Sunday was our first time to meet as a church in our new building! What a day... Our pastors had us all read the following prayer together:
Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love. - Sir Francis Drake
Last week I had been struggling (emotionally and physically), because our sweet MA has been battling her asthma in a BIG way since the middle of October. It's no surprise to anyone that I like to be in control of things, and there's just this feeling of complete & utter helplessness that I feel holding my child at 2am, giving her a breathing treatment so that she can breathe easily, while she fights me, because all she wants to do is be left alone. A feeling of "what in the world do we do now?" when she's on an albuterol high at 11pm, tired out of her mind, but unable to rest because her little heart can't stop racing because of the medicine that helps her to breathe.
So after Sunday's sermon, all I could do was ponder the idea of change and challenge (which I typically hate!) as a impetus for growth in my life. It's always been after my dreams have been completely shattered that the Lord has graciously used my brokenness to help conform me to the image of Christ, to direct my life in such a way to bring Him greater glory than I could have where I was.
Yet another reminder that I must trust Him, must dare to allow my too-small dreams to be shattered, because He knows my pain (my baby's pain!), and He knows my shortcomings, and He has a purpose in the challenges I face that I cannot yet see.
5 comments:
Shannon. Seriously...thank you for this. Wow.
Shannon,
*sigh*
You should write a book.
It still makes me crazy that pain is no deterrent to God's plan to grow our holiness. Instead, it's a tool. A buffer.
I wish He had a syllabus so I would know what I was being taught, and when. :o)
Thanks for the kind words...it's amazing to me how the Lord allowed me to communicate this so easily. I really love keeping this blog - when it comes to issues like this, I get clarity when I'm able to sit down and think about it, and process with words...
BTW, Lauren, I love your picture. ;o)
I've often thought it before, and this post just confirms it...I *really* think you should consider writing a devotional book. I think you have a real gift...!!! It's just so obvious (to me) that this is your calling :D
Lauren, you are precious! Thank you for your encouraging words... I know that the Lord has put that in my heart, but finding time and energy, and courage to do it... ;o) Sharifa and I have a plan, though!!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Post a Comment