I've been sitting on my deck weeping this morning. It dawned on me about an hour ago as I was finishing the preparations for my sermon that it was two years ago today that I hit the wall and reached the point of saying to Daphne "I'm done". Two years ago today. Burnout. Leave of absence and two months of counseling in Colorado. The decision to resign from my job as Director of Operations, then to resign from the organization and from ministry. Wondering where in the world we would end up, or how God would provide for our needs. A move to Conifer, Colorado where the only person we knew was Bob our realtor. And here I am sitting on my deck, watching the sun rise over the mountain... wondering how in the world we ended up here?
It is the Irony of God that I'm preaching today, and that the last point of my message is about yielding our lives to God because we can trust Him. Wow, that is the understatement of the century. We are a living testimony to God's faithfulness through times of doubt and darkness. He never let go of us, never gave up on us, never stopped loving us. I gave up Christian ministry to move to Colorado, then I gave up crisis management consulting to follow His leading to become a pastor at Journey. And now I realize that He gave it all back to us - a role in ministry AND crisis management too. I leave in less than two weeks for South Africa to lead a crisis management training for a mission group there, and in October I will be training one of the largest churches in Denver - and I have done absolutely nothing to gain these two training opportunities. He has proven to us yet again (as if He needed to prove anything) that He is God and we can trust Him. He will not leave us or forsake us. All He asks of us is our TRUST.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5,6
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