Giving up
It's Good Friday today. For many, it's another day off, a chance to sleep in, rest, relax, what have you. I already slept in, and I definitely plan on resting and relaxing too. But it's also so much more.
As a Christian, Good Friday is especially significant- this is the day that Christ was crucified. I am simply unable to imagine the horror and heartbreak of that day. All I can really do is thank God, that He loves us so much that He sent His only son to pay the price for humanity and its craziness. He gave up His son and led Him to die. But guess what? There's a happy ending to this story. HE LIVES!!! And that is why we celebrate Easter.
I've been thinking today about giving up. Now before you get too worried, let me explain. God gave up His son to die for the sins of the world- it was God's plan from the beginning. I don't have children, but I'm pretty sure I could never do that. I'm willing to bet all of my parent friends agree with me. But then I got to thinking about what I do now, and I remember that I gave up quite a bit to get where I am now. I'm not shy in sharing my story as to how I ended up here, but the short of it is that I walked away from a full-time, well-paying, benefited job to come to Grow to become a VISTA...and as you already know, VISTAs don't make much. Many VISTAs spend their service year barely scraping by. So as you can imagine, I was met with some opposition when I announced that I was offered this opportunity. "Do you really want to do this?" I was often asked. If I'm being totally honest here, I almost said no. The low paycheck did give me great pause, but because of it, I almost walked away from the opportunity. I had worked so hard for this, and I was holding so tightly to my comfortable living, my security, my reputation, knowing I was finally doing something in my field. But I'll end with this: I can't claim to have heard the voice of God very much in my Christian walk, but not long after I found out about Grow, almost as plain as day, I heard that still-small voice, "Don't let this opportunity go." Thanks be to God that I didn't.
You will probably have to give something up at some point in your life. In fact, I'm willing to bet that there is no "probably". It's scary, especially if you don't know what to expect...which you won't nine times out of ten. But I think of the sacrifice of Christ, and His father's words to him: "This is my son, whom I LOVE; with Him I am well pleased."
My favorite verse of all time is Romans 8:28; I have it on a coffee cup I use at work, ironically- "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Did you see that? It doesn't say "in some things", or "in a thing here and there". No...it says "in ALL things". Does it mean that all things in our life will be good? Absolutely not. Keep in mind it says "according to His purpose." It's not our grand plan in the sky...it's God's. He may call us to do something radical. He may call you to give up your security, your comfortable living, your reputation...the list goes on. But I meant what I said earlier, in that there is a happy ending to the story. Every hardship I've gone through in my life has paved the way for something beyond my wildest dreams. And I think it's only just begun.
You are faithful
You are faithful
We wait, we hope, we trust and we know
That Your word is our strength and joy
As a Christian, Good Friday is especially significant- this is the day that Christ was crucified. I am simply unable to imagine the horror and heartbreak of that day. All I can really do is thank God, that He loves us so much that He sent His only son to pay the price for humanity and its craziness. He gave up His son and led Him to die. But guess what? There's a happy ending to this story. HE LIVES!!! And that is why we celebrate Easter.
I've been thinking today about giving up. Now before you get too worried, let me explain. God gave up His son to die for the sins of the world- it was God's plan from the beginning. I don't have children, but I'm pretty sure I could never do that. I'm willing to bet all of my parent friends agree with me. But then I got to thinking about what I do now, and I remember that I gave up quite a bit to get where I am now. I'm not shy in sharing my story as to how I ended up here, but the short of it is that I walked away from a full-time, well-paying, benefited job to come to Grow to become a VISTA...and as you already know, VISTAs don't make much. Many VISTAs spend their service year barely scraping by. So as you can imagine, I was met with some opposition when I announced that I was offered this opportunity. "Do you really want to do this?" I was often asked. If I'm being totally honest here, I almost said no. The low paycheck did give me great pause, but because of it, I almost walked away from the opportunity. I had worked so hard for this, and I was holding so tightly to my comfortable living, my security, my reputation, knowing I was finally doing something in my field. But I'll end with this: I can't claim to have heard the voice of God very much in my Christian walk, but not long after I found out about Grow, almost as plain as day, I heard that still-small voice, "Don't let this opportunity go." Thanks be to God that I didn't.
You will probably have to give something up at some point in your life. In fact, I'm willing to bet that there is no "probably". It's scary, especially if you don't know what to expect...which you won't nine times out of ten. But I think of the sacrifice of Christ, and His father's words to him: "This is my son, whom I LOVE; with Him I am well pleased."
My favorite verse of all time is Romans 8:28; I have it on a coffee cup I use at work, ironically- "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Did you see that? It doesn't say "in some things", or "in a thing here and there". No...it says "in ALL things". Does it mean that all things in our life will be good? Absolutely not. Keep in mind it says "according to His purpose." It's not our grand plan in the sky...it's God's. He may call us to do something radical. He may call you to give up your security, your comfortable living, your reputation...the list goes on. But I meant what I said earlier, in that there is a happy ending to the story. Every hardship I've gone through in my life has paved the way for something beyond my wildest dreams. And I think it's only just begun.
You are faithful
You are faithful
We wait, we hope, we trust and we know
That Your word is our strength and joy
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