Hope

Missed Opportunity?

Yesterday I said good-bye to a team of business students who will be working to proclaim the Good News in Central Asia. It was a bittersweet departure because originally I was scheduled to go with them. I had trained with them for months, bonded with them, and was looking forward to how God was going to use our team overseas. However, due to unforeseen (but good) circumstances, the difficult decision was made for me to stay here. God graciously provided another leader, and I trust that God will do a great work in and through them. I’m looking forward to hearing their stories when they return.

I imagine that all of us have had similar circumstances in our lives. Expectations that we thought would come to fruition, and yet God had other plans. Relationships that we thought would last that turned out to be temporary. A promotion we thought was ours until the day it was given to someone else. A chance for assured success that turned to failure. The opportunities slipped through our hands and we’re left to ponder what God is doing. Sometimes He gives us glimpses into His plan in the moment; many other times He does not.

Yet whether we see God’s hand in the flux and changes of our lives, His child can have confidence that it is there. He is, after all, working all things – good and bad, foregone chances and captured opportunities – for their good and His glory (Rom. 8:28). Missed opportunities are often His way of doing something unexpected, of changing the direction of our lives in ways that we may not anticipate. This can be scary at times, but like Lucy learned about Aslan, we can trust that He is good. Safety was not promised for the Christian in this life, and we should not expect that our lives will not be rattled in ways we did not expect, but in the midst of the uncertainty, we can trust in the constancy of our King (Heb. 13:8).

While I hope to have another opportunity to lead a team overseas, I trust in God’s perfect provision and plan regardless of whether that is the case. I know that there was a reason that I was the team’s leader for 6 months, and that there is reason that another is leading them now. What may feel like a missed opportunity for many is really the chance for more people to experience the blessing of serving. And to see how God will use it to accomplish much for His Kingdom.

 

Postscript – I would love it if you would join me in daily prayer for the team. You can follow their journey here: http://blogs.calbaptist.edu/mob/category/central-asia-business/ 

Continue Reading

Hope

Continued Faithfulness

It was over two years ago that I decided that if I was going to take this blogging thing seriously than there needed to be some sort of regularity to my posts. A few months later I announced my goal of posting every weekday. It seemed like a good goal, and at first, I set about it with gusto. My previous infrequent schedule meant that I had several posts waiting to be written that I just hadn’t gotten to yet. The discipline of a new post every weekday helped ensure that those ideas saw the light of day. Responses from readers encouraged me that God was using them to accomplish something in people’s lives.

However, as with almost any effort of discipline, there can come a time where the shine of newness fades, where the work gets harder and the rewards seem fewer. Rising early or staying up late to get the posts done can cause one to ponder whether its worth the effort. I contemplate whether I will run out of things to write about and what I will blog about the day that I do. The days, weeks and months ahead of continued faithfulness to my commitment can seem burdensome and overwhelming.

And it’s not just in writing that these concerns are faced. I supposed it is the same with many things that we ask God for, which He has given, and in which we encounter challenges over time. The job that we prayed for, the spouse that we longed for, the child we hoped for, the leadership position that we thought was rightly ours – all of these are begun with joy over the request graciously granted, and yet  as the days, months and years march on, their luster can fade.. The continuation of the task seemingly overwhelms the satisfaction of “completing” it with excellence. “Quitting while you are ahead” begins to seem like a good idea.

Until the faithfulness of God is remembered.  

The One who brought the good gift – the marriage, the job, the child, the leadership position, the blog –  will faithfully equip His follower to continue serving Him with excellence through it (See Phil. 1:6, Eph. 2:10) . Conditions and circumstances may change, but He will not (James 1:17). The One who started you on the journey will give you what you need to finish it with excellence – based on His timing, not on your inclination or weariness.

And even when the task seems burdensome and the responsibility overwhelming, when the days are long and the effort hard, there is joy in remembering that if God has called you to it, He will give you what you need to continue in it. The One who faithfully provided the gift, will faithfully provide the perseverance to continue bringing Him glory through it. And ultimately it is His continued faithfulness, and not our feeble abilities, upon which we must depend.

Continue Reading