You will be stretched but FEAR NOT

This season has held an increase in demanding responsibilities. Demanding meaning there is no procrastinating or briefly ignoring them, they are there and it must be addressed and handled with love and care. These past four months in Zambia, JJ and I have had the honor and blessing to raise our son and train 38 students (while also remodeling our home). I do not think being busy is a verb to brag about or celebrate because being too busy could have serious downsides. I am what some church communities would call a recovering "Martha."

Being a "Martha," could take away from the ability of being intentional with the people sitting in front of you. It could take away from self-reflection which is vital for personal growth. Most imperative, it can take away of sitting at the feet of Jesus and basking in his presence (Luke 10:38-42). Experiencing these things in the past, I have learned the hard way to not overload myself and recognize that if I do not have time for those three things, that I have taken on too much. However, I really had no choice these past four months but to jump into the deep-end. I believe it was what God required of me in order to grow, and he definitely surrounded me with a team who like Moses, held up my arms when I was too tired (Exodus 17:12-14).

As we graduated the last class this on August 8th and await the following class on the 22nd, I spent the gap time sitting with a cup of anything hot and reflecting on what God did in me. What I kept hearing echo my thoughts was "my capacity was stretched." It reminded me of a sermon my friend gave during revival week that was centered around Isaiah 54. She is a minister to a closed country in the middle-east and her and her husband are effectively ministering while also launching missionaries in surrounding Muslim countries. So as I sat on the edge of the gorge on our base, overlooking the Zambezi river, I opened up Isaiah 54 and this is the word I feel like the Lord stirred in me to share for this month's blog.

Isaiah 54 is a beautiful chapter where God through the prophet Isaiah commands Israel to expand their tent because their offspring will possess the nations. As He gives this command in verses 1-3, I ponder on what that actually looks like physically. Growth is never easy. Anything that is worth anything requires risk, time, and sacrifice. If one has never truly experienced such a growth, one could read over it and simply see an image of a tent being expanded. However, the scriptures carry a depth that goes beyond the words one reads since it is a massive narrative pointing towards Christ! Considering these verses and the history of the Israelites, we know that expanding their tent pegs to welcome the nations looked like Jesus coming and dying for us. In response, it also looked like us dying to ourselves and picking up our cross to follow Him. Jesus made the way legally for the Gentiles to come into the fold of God and for the believers (in junction with Holy Spirit) to lead the world to the understanding of the truth. As believers, to walk this out takes risk, time, and sacrifice. In order to be the fullness of the person God has destined us to be, we have to be ready to consistently stretched and to "enlarge the place of our tent" and to "to not hold back; but lengthen our cords."

This sort of pump up speech does not come without the tools. As one carries on in Isaiah, verse four to 17 speaks into who God is to us and for us. Summarizing the chapter, God says enlarge the place of your tent but fear not, for you will not be ashamed. Who is commissioning you to do so? Your Maker, your husband, the Lord of hosts. You will not be ashamed or disgraced but with the everlasting and steadfast love, He will not depart from you. No weapon formed against you shall succeed. Terror will not come near you. Righteousness will be your establishment. Your children will be taught by God and great will be their peace.

Wheewww! So good. Knowing that is the truth, of course you want to enlarge your tent right?? That is the beautiful revelation that our spirits witness as true and carrying it out in the physical takes some work - it takes enlarging our tent. Expanding what we currently have because in the flesh, we will never be enough to finish the Great Commission but in the Spirit, He will always be enough to do the work!