Some of you and others do not that my husband, Ron, is a seminary graduate. He graduated in May 2003. He had an internship as a youth director that started right after graduation. We thought we would be raising funds and go to the mission field from there. We interviewed with two different missions teams and both of those doors shut FIRMLY. With no other prospects on the immediate horizon and the internship coming to an end Ron took back the engineering job he had before seminary. That first year in the new job we interviewed twice for pastoral positions and both times were told that Ron did not have enough experience. We are caught in a strange place of not having enough experience but not being able to find a church to give experience. It has been hard emotionally for us both to not take this all personally. Some of the experiences wounded us and we have had to recover and heal.
God has moved us 5 times in the last 7 years. None of these were our planning but what God had in store. We have made many friends in each place and church we have been. We have been members of 6 EPC churches. We have seen 4 churches in different stages of hiring a new pastor. We have seen 3 churches who have left another denomination to become members of the EPC. Ron has been a deacon, an elder, a youth director and taught many many Sunday School classes.
Yet I still sometimes ask God questions....Why did Ron go to seminary? Why do churches reject him? Why do you not having him serving in a church when I know that is the desire and longing of his heart? When I am really bold and frustrate .... What is the problem you are the one who called him? I have yet to get an answer.
Until today. God gave me a very clear picture during bible study. We were talking about Joshua 14:6-15. Caleb is asking Joshua for the land that Moses had promised him. He had been promised that land 45 years earlier. Joshua gave Caleb the piece of the promised land that he was promised for following the Lord fully(Numbers 14:24). Through out Caleb's speech in Joshua 14 he talks of what was "in his heart" and "following the Lord my God fully". He was rewarded for doing those things by living to see Israel possess the promised land and with a piece of the promised land as an inheritance for his descendants. The question in bible study that opened my eyes was "How does his example serve as a model for all believers?" I had come up with an answer during my personal study but it was during the discussion and hearing others answers that God really opened my eyes and gave me the picture.
God DID put the calling on Ron's heart to go to seminary and to seek pastoral or missions work. Ron WAS obedient. Ron STILL feels that call on his life. God DOES know the call/plan HE has for Ron's life. Caleb had to wait 45 years and we have only been waiting 7 years. God has had us in so many churches, we have made friends all over the US and even the world, we have had so many experiences. All of this has been God ordained because I know the path we have had and some of the experiences we have had we would never have picked for ourselves because they were hard. God knows what He is doing. I sincerely hope we do not have to wait 45 years to be able to serve the Lord in full-time ministry but if that is His plan I pray He will give us the patience He gave Caleb. For now I am just praying that I do not miss the things He wants to teach me right now. I do not want to live in the future or the past but to enjoy where God has us right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment