Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Comfort and Convenience

"I understand asking God for comfort and convenience, but I've seen that often leads me to complacency.  Once God solves my issues, I move on and forget to look for lessons I need to learn from what I faced.  But looking to God for purpose and perspective forces me to learn crucial lessons in perseverance and maturity." 
~Lysa TerKeurst

 
How I treasure my comfort and convenience!  When I read these words last week, I recognized myself and my love for comfort and convenience.  Moving to the Solomon Islands has a way of removing much of the comfort and convenience, and the cold I've harbored since the day we've stepped off the plane has left me longing for ease, not for purpose and perspective.  Gratefully, the last few days have changed my heart, even if those days have only seen my cold get worse and an ear infection set in. 


In the midst of the business meetings this week, we have the opportunity to hear each team give a report of the last biennium, and then all of SITAG gathers around and prays.  We go through lots of tissues because each team has faced challenges.  Our faith is strengthened as we hear each other speak of God's goodness and guiding hand through the hard times.  And there are plenty of hard times.  Many of our precious SITAG family has been soldiering on, quietly, faithfully, diligently, for seventeen, twenty-seven, thirty-three years.  Daily fighting Satan's darts. 


Daily making the choice to be faithful to the Lord's leading, because each of us knows that our lives are not our own.  The Choate family has only lived on this side of the world for seven and a half years, and my cold has left me unable to breathe, sleep deprived, and extremely cranky.  But listening to my colleagues' stories has encouraged me to look past my love of comfort and convenience and instead to look for God's purpose and perspective throughout the difficulties each day brings.

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