And, Father, for those times when answers don't swiftly come - the cross is enough. The cross is enough. I love that phrase from a song we sing at church. I love it because of its truth. On days like today when I have more questions than answers, I rejoice in the fact that the cross is enough. Because of the cross, I belong to You. And. That. Is. ENOUGH!! To know You - to belong to You - to experience Your participating presence . . . Yes. That is enough! That is ALWAYS enough! That will forever be enough!
Change is hard for me sometimes. I'm comfortable in the familiar. I find security in the familiar. Yet. That's not a good thing, is it Master? You want me to find my comfort in YOU. You want me to find my security in YOU. In. YOU - and YOU alone. Not in my circumstances. Not in relationships. Yes, Master. I understand that clinging to the familiar often means that I am unconsciously allowing the familiar to govern my life instead of following your leading. When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, it was a call to leave the familiar patterns of their lives for an extended time and. possibly, forever.
There is protection in the familiar that ties us (me) to it as surely as an unborn baby is tied to its mother through its umbilical cord. At birth the baby must leave the warmth and comfort of its mother's womb and the connection of that umbilical cord be severed. When that cord is cut - so is the baby's lifeline. The comfort and security of the womb is gone and the baby is cast into a cold world. For most babies - the cold world outside the familiar womb involves the open arms of their parents ready to hold them - ready to love them - ready to feed them - ready to protect them - ready to meet ALL their needs. Oh. Thank You, Father. When You called me to leave the familiar church home that meant so much to me, YOU were there to hold me - to dry my tears - to meet my every spiritual need - to teach me that my comfort and my security is in YOU; not in a familiar comfortable building - not in the comfort and familiarity of programs - and - not even in the comfort and familiarity of people I love.
Father, You have taken me outside the familiar. But - it's been a year. And now. The "new" - the "different" - has become familiar. Oh Master, You will not allow us (me) to become so comfortable in THIS familiar that it begins to govern my life, will You? It's time for our new young church (and me) to move forward on the next step of our journey. We need some programs in place to do what You have called us to do . . . to make disciples . . . to teach them what abiding in You looks like. Would YOU unfold Your direction for what that needs to look like? The familiar - the comfortable - is Sunday School. I have loved Sunday School most of my 67 years. I have found immense joy in teaching Sunday School and loving the students who desire to study Your word with me. I have ZERO desire to be "different" for "different's" sake! BUT. I know You have a plan for how YOU want us to equip believers for ministry. That plan may or may NOT be for "Sunday School" as we have known it in the familiar past. If that plan moves us outside the familiar - and I feel like it will - would You help me be open to forsake familiarity for Your good pleasure?
Methods may change. Help me not resist change. You are immutable. You are the same yesterday, today and FOREVER. Your ways are perfect, O Lord. You will perfect all that concerns us. You who began this fresh work outside the familiar, will be faithful to complete it. Open the ears of Your servants, Master, that we may hear Your voice and obey.
Therefore, let us go forth to Him [Jesus], outside the camp [of familiarity], bearing His reproach.
Hebrews 13:12
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