faith

God at Work

Leap of Faith

This month we have a guest writer sharing her story. Shelly Miller tells about her biggest leap of faith and challenges us to take a good look at our lives and see if anything is keeping us from making a fresh leap of faith.

Diane

It must have been at least twenty minutes before my husband and I realized we’d been staring silently at strangers pulling carry-on luggage past us in the terminal. Seated against the wall, coats draped over our laps, we were waiting at the gate for an early morning departure from Dallas, trapped in a torrent of thoughts. While children were flitting through rows of seats to look at airplanes out a nearby wall of windows, we were making mental assessments, replaying the past 48 hours.

“What have we just done?” I said to him with a deadlock of focus on a piece of bubble gum stuck to a pillar.

He shook his head like awakening from a trance.

We were in Dallas at the invitation of my husband’s boss. He assumed we were coming to scout neighborhoods and schools for relocation, but we surprised him with some news after lunch.

We’ve sensed God is telling us this season of leadership in the church planting movement that we love is over. God is calling us to England.

Truthfully, that was the extent of our knowledge; we had no idea what that meant. For the first time in twenty-four years of marriage and ministry together, God was asking us to let go and take a leap of faith before knowing details and outcomes.
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Salty and Fresh

Recently I had the joy of having some dental work done, my first crown. For the price I paid for that crown, it should have diamonds and rubies and sit on my head, not in my mouth! Anyway, upon leaving the office, the dentist instructed me to gargle with salt for the next 3 days to prevent any infection. When the time came to do my salt rinse, I decided not to take the salt shaker from the kitchen table since it would remain in the bathroom for three days. Instead, I grabbed a salt shaker from the cupboard which we use for picnics. I headed to the bathroom, poured some salt in a cup of warm water and began to rinse my mouth and gargle. I spit out the first mouthful with skepticism. I picked up the salt shaker and examined the label. Hmmm. . .let me try again. I took a second swig of my salt water and started to rinse my mouth. But again after a few seconds…nothing. I spit it out. I must not have added enough salt. That’s the problem. So I poured more salt in my cup and stirred really well. Finally I was ready for a good salt rinse. I sipped, swished, gargled, spit. Nothing. . .again. I checked the container a second time. It clearly said “salt” on the container. I poured some in my hand. It looked like salt and felt like salt. But it did not taste like salt. My salt had lost its saltiness!

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Ordinary Woman

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Serving outside your home culture is exciting . . . unless it isn’t.

In the early days on the field we run on dreams, ideals, apprehensions, and adrenaline. That intoxicating mix makes every day feel like a new adventure. Emotions run the gamut from energized and enthused to terrified and confused. But whatever the day holds, we are not bored. There are so many good things happening that we cannot imagine not feeling thrilled that we play a part in this divine drama.
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Total Commitment

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2011, a new year is here! Last year’s triumphs and trials are history. We have a chance to start with a clean slate. It is a new year with new challenges and new blessings just beyond our reach.

I started off this new year in the Methodist Church my son and his family attend. We read aloud Wesley’s Covenant Prayer.

“I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will. Put me doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine, and I am Yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in Heaven. Amen.”

What a prayer of dedication! What a declaration of total surrender to God! As PWs, we’ve made that kind of surrender in the past. We said it with glowing faces, perhaps streaming with tears. Deep in our hearts we know this kind of surrender is what we should do, even if we don’t feel like it. But the realities of that commitment sometimes hit us with crushing force.

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