When You Are Called to “Give Your Life Away”. And UNITE

I trim off the dangling threads from my well-worn Bill Blass carry-on. The ones still reaching to grip China, from the last time I left it…

But couldn’t hold on.

I bow my head, taking scissors, cutting the airline tag saying, Hong Kong. And
the bars keeping aching eyes back, whip through my head…still piercing my heart like fresh wounds crying out for bandaging.

Yet, every journey must begin with a fresh slate, a re-dreaming, an awaking to a new birthing, that will only be tainted by yesterdays reminiscing.

God calls us forward, not back, and forward is where we must be marching.

Today is a new day.  Each breathe, a new chance to live again. And His ways are life abundant, while ours often just empty, methodical, and redundant.

So this week, I lay down the faces of so many slanted-eyed children, and pick up this new journey to the ebony-skinned people of Dominican Republic.

Never thinking when I saw the island, ebony people calling me over a decade ago deep in the middle of the night…that it would take this long, or that it would be my husband’s awakening that started this prompting, “to go”, in this obedience following.

But sometimes we go as others pray, and God-dreams never look like we think in our own human hopes or limited scope or understanding.

Still, will we hear their cries of the generations whispering?  Will we rise, respond when loved ones call, and people ask for manna increasingly desperately?  Will we give them stones, crumbs, or no substance at all?  Will we keep our tunics, when a thirsty world finds only empty wells?

No, I am done contributing to the problem.  I don’t want to be…
one just ranting about the needs I see, without doing something.  I want to “go” if He calls me, I want to “follow” as he leads me…even if there is no platform, or earthly glory on this all-or-nothing, live-to-die path that He has laid out for me.

I hug my own dark-skinned child tight in a kitchen we rarely use. I point to “Rancel” on the refrigerator, the one whose religion is labeled, “other”.

I try explaining….“I know you’ll miss me, but our lives weren’t meant to be kept, hoarded, devoured by our own comfort, ease, or convenience.”  

Our life was called by God to radically be given away.

And we must show Rancel and all those others with “other” religion, that there is hope they have never heard of.  A life of joy, peace, love, and happiness.

“So will you give your mommy away?  Just for a week?”

Little brown eyes look up at me, returning the twinkle that affirms….a life of faith often requires even seven-year-old girls, to sacrifice.

And it is one thing to be pulled like a magnet to the television where children starve and huts in Africa have money marathons going on, raising finances for starving children.

It’s quite another to pack up your suitcase and step onto the soil of their existence, look into the eyes of a child who has lost their parents, hugging them empty, humbly with the love of Christ.

Yet, the Lord keeps whispers, “Will you go?”  Whatever that looks like for each.

And I hear Him and want to follow, not looking back…don’t you?  I want to confess not just with my lips, but with my heart, and every step that my God is not just some person tucked in the black book on the shelf, or in a pew where only on Sundays He is “holy”….

For God is the God of the Savannah.  He is the same God of those in the orphanages in China.  He is a God that is alive and with us, in those huts I will brush past with my fingertips in Dominican Republic.

And if we limit Him to churches, or words, or the people groups we “accept” or only feel comfortable with…..how can we trust a God like that?  

How can we trust a God who might play favorites, or who plays “Peek a Boo” only coming out when He feels like it, wanting to reveal himself only when He might find us worthy?

No….I have counted the cost.  I have chosen my God, and children like “Rancel” over the comfort of my 3000 square foot plus house; this sprawling land that might tempt us to “remain”, “stay”, “wait” on God some more until His Spirit has passes by us, like it did Moses on the mountain top.

And as I leave this week, I ask along with you all, “Where is God asking you to put feet to your faith this week?”  Maybe it’s not on planes or traveling to orphanages in Guatemala, DR, or China.

But, could it be He is asking you to stand and be God-hands to those near you in your community?

Could His burden, tug, and weighing upon you be asking you to bring your neighbor food, mentor young people, or simply pick up that laundry heap, and fold it faithfully without complaining, time and time again….

Because God dreams are not measured in miles, or weightiness, or badges, or rewards, or greatness in the eyes of God.  God dreams are either accepted or rejected by the heart…..Whether we simply obey and follow.

His joy with us depends less on what we do and more on the heart that we choose to follow with.

And I want to get small, lay barren to see my God high and lifted up…don’t you?

And so friends, will you join me today?  Will you join me in fixing our eyes to eternity?  Placing all our eggs in one basket, taking all we have, think, or ever try to maintain…..laying it willingly at the feet of Jesus?

I walk past the refrigerator again.  “Rancel” looks back at me, as if saying, “When will you come?”  And though his sad face pierces me.  Nothing could substitute the touch, a hug, the gripping of a boy who writes on his profile under religion, “other”.

Will you help me stop this epidemic of forgotten children.  How about if we put down our iphones, shut our laptops (after leaving a comment, of course) :), turn off all technology and look into the eyes of our own children….those He has places in front of us….showing them first and foremost, the love of Christ?

For love is more than just words, or rants, or conferences. It’s seeking Him outside the walls of our comfort zone.  In the places some of us never expected to be going.

Will you join me in treading in His footsteps today?

NOTE: I am so sorry to share that unless God opens doors to write from Dominican Republic next week, my blog with be silent all next week.  There will be no UNITE community. I would love your prayers.  I would love for you to join me in prayer as my husband and I journey to where He is leading!  See you here again on the 25th. So much love and appreciation for each one of you!


(Linking with Tracy, Emily, Judith)

It’s time to UNITE!  UNITE is where we come together, regardless of the race, the place we live in, or the specific doctrine we choose to lean towards.  The goal of UNITE is drawing together believers, letting Him alone be our focus!!

Participate in UNITE by…

1. Adding a post below.
2. Providing a link back, or the button on your post found on the right-side bar back here.
3. Would you read and comment on a few posts before yours?  (We all like comments, don’t we?)

Thanks for sharing so many great posts at UNITE, joining us in this all-inclusive link-up!