It has been a few weeks since I posted. How time seems to stand still following reentry from the mountaintop experience of a mission trip, only to find it hasn’t stopped at all. Time has moved rapidly, while we are the ones still in His presence processing all we have seen and experienced. We are moved beyond words. While there exists a flutter of activity around us, all we hear is the flutter of the southbound birds soaring in the thousands overhead reminding us of the swirl of new movement churning deep within us, beckoning us to process all we experienced and apply it in some meaningful way. But how?
My husband and I struggle with these emotions each time we return from a trip. What does it all mean? Life? Missions? Service? Our Purpose? God’s Will? Where are we going? Where have we been? Why? Ultimately it boils down to one issue – Surrender! Not a complicated word at all to define or understand, yet the application of it seems almost unattainable at times. No sooner do I believe I have surrendered my life, or even a day, an agenda, than I find I have stolen it back.
Still the more we travel abroad, the more we learn about the freedom there is in surrender. It seems counterintuitive. At first, it feels incredibly vulnerable, naked, to be completely barren of all control, hoping and trusting in that which we do not see. Yet, isn’t that what faith is all about? Swinging from the proverbial cliff knowing God has the other end of the rope in his hand. There were glimpses of these moments, where we felt this feeling of utter surrender.
I believe John felt it standing on top of the fortressed walls of Dubrovnik, 1000’s of years old. On the one side, overlooking the Adriatic Sea in all of its beauty, while on the other side, marveling at the age old city ravaged by wars and rebuilt, surrendered and survived. 
I believe Leland felt it, as he stood atop Capljina, and saw our sister city through the eyes of our dear friend, and Associate Pastor, Predrag as they gazed out upon the Evangelical Church. The church, once dedicated to our Lord despite the vandals and naysayers, now stands pristine, pure and accepted along the banks of the Neretva, God’s house. Most of all, we see this surrender modeled every day, in every way, in the Christian followers of our partner church. Their humble worship and simple faith is a testament to lives surrendered to Christ Jesus, come what may. They have seen the worst of humanity and still they come, with the greatest, purest, most authentic, submissive faith we have ever witnessed.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven!” This is what we see. This is what we saw. How do we bring it here, into our daily lives, into our communities, into our churches and relationships, with reckless abandon and total . . . surrender?!
James 4:7-8 (CEV)
"Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can't make up your mind."
In His Service,
Kathy
http://www.evangelica.ba/en/index.php
I appreciate this post, especially (although all of them touch my heart).
ReplyDeleteRe-entry has been an ongoing process for me. Somehow, coming back into my reality here has left me with a certain undercurrent of unsettledness that is hard to put my finger on or define.
All those question marks above, I can own. I can see where I've been, and there was a time when I thought I knew exactly where I was going. Then, God turned me upside down and gently shook me about just a bit. This mission to BiH was my turning point (no wonder I came under such attack in advance of the trip).
Add to "Life? Missions? Service? God's will? Our purpose"--Dreams? Have my dreams been His dreams? I believe He gave me those dreams, I embrace them and have experienced amazing provision in their pursuit, but I realize now that God can dream much bigger than I can.
Enter surrender. With hands outstretched, holding all of my dreams, I surrender them to a limitless God of the Universe, expecting to realize more than my wildest imaginings.
Now that's a magic carpet ride that I'll take anywhere...as long as His breath blows the wind that carries me onward.
Nearer to God--that's what I saw in Capljina, that's what I experienced, that's where I long to be every day.
"Come near to God, and he will come near to you." wonderful promise.