Have you ever had surgery before?
Do you remember the feelings you had pre-surgery?
The thoughts and emotions!
I remember the fear and emotions i felt before going in to have my appendix removed…
I knew that if i didn’t have the surgery i would suffer, and possibly even die, yet I was afraid of the pain and trauma the surgery would bring and then the slow recovery afterwards.
Often when I think of how God operates (pun intended) in my life, I draw parallels between a surgeons hand and His hand.
The temporary and often deep pain I can feel when God intervenes in my life, I know is for my greater good, yet that knowledge doesn’t make it easy.
My wife and I have been called to plant a church in the Southern California. Sounds like an adventure right!? Sounds like a blast, yeah!? A real happy time in our lives??!?
Try telling that to me when I give our dog away tomorrow that we’ve had from a puppy, because he can’t live with us in the student accommodation we are moving to.
Try telling me that when we miss our friends getting married, when we can’t make funerals, and are the last to know someone is engaged, because we are on the other side of the world to where we live now.
Gods’ activity in your life isn’t always easy. What He calls you to do, isn’t always going to be a smooth sail.
I remember Craig Groschel saying once, “you shouldn’t be worried when trials come, you should be worried when they don’t!” Amen.
Life, and the call of God on your life, isn’t always easy- it can be hard.
However, despite the difficulties you also can’t tell me it isn’t worth it!
Take for example our church plant…
When we baptize our first converts, when broken families are restored, when communities are reached… you won’t be able to tell me it wasn’t worth it.
The temporary pain of today, is for the greater gain of tomorrow.
Matthew 6:25 says that if you want to gain your life, you have to loose it first!
Matthew Chapter 5 defines the persecuted as the blessed!
When you feel lonely and in pain, yet you know you are in the centre of His will, don’t be discouraged. Be encouraged!
The Master surgeon may just be removing a few things in your life that could be toxic if they remained. He may just be taking a little more of your life so that He can give you more of His Life.
What better way to know peace than to know that God is in control. He’s perfect at diagnosis, He knows when to operate, He’ll be there in recovery, and He will make all things new again!
Proverbs 3:5,6… Trust Him!
To learn more about our church plant, click on the news tab above.
Andrew
Photo:Jas… our faithful dog- having a shower before her big move to another family.
- The Scarboroughs - 