Blessed are the Flexible….

for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Our last week of training has been blessed and sometimes met with unforeseen changes.   The other title for this week's blog was almost "Discerning with Indifference."

Our departure for Mexico has been delayed.   Our original plans were to leave last Friday with our community leaders, the Schumanns, but God had other plans.   Maria has had a sinus infection and cough for the past couple weeks and we ran into a complication; she dislocated a rib while coughing.  We found a local chiropractor and realized it was worth having us take a step back to prayerful reconsider our immediate travel plans.   After several visits to the chiropractor and praying and discussing options with FMC’s leaders, it became obvious to all that God was calling us to take an extra weekend in the U.S. and to aim to leave on Monday.

For me, the situation was another good lesson in seeking God’s will in a spirit of indifference.  My concerns and fears dealt with being perceived as being soft and somehow less than missionary if we pushed back our missionary work.   In prayer I felt God inviting me to not only recognize the “good” of serving in Mexico, but also the “good” of staying a little longer in Louisiana.   Both are goods and both provide opportunities to do God’s will.   While it may have been tempting to preemptively say going to Mexico was the greater good, it was not the good that God had in plan for us.

It is like discerning between to career options, say to become a teacher or a business owner.   Both are good occupations and can be used for God’s greater glory, but to which is the one that God is inviting me.   In life there are some decisions that are relatively easy to recognize if it God’s will or not.   Do I rob a bank or not?   One option is a moral evil, the other is not.   It is pretty easy to discern God’s will.  Do I consider a vocation to the priesthood as a married man?   While the priesthood is a good, due to prior decisions and commitments, it is not an option to discern.  

But what about two options that are both good and do not impede upon a previous decision, say do we stick to our travel plans or do we consider delaying our departure due to illness?   (hypothetically speaking of course.)  Maybe the desires of our hearts are to go as quickly as possible, but maybe, just maybe, we need a reminder that we are not in charge.   This is God’s mission, not ours.   My type A personality desires for order, structure and control and this can be a good thing and can be used for God’s glory, but it can also be a distraction and my own little idol.  It is not about me, about me being in charge.   I need to decrease so that Christ may increase.   I need to seek peace and solace in striving for indifference between both goods and seek that which will give God greater glory.

In prayer, striving for indifference, I got the sense of God saying, “Wait; wait for me.   Seek me.”   This was not necessarily the sense of God saying, “Wait to go to Mexico,” but, “Wait and seek Me.”  I have been reading a daily devotional that it immediately confirmed this sense, “I am you guide.   Do not want to see the road ahead.   Go just one step at a time.  I very rarely grant the long vista to my disciples… You are in uncharted waters… But I am with you.   It was when the disciples gave us effort after a night of fruitless fishing, that I came and the nets broke with the over-abundance of supply.”

Maybe what God was speaking to me, can be a blessing to you.   Don’t underestimate those long nights of prayer seeking God.   Don’t underestimate preserving in prayer when God seems distant and unresponsive.   Seek the Lord; stay and wait.  “I waited, waited for the Lord who bent down and heard my cry,” (Psalm 40:2).   God’s will for the disciples were to work through the night, with seemingly fruitless efforts.  Had the disciples gave up early and not persevered, had they gone home early, they would have missed the opportunity to encounter Christ in that glorious morning.

Sometimes we are so busy seeking the Lord’s answers that we miss what is really important.   We miss Him.   We miss the opportunity for Him to journey with us and to be our companion on the road.   But when we seek Him and not simply His answers, when we experience His presence, we can proclaim, “Were not our hearts burning within us!”

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will [and my desires for order and control], all that I have and possess.   You have given all to me.   To you, O Lord, I return it.   All is Yours, dispose of it whole according to Your will.   Give me only Your love and Your grace.   That is enough for me.

Here are some all some updates from last week’s blog…

Dad Gehl was discharged from rehab on Friday and will spend the next week living at with Josh’s sister’s family.   He will do outpatient rehab and will get doctors’ recommendations on how best to travel back to Buffalo next weekend.   Considering that the accident was two weeks ago, God’s miraculous hand is evident.

Mom Duke’s surgery was postponed to February 9 due to concerns regard blood counts and avoiding the need for a transfusion.   Her strength and courage is truly inspiring as she leans into God’s abundant grace.