Nothing teaches you how best to walk with Jesus than a season of much. I’ve had many balls in the air for many years now. Things I knew God promised me. Things I have been praying about for some time. And with so many promises awaiting me, I inherently knew that if I had forced any one of these promises into being that I’d find myself in a heap of a mess and wouldn’t be able to handle it.
And so I prayed, asking God to do it His way. And He has.
God’s timing is absolutely perfect––absolutely perfect. I know this. But when I prayed for all my promises to come, I did not know that His perfect timing for each of these promises would be NOW.
Writing. Speaking. Adoption. Three things God clearly called me to.
Over four and a half years ago, God called us to adopt.
The call to write came around that time as well. But God’s call to write my book occurred just over three years ago.
Speaking was something God laid on my heart just months after being saved, before I ever knew what I’d speak about. But the direct call, the vision, came two and a half years ago.
I’ve lived in the already but not yet for some time. Already called––ordained––but not yet sent. Knowing what I would be doing someday, but not knowing when. And it appears now is the time, for not just one of these promises to come to fruition, but all three.
Our adoption is happening.
My book is being released.
And God has launched my speaking ministry.
With that, I am ridiculously thankful, but I’ve had to get on my knees, asking for wisdom. Willingly excited to follow, but cautiously discerning how.
Blessings have been poured out on my life in heaps, it seems, but with that, I feel the Spirit of God nudging me toward caution. I’ve heard it said success can be a catalyst for failure, and I believe this to be true. It is absolutely possible for us to experience some level of success only to be crushed and stretched too thin by its demands. And so I pray for God to prepare me, to prepare YOU, for what lies ahead. To give us the ability to discern when to say yes and when to say no. You and I may be presented with wonderful opportunities, but we must take every opportunity before God to ask whether or not we should do it. Not every good thing is the thing we’re called to do.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing more about what God has been teaching me. I’ll write about keeping first things first, keeping our focus on what truly matters. I’ll write about doing what’s essential instead of doing it all. I’ll write about our need for rest and margin, despite our ever-increasing to-do list. I’ll write about yoking ourselves to Jesus, partnering with Him in our callings. I’ll write about walking with Jesus, doing things His way.
God tells us to ask for wisdom. When we ask, He delivers––every time. He certainly has done so with me lately, and I know these are truths we will all benefit from. So stay tuned! If we can get this stuff, if we can do thing the way Jesus does them, we will not only impact this world for good, but we will hold onto our peace while doing it.
Any thoughts? Share in the comments.
How wonderful! You’re smart to pray and discern, as Jesus often encouraged in various parables. Like its counterpart, failure, success reveals character (and character determines response).
Today, I heard a woman also named Laurie (spelling uncertain) on the radio speaking about remarkably similar experiences (but her adopted children were from Haiti and her book was about opportunities to help others). She spoke about how the Holy Spirit had guided her through a similar process as she made some tough decisions. In John 15, Christ promised the Advocate (which
he also called the Holy Spirit and Spirit of truth) would come to those who followed his command (“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” and later, ” This is my command: Love each other.”).
Jesus used the parable of the persistent widow (in Luke 18) to convince his disciples to never stop believing in the power of prayer and to never lose hope or faith. This evening,
my father told us his only surviving brother now has no trace of cancer, despite a grim prognosis but many persistent prayers. Incidentally, we received this news on the same day of a visit by one of
my mother’s brothers, who overcame an even worse prognosis and has been cancer-free for many years. We are blessed and grateful.
That is INCREDIBLE! I am so happy to hear about your uncle! Praise God! Thank you for sharing. I love the point you made about how we should never stop believing in the power of prayer! Thanks for that.
I am glad you have been blessed so. I pray that you will have wisdom as you place priorities on all those aspects in your life. Often we are not choosing between good and bad but between things that are all good. We do need to keep in mind if we choose not to do something good then it allows someone else the blessing of being involved with that what we did not choose to do.
I like that last point you made about allowing others the blessing of doing the opportunity that we’ve chosen not to do. I like seeing it from that vantage point! Thanks, Mark!