I have noticed over the last few years that when we make plans and have hopes and dreams, they often change over time, at times in stark contrast to what we thought they might be. We are learning to trust the Lord and seek His leading for every step along life's journey. Sadly, some of our plans were made in the flesh and we have seen the failure of man's wisdom and know it will never accomplish God's will. Through these failures of human wisdom, we have learned to more accurately discern God's will and I pray that we continue to learn them instead by seeing the fruit of His wisdom. We cannot see the bigger picture of God's worldwide work, as only God knows all He will accomplish in this age of grace. We know that one day history will culminate with the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we will truly see the bigger picture that He has been painting over the course of time. We look forward to that day, but for now want to share some of what we are learning along the way.
So often, we have been questioned about how we make our plans of where to go, what to do, and what ministries to invest our time in. To be honest, we don't really make such plans. We spend time praying about what God would have done in our lives, and then we wait on the Lord for the answer. When the answer comes, we obey without question. This lifestyle has come under great scrutiny over these few years, but we believe it is consistent with what God has laid out in His Word in regards to the ministry we have been called to do.
It takes an immense amount of faith to live this way, and if it were up to us, we would fail every time. Faith is not a human effort, but a gift from God, one in which our obedience dictates the benefit. God has given each of us a measure of faith, it is our responsibility to step out in faith, and do as God commands. We could disobey the Lord as He leads us, and there would be confusion and chaos. We might seem to be profitable in something, but in the bigger picture we would have failed ultimately if we had tried to use our own strength and wisdom to accomplish things that only God can do by His power.
When our family left Maine in January 2009, we knew we would be laboring for the Lord in the sharing of the Gospel. We knew that a door was open for us in Ohio to work with a trucker's chapel. While in Ohio, the door opened for us to go to Texas to help a brother with Gospel outreach in correlation with a small local church. After Texas, the Lord opened doors for us in California, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, and on and on the list goes. Each step of the way was bathed in prayer, with one goal in mind: to obey God's leading and to give Him glory for all He has done. That is still our goal, and we thank the Lord for bearing fruit in this ministry for Him.
I look back at the bigger picture of all we have learned and experienced, and I have to say that we don't feel that we have accomplished very much. Yet when we visit those we have ministered among, there are countless testimonies of what the Lord has done through the proclamation of the Gospel, teaching, preaching, counsel, or any of a number of things God has led us to do. Those who know us will understand that stating this is not intended to be a prideful show of what we have done, in fact it is in stark contrast to our weakness and failure that God has been able to receive glory for all He has done through our ministry to Him. His strength is made perfect in weakness, and we are so glad to see all the Lord has done despite the weakness of His servants.
When we look at the bigger picture, we realize how insignificant we are and see more clearly how big God is, how merciful He is to use us at all. For that, we deserve no honor or credit, but only to Christ Jesus our Lord is any glory or honor due. It is the life and breath we have in Christ that allows anyone to be used for God's glory. In view of God's glory, we echo the words of the prophet Isaiah:
So often, we have been questioned about how we make our plans of where to go, what to do, and what ministries to invest our time in. To be honest, we don't really make such plans. We spend time praying about what God would have done in our lives, and then we wait on the Lord for the answer. When the answer comes, we obey without question. This lifestyle has come under great scrutiny over these few years, but we believe it is consistent with what God has laid out in His Word in regards to the ministry we have been called to do.
It takes an immense amount of faith to live this way, and if it were up to us, we would fail every time. Faith is not a human effort, but a gift from God, one in which our obedience dictates the benefit. God has given each of us a measure of faith, it is our responsibility to step out in faith, and do as God commands. We could disobey the Lord as He leads us, and there would be confusion and chaos. We might seem to be profitable in something, but in the bigger picture we would have failed ultimately if we had tried to use our own strength and wisdom to accomplish things that only God can do by His power.
When our family left Maine in January 2009, we knew we would be laboring for the Lord in the sharing of the Gospel. We knew that a door was open for us in Ohio to work with a trucker's chapel. While in Ohio, the door opened for us to go to Texas to help a brother with Gospel outreach in correlation with a small local church. After Texas, the Lord opened doors for us in California, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, and on and on the list goes. Each step of the way was bathed in prayer, with one goal in mind: to obey God's leading and to give Him glory for all He has done. That is still our goal, and we thank the Lord for bearing fruit in this ministry for Him.
I look back at the bigger picture of all we have learned and experienced, and I have to say that we don't feel that we have accomplished very much. Yet when we visit those we have ministered among, there are countless testimonies of what the Lord has done through the proclamation of the Gospel, teaching, preaching, counsel, or any of a number of things God has led us to do. Those who know us will understand that stating this is not intended to be a prideful show of what we have done, in fact it is in stark contrast to our weakness and failure that God has been able to receive glory for all He has done through our ministry to Him. His strength is made perfect in weakness, and we are so glad to see all the Lord has done despite the weakness of His servants.
When we look at the bigger picture, we realize how insignificant we are and see more clearly how big God is, how merciful He is to use us at all. For that, we deserve no honor or credit, but only to Christ Jesus our Lord is any glory or honor due. It is the life and breath we have in Christ that allows anyone to be used for God's glory. In view of God's glory, we echo the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth."
~ Isaiah 12:5
