Tag Archives: God

Fear and Trust

“Our own apathy and fear keep us from presenting the Word.” – Curt Walters

Photo Credit: Libby Norcross, www.libbydoodle.com

So often we become caught up in obsessing over our “Calling” in this world. We spend hours upon hours, and dollars upon dollars, trying to discern what we are supposed to do with our lives. We think a clear path is waiting for us. We think we need to see the ‘end result’ before we see the path to travel on the way.

Yesterday (Sunday, May 11, 2014) I listened while my pastor blew this notion out of the water.

The title for the morning sermon was “The World’s First Mission Trip.” It wasn’t what we usually think of when we hear the words “mission trip.” This was about Paul and Barnabas being sent out from the church in Antioch. The only plan they had was to share the gospel with those they met on their journey. They went where the Holy Spirit led, with no specific destination in mind.

When was the last time your church sent out a missionary this way? Most likely, never.

God had a plan for this particular sermon on this particular day. (As I suspect is always the case.)

The day before, Pastor Jerry Van Oyen passed away. Pastor Van Oyen was the minister at my church when I was young. From the earliest I can remember, until Middle School, he was the man on the pulpit.

Since then, about a 30 year time frame, he left to pastor and lead churches in a variety of places and a variety of ways. Eventually, as ‘retirement’ settled in, he and his wife Ellen, returned to my church. But he never stopped being a pastor. More importantly, he never stopped being a true evangelist. From Mexico to Cutlerville, and every point in between, he was truly an evangelist. His wife even quipped that he wouldn’t be of any use in Heaven. I’ll have to tell her I disagree.

Even as I sat in the pew yesterday morning, Pastor Van Oyen was evangelizing and leading. He was leading me.

Combined with the sermon, I became more than ever confident of my calling from God.

So often we are afraid to truly give ourselves to the leading of the Lord. We’re afraid he will send us to the most uncomfortable place in the world. We pray for leading. We pray for proper preparation. Do we truly embrace and release ourselves to what he has in store for us? Do we give in and let fear hold us back?

I know I’ve been pushing back a bit. Out of fear of the unknown I decide to hold back. No more.

I am confident in my current calling. God wants me to write. God wants me to speak. God wants me to share my story with you. Whatever I have to give, I will give. Whatever trust issues I had, I will toss aside. I will listen to his speaking. I will go where he wants me to go. I will write and speak the words he gives me. I will share.

Once I decided to let go of my fear, God provided.

I have a speaking engagement on my calendar. The third weekend in June I will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it happen. Once I released my fear, and placed my full trust in God’s plan for me, it became clear. God provided a way for me to be in Tulsa.

I look forward to sharing my calling and God’s plan with all of you.

So, toss off your own fear. Listen intently. Follow and go where you are called. Trust. Truly trust in his plan. He knows what he is doing.

Have you been holding back because of fear? Where have you pushed fear aside to follow God’s plan?

#Next3Decades

He Is Risen

Love and Law

14 Replies

I’ve been feeding on the doctrine/theology of my beloved Calvinist tradition.
My brain is well fed.
My heart is starving.
#Next3Decades

{This is a re-post from November 11, 2013.}

I posted these words on my Facebook page Sunday morning before leaving for the morning church service. It stirred up an interesting collection of comments.

If you are wondering about the last line, #Next3Decades, I’m using this phrase for the next few months at the end of Facebook and Twitter posts. I may use it all through 2014. It is intended to remind me, and maybe you, that change is possible. A friend of mine used it when I posted something about the last 30 years of my life. It grabbed me. I need to let go of the last 3 decades. I need to look to the #Next3Decades.

And that is the reason I posted the first three lines.

I haven’t posted here in about four weeks. At first I wasn’t 100% sure why. I had plenty of material available to post and promote. It would have led to some great discussions. But, I wasn’t happy with it. (I’ll post it at a later date. I still like it. It will promote conversation.)

In my heart I knew I needed to look for something else. I needed different content for my current frame of mind.

I found it.

Now back to the first three lines of the Sunday post.

The question that continually came to mind over the last few weeks related to something that was missing.

I was missing something. Something big.

What was I missing?

Grace and forgiveness.

My head is full of wonderful doctrine and theology. I collect it. I study it. I look for it in everything I read. I listen for it in every sermon.

During a counseling session I suddenly realized it wasn’t enough.

I had the head knowledge. I knew the words describing grace and forgiveness.

I knew Jesus had died on the cross for me. I knew that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit loved me.

I knew it in my head.

How did I miss the part about my heart?

Don’t get me wrong, please. I’m not upset or disappointed with my Calvinism. I’m not upset with my upbringing and education. I will always love and spend time with doctrine/theology. And, I have no intentions of “falling off the wagon” so to speak. But, in the last six months my eyes and heart have been opened to what I was missing.

It was being offered to me from the pulpit, in my reading, through my music, in person by great friends, etc.

My defective brain didn’t let my heart see it or feel it.

I have hundreds of pages of journal notes about grace and love over law. But recent events have “cracked my heart open”.

Now it is time for me to allow grace and love to pour into me and over me.

Please join the conversation. Return to my blog every Monday and Thursday. I’ll do my best to make it worth your time.

Have you ever been stuck on the law? Have you ever been stuck on the love?