Incredibly Full

“…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10b

Full. I have a full tummy from all of the Christmas festivities and parties. But more than that, I have a full heart as I reflect on all that God has done and is doing in our family. A little over a year ago, we left our comfy nest in Fort Lauderdale to go on a mission. The mission: family. You see, we were very settled in Fort Lauderdale: we had a nice house, incredible friends, a great church, a phenomenal small group bible study, etc. Who could ask for more? Yet, we felt God tugging at our hearts to take what we had learned and apply it to our family. Many in our family have a personal relationship with Jesus, but many of our family members are also lost and in search of something that truly satisfies. We felt God speaking to our hearts through his word and his Holy Spirit, asking us to serve our family. To show them what a family intent on doing things His way looks like.

When we first moved, we were very excited. We had this utopia in mind of enjoying the company of family, having regular date nights, and seeing the lost saved. Well, as you can imagine, there have been many bumps in the road; some that have even tempted me to run back to Fort Lauderdale as quick as my car could take me. Once the going got rough, I was struggling and questioning God. “God, why would you move us up here if you knew they would not be open to our message, if you knew he was going to do that, if we were going to miss our old friends so much, if we were going to lose our house in Fort Lauderdale, if you knew we would have less date nights here than we did there, if you knew Mikey would miss his friends so much, etc.” I was questioning alright!

BUT then a very wise friend of mine told me that sometimes when God moves us, we don’t give him enough time to work things out. The change isn’t quite as we expected, so we bale out. She lovingly, yet firmly told me that I needed to be patient and wait on the Lord. So, I began to wait (although I am not sure how patiently), and I prayed asking God to make things very clear…and He did. The very weekend we visited Fort Lauderdale with the desire to know if we should make it our permanent home again, was the very weekend that God sent a buyer for our house down there. On top of that, we felt like we were visiting…it wasn’t “home” anymore. He was re-confirming very clearly that he had indeed called us to be with family, and that he indeed had a plan that was higher and better than my own.

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you can imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Isaiah 55:8-11 (NLT)

My husband and I now have peaceful assurance that this is really where we are supposed to be. On top of that, we are now enjoying the company of both family AND friends…something we didn’t have in Fort Lauderdale. God wanted to do more in our lives than we had planned. He wanted to stretch us, mature us, grow us, and then fill us up with Him—knowing that we were doing what he had called us to do. We are also seeing positive changes in the lives of some of our family members, and our relationships with them and their relationship with our kids is growing. Others in our family are still rejecting the Good News and still struggling (and I ask your prayer for them), but I trust that God’s word will penetrate the rocky soil of their hearts, and that one day they too will accept Jesus into their hearts.

In some ways, I felt we were having our own Abraham moment—where God was telling us to get up and go because he was getting ready to do a new thing in our lives. Except with Abraham he was moving him away from family to an unknown place. I was actually moving back to be with family to a place where I grew up, but it was a place I had sworn I would NEVER move back to. It is funny how God works! I know He has a sense of humor, because we were back in a place where we never thought we would be. Yet, he wanted to take this “old place” and make it new for us. The truth is that my husband and I had grown and changed so much since we left our family nest eggs. Moving back was a wonderful opportunity to show them a transformed life…a life surrendered to Christ. And even though they could argue theology and religion with us, they could not argue with the fact that we were different…in a good way. Praise God for that!

I share this recent change of events in my life to encourage you that no matter where you are in life, Christ came so that you can be full. Another translation of the Bible says, “so that we could have life MORE abundantly”. That means wherever you are at now…God wants to do even more. On your best day ever, God wants to do more. On your worst day, you can rejoice that God has more than that in store for you. He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

I am so thankful and grateful to say that after about year of struggling and questioning our move, I have incredible peace that this is where we are supposed to be, and God has been so faithful to show me more of himself this Christmas season. As I celebrated Jesus’ birth with friends and family, I saw that God had done a new thing…our kids were enjoying the love of Grandma and Papa, uncles and aunts, cousins, AND friends…all in the same city. He is faithful! I pray that you too will experience more of Him each and every day of this coming New Year. I also pray that you will patiently wait on the Lord so that he can show you the MORE he has in store for you.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your faithfulness! Thank you for the comfortable times and the times that stretch our faith. Please help us to experience your joy and peace in all seasons. Help us to wait on you when we start to question where or what you have called us to. Remind us of the truths in your word, and may we truly find that your word never returns empty. You are good, and we love you. Help us experience more of you each and every day of this coming year…and every day of every year after that.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Challenge: What has God called you to during this season of your life? Are you trusting and waiting on him to reveal his plan and purpose? If not, pray and ask God to give you peace; then find someone whom you can confide in, and ask them to pray with you as you go through this season of life.