Following
Mother Theresa was once asked, “How did God call you to serve the poor?”
She replied by saying, “I was not called to serve the poor, rather I was called to serve Jesus and he led me here.”
I was called to serve Him and He lead me here.
Where are you right now? If you follow Jesus, then He has led you here. (Unless, of course, its our own sinful choices...He doesn't lead us there...that's for a different discussion)
Which might be a hard thought to swallow.
What if I am led to the edge of breaking grief? What if I am led to the depths of leprosy? What if I am led to try things I don't feel prepared to try? What if I am led into a new place, a new territory, stretched, pushed and pulled as I go?
Sometimes we follow Jesus to the wedding of Cana where He makes us delicious wine and laughs loudly with us at the banquet hall. Sometimes we follow Him to quiet, removed hillsides. Sometimes we follow Jesus to the cross and death.
And we have to ask some real questions:
Can I trust the One I'm following?
Is He good?
Is He for me?
Some days those answers fall easily and readily in my mind. Other days I'm grasping for truth.
Here's what I have read. Here's some comfort. Here's some truths for you and me today:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is FOR us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ”
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ”
He is with me and surely goodness will follow me. But goodness may not look like what we want.
It may not look like living in the Bahamas with maids and sunshine. Goodness and a hope and a future may look more like the life that comes after death. The life that was raised from the grave, after three days. It may look darker than we ever thought right before the light arrives that we never thought would come.
This one is for those who are following and trying to trust the next step before they can see it. For the ones who feel shaky and unsure. For the doubters and dreamers and dark-valley walkers.
May you know He can be trusted. He is good. He is for you.