God has not called you to comfort; to resistance-free or risk-free living. But He has provided tremendous peace in the storms you might face.
“We will give up the things we love, for the things we will love even more.”
Recently, my family has walked this. We have heard the call of God to something and ventured out in the peace and trust He has given in knowing that we are going to a place that He has directed us. To say we don’t want to give up what we have had is an understatement. We are desperately in love with our home church and will always consider it home. We are completely in love with the work God is doing at that church as we will forever miss being actively engaged each week in the work God is doing there.
Moving on to this new place, we are keenly aware there is vast divergence in culture, effectiveness and the sense of community that we have become so accustomed to. We are learning more each day, that this is going to be a bigger sacrifice that maybe we first thought, but in it all, we are ever-mindful that God has directed, He has called and He has ordained it. While our human nature is to flee, we stand fast, knowing that we aren’t necessarily called to the comfortable as God is not interested in our comfort, but our righteousness.
The greatest step in the right direction is the first step.
Following after God is never easy. There is always some level of sacrifice to be obedient to God. The first steps in the the right direction, are often times the hardest. If we saw the entire big picture, many times we might be so overwhelmed that we can’t take the step. If I would have seen the big picture of many of our past ministries, we would have been so entirely overwhelmed that we would not have acted and moved. If we had seen the hardships, the moments of doubt and pain, the moments of deep and contentious struggle - we would have ran away from God's blessings! However, now looking back at it all, we are deeply moved at the work of God in our lives, ministries, family and business.
Today, as we face what appears to be a hard hill to climb, we know that God is faithful to do a good work. We know that even though we might not be comfortable, we will be at peace in the knowledge that God is in control. We continue to take each step forward, resting on the promises of God. One day when looking back at these moments, we will see the fuller picture and I am sure we will see even greater the faithfulness of God in it all.