My family had asked my husband to perform the service. In that very instant I realized that all my struggling to move was so graciously postponed by a loving Heavenly Father who not only wanted me to be with my family in their time of grief but who also had a divine appointment scheduled that He did not want my husband and I to miss. At my grandfather’s viewing, we were introduced to a family member who had spent 52 years ministering on the continent of Africa. We sat and listened to sweet testimony after sweet testimony of the Lord’s provision and protection over his life. I thank God so deeply for that divine appointment. We were able to exchange contact information and I am looking forward to developing a precious relationship with this retired missionary. I look forward to gleaning the words of wisdom that are stored up in his heart.

We had tried for a week to physically move and every time we thought we were ready to go the Lord kept allowing things to keep us from going before He intended us to go. When we finally did load the moving truck and pulled out, it was pretty much the last possible day we could because we had a flight to catch for California within a couple days of moving from the new city we were moving to. Did I mention that our move was not a town or two over, but rather a couple states over? We moved 9 hours away!

Our move went well, but we hit the ground running as soon as we got there. We have the blessing of living with family in order to ease the financial obligations of owning a house while we pursue the call of missionary work. But when you go from having your own space with your own routines and then move in with another household that has their own routines it does make for some challenges. All in all, it has worked out well. We are still in the throngs of adjusting and settling, but I have a feeling our life will become nothing more than one big adjustment after the next.

Our next major adventure is fundraising. Our family will spend two sessions on the road each being about three months in lengths. We will be traveling to various churches sharing our story and our hearts for Liberia. We place our faith in our heavenly father who is the provider of all our needs (Philippians:19) that He who has begun a good work will see it through to completion (Philippians 1:6).

Father, we thank you for your grace and provision over our lives in the chaos of this move. I pray that as we continue to step out of our comfort zone and walk in faith that we keep our hearts and minds steadfast upon you. Help us not to get distracted by all of the wind and the waves that will inevitably crop up, but to keep our eyes focused on the one and only author and perfecter of our faith.