Eye Opener

February 2, 2012

We are quickly learning that there is more to missions preparation than we expected. For all of us, this has been a dream in our hearts for a long time. When we felt God move and speak to all of us around the same time, it was very exciting and motivating. We love God so dearly and wanted to please him with our readiness, although we all had our different reservations we had and will work through. I know I, being the planner I am, was ready to nail down every detail and devise a timeline to have everything in place. A basic multi-step process to missions. Boy, was I wrong.

I know God's voice was clear, but how many times do we hear a word from the Lord and then begin to formulate our own plan and stategy to see it happen. One mis-step after the other, I realized that my 'control' mentallity was not going to work with God's supreme authority. I was reminded of the scripture, “lean not on your own understanding, but in ALL your ways acknowledge Him.” We think we are doing this simply because we consider God, but do we really acknowledge Him. We tend to think that to acknowledge and to consider are interchangable words. My favorite definition of this word is 'to recognize the authority or validity of.'

Our team was doing what we thought needed to be done; I was researching places, estimating costs, creating a timeline of steps that must be taken, planning for visas. I even created this website. I was walking and leaning on my abilities to make something happen, rather than respecting God's authority to orchestrate things according to His plan and purpose and timing; forgetting to acknowledge the authority of our church leaders and counsel to oversee this endeavor. If not for loving pastoral counsel and a gracious God, our actions could have limited God's direction. We could have stirred offense and division with our pastors and church family; we could have cut off the very people we need as mentors, overseeers and wise counsel. We were working toward the goal on our own, but thankfully God intercepted this erroneous judgement on our parts.

He knows our weaknesses and strengths and, because we will be representing His nature and ministering His gospel, He has and will continue to test our hearts. If we are to carry the gift of salvation to the people of Bolivia, should we not be prepared as a 'good' gift from a loving father? We are not perfect, in fact, we're far from it. But we love Jesus and pray that He will use us and that He will keep us within His good and perfect will, and protect us from our carnality.

We recently met with a missionary friend of our pastor and were dealt some truth about our plans and the vision that God gave us. It was, in all honesty, hard to swallow. A truth that was presented in love but, because we listened with carnal ears, felt discouraging, belittling, and insulting. We heard with our unrefined hearts and could have allowed a seed of bitterness to sprout. I know that this was a battle for me personally, until God brought revelation to my heart and renewed my understanding. I am so thankful that we have a loving God that wants us to be whole in Him. I now know that there are things we need to learn, obstacles we'll have to overcome, reputations that will have to be built on our submission to God's plan. I also know that our God is bigger than our limitations, stronger than our obstacles, and able to establish His reputation in us through surrendering to His will.

He has placed us in the perfect place. With a wonderful pastor, who leads with integrity and will always have our best in mind as he hears from the Lord. We have a wonderful church home that is encrouraging and affirming. We're blessed with close friends to hold us accountable, and a network of 'servants' that are being used by God to make sure that our hearts and minds are prepared for the work of this vision of ministry. We are surrendered to this call and are ready for His preparation in us.

In love,
Seth