Serving Christ for His Eternal Purposes

This past Sunday I listened to a pastor share a message entitled “Serving Christ in the Light of Eternity.”  This message was shared since the church was sending their long time Assistant Pastor to another sister church to serve as the lead pastor. 

Two key points of the message that brought understanding to me regarding my recent transition included:

1. Human hearts have a longing for permanence.  This longing is strained by change, by growth, by separation, and most critically death.
2. We must say goodbye to an old season in order to see a new season come.  Or, better stated: must give up in order to go up.

I must admit that I longed for the stability and permanence that I felt living in Northern New York when the Lord called me to move to Texas last year.  Life was good for me in NY.  I was a member of and serving in a wonderful local church.  I was near family. I owned a home nestled in 20 acres of woods. I had a wonderful network of friends.  Yes, life was good for me and I couldn’t imagine it being better.  What I discovered, is that it could be better, but I had to say goodbye to the old in order for the new to come.

Saying goodbye to the old was a challenge.  I can see where the transition started a few months earlier before the Lord even spoke to me about moving to Texas.  God showed me that their were things that I had to let go of: wrong thinking; material possessions that would hindered my progress forward; relationships that were unhealthy; and things that I loved doing.  It was a slow process of letting go of these things, but I can see now that it was necessary in order to serve God in the capacity that He has called me to do.

Yes, I am in new season and it is better than what I could possibly imagine.  For once, I know and truly feel that I am doing what God created me to do.  I’m so thankful that I released my longing for permanency and let go of the old to experience the new.  There is truly no better place to be than this – serving Christ for His eternal purposes. 

What My Obedience to God Costs Other People

The title of this blog is actually a title to a devotion that I read last week from my daily devotion entitled “My Utmost For His Highest” written by Oswald Chambers. 

The first paragraph reads:

If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in.  If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal.  If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset.

Later in the devotion it reads:

We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but we shall be a grief to our Lord.  Whereas, if we obey God, He will look after those who have been pressed into the consequences of our obedience.  We have simply to obey and to leave all consequences with Him.

Last year the Lord called me to serve in a ministry, Arising to Excellence Ministry.  There was no doubt in my mind that the Lord called me to serve.  I knew that I was obedient when I moved to Texas where the ministry’s main office is located. 

I went through many changes in my life as a result of my obedience, but I delighted in them since I knew that I was doing what God called me to do.  I also realized that my obedience caused me to change my focus in life, which is to serve the ministry in the capacity that God has called me to do.  This means that my priorities have changed; things that used to interest me no longer grab my attention and my focus is being diligent to do the Lord’s work.

I never really thought about the cost of my obedience to others.  As I read the devotion, I thought about the people who have been impacted the most by my obedience: my mom and dad who have always had me living near them; my local church in NY who released me to serve in this new calling; my friends in NY who no longer have the contact with me that their accustomed to; my NY employer who agreed to a teleworker agreement which allows me to continue working for them; and the ministry in Texas. 

I will probably never know the depth of impact that my obedience has had on these people.  A part of me would like to concern myself with the impacts, but I know that in doing so, I would be disobedient, lose focus on what the Lord has called me to do and cause grief to the Lord - something that I won’t do.  I can only pray that the Lord will look after all of these people and help them process the consequences of my obedience.

Twittering and Traveling

It is hard for me to fathom that January is here and it is time for me to return to NY. For those who don't know, I am working for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which is based in upstate New York. When I say upstate, I'm not talking north of New York City or Albany, NY, but north of the beautiful Adirondack mountains near the US-Canadian border. It is snowy and cold there this time of year and I must admit that I've been spoiled by the warm temperatures of Texas - it is suppose to be in the 80's today. Anyways, so much for my bunny trail here.

Under my current teleworker agreement with the Tribe, I spend one month in TX working from my home office and one month in NY. I am in the process of renegotiating my agreement and am hoping that after this month I'll be able to work 2 months in TX followed by 2 weeks in NY. This will be a much better arrangement for me.

My weekend plans include laundry, packing, and finishing up the last minute details here at home. I'm also hoping to spend some time at the beach today since it is so nice here. I'll try to bottle some of the nice weather, take it to NY with me, and let it out for all my friends and family there.

You may notice on my side bar (to the right) a new link: Twitter Updates. I am able to post twitter updates through my computer and cell phone. This means you can see what I'm doing at any given moment of time by coming to my blog and looking at my Twitter Updates. I'm planning on updating on Monday as I fly back to NY..so check the updates to see where I am.

To all my friends and family in NY, I am looking forward to seeing you all and I'll try bring some nice weather with me.