Category Archives: Submitting to God

Adjusting

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One week ago, Birgitta, Emerald, and I left our Michigan home well before dawn in a car loaded with five bulging pieces of luggage and a sense that God was nudging us to the starting line of a unique adventure. We figured it wouldn’t be easy, but knew it would be significant, because he had been the one to initiate and then facilitate it.

IMG_4871After a grueling travel day of 22 hours, we reached our destination – the University of the Nations, YWAM’s global headquarters in Kona, Hawaii. Welcome baskets and hugs awaited, along with freshly made beds, bubble-stuff for Emerald, and even rice cakes with peanut butter for me. School leaders let us know they’d been praying for us individually for many weeks and that they were “so glad” to finally meet us.

Though our adjustments have been hampered by exhaustion, sickness for Emerald (a violent, 48 hour stomach flu), and steep learning curves on the how-where-when details, we are gradually learning who’s who and what needs to be done. Though the week was dotted with quite a few “lows,” veteran YWAM-ers advised us to delay judgment until the end of the first week.

FullSizeRender (3)So here we are, and they were right. We’ve all adjusted to the change of 5 time zones, everyone is healthy, and we’re functioning successfully within a well-structured schedule. But other categories have needed adjust- ment, too, some by God himself. I think back to that first morning on the YWAM playground, sitting in the warm sunshine with a cranky, sick Emerald as I complained to another nanny about our long travel day.

“Twenty-two hours and three airplanes!” I said, knowing she’d be impressed.

“Thirty-six for us.” she said, “Six planes. Three little kids.”

That two-line conversation taught me two things: (1) There’s no benefit to complaining, and (2) every person on this campus has a fascinating story of how they got here – logistically, yes, but also by way of God’s call.

IMG_1447Our best adjustment, though is the joy we’ve found living in a thoroughly Christian atmosphere — many cultures but only one God. With few exceptions, those on this campus (1200 in all) are here because they either love the Lord and want to know him better, or are sincerely seeking him for the first time. All ages are represented, and young children are everywhere.

So, after this first week, our expectations are high that God will make himself known in new ways – not just to student-Birgitta, but to nanny-Margaret, pre-schooler Emerald, and everyone else on campus.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. (Psalm 67:4)

 

That Loving Touch

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Having been here in Florida all week, I’ve been having a great time getting acquainted with grandchild #11 – Baby Nelson Aaron. So far, at twelve days old, he’s proven to be a mellow little fellow. Coming fifth in his family line-up, he’s going to be raised in a pack of lively siblings and will one day know how to hold his own. But for now, like all newborns, he’s completely helpless.

Touches from IsaacOne of the things he can’t regulate is the flood of love pouring over him from the other children. Each of the baby’s siblings relates to their new little brother in different ways. But one thing they all have in common is wanting to touch him — kisses on the head, pats on the tummy, strokes on the hair, pokes, and taps.

Though Baby Nelson generally bears up well, he does have a limit. “Enough already,” he says, by way of a pinched face. “No more.” It’s then that Linnea puts a halt to any further “loving” touches on easy-going Nellie.

Touches from SkylarThe baby’s objection to those generous touches reminds me of how I sometimes respond to God’s touch. Though he loves me with unfailing love – always and ever – sometimes I object to how it feels.

For example, he might touch me with a sadness of heart for a friend in crisis, coaxing me to get involved. That, in turn, might lead to a broken heart as I get deeper into her situation.

He might withhold a good opportunity I desperately want, even need, because the right timing hasn’t yet come.

He might allow a trial that feels like too much to handle, because he knows I’ll move closer to him as a result, maybe even be a good example of how to endure.

GetAttachment[1]All of these things are motivated solely by his love, coming by way of specifically chosen circumstances, which translates to divine touches. We might say, “How about feeling a divine touch with a few unexpected checks in the mail or euphoria in every relationship?” And sometimes those things do happen. But we usually scrunch up when his touches feel too rough or too abrupt.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

But that’s the undercard of God’s true love. He doesn’t want us to doubt that he loves us dearly, but he wants us to also acknowledge that painful experiences can be initiated by his love, too. If we, like Baby Nelson, scrunch up our faces and tell God “enough already,” he’ll continue loving us – always and ever – but might withdraw the perfect chance for us to love him back.

The Touchers

But if we love the Lord, we’ll accept his touches for better or for worse. And in the end, we’ll find out that it all lined up under unfailing love.

Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. (Lamentations 3:32)

God’s Different Agenda

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Charlie Brown ChristmasThe Christmas season is full of reasons to celebrate, and celebrate we do – in classrooms, offices, churches, stores, homes, and in our yards.

One of my favorite parts of the season is the music. Though our children grew up with a measure of choice over what they wanted to hear, once we flipped the calendar to December, it was mom’s Christmas carols, all the way.

I love the old standards and don’t have any need to get familiar with new ones, but this year, God himself added a tune of his own: Rock-a-bye Baby.

Daughter Linnea, 9 months pregnant, felt a few twinges yesterday afternoon but didn’t think much of it. Her fifth baby wasn’t due for a few more days, and the older four had all come well after their due dates.

Baby Nelson AaronBut God had a different agenda, and by dinnertime they were cuddling their new baby boy. Labor and delivery were speedy and textbook-perfect with three midwives, one daddy, and one auntie (also a midwife) present for the home birth. Linnea and Adam decided to name their little guy in a special way, after both of their oldest siblings: Nelson Aaron.

As his grandma, my plan was to be in Florida for the baby’s birth – like I was for the last two – but here again, God had a different agenda. Many months ago when Linnea and I chose the day after Christmas for my plane ticket, we gambled that this baby would be late like the others. But the Lord smiled and said, “Well, we’ll see about that.”

He had a different agenda for Linnea, for Adam, for baby Nelson, and for me.

But isn’t that often his way? What we think will happen doesn’t, and what does happen often surprises us. That’s because we so easily fool ourselves into believing we’re in charge of our own lives, when it’s really God who has it all in hand. The up side of this is, if we’re willing to accept that our good, loving God is completely in charge, any future unknowns can’t possibly worry us.

Baby Nelson meets his folksAnd so, as my 11th grandchild dozes in his mother’s arms, I’m delighted to add yet one more Christmas-time carol to my playlist:

Lullaby and Goodnight.

The Most High… does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)