Editor’s Letter October 2011
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8.
I recently heard best-selling Christian author Lysa Terkeurst tell the story of her faith journey. She talked about God’s frequent habit of “interrupting” us in the middle of our ordinary lives to call us – regular people in the middle of our very regular days – to get out of our comfort zones and do something we absolutely could not do apart from His supreme power doing it through us.
My first thoughts go to Abraham, the patriarch of old, who was 75 when God told him to pack up all of his earthly goods as well as his family and “go to a land I will show you.” If God told me to go to Memphis on Thursday I would probably tell him I already had my Thursday planned and Memphis was not part of it, but suppose He told me to just start driving north without having any idea where I was going. Well, I am even more certain I would decline that invitation. Do you think we miss some of God’s greatest potential blessings because we trust ourselves and our plans more than we trust Him?
Maura McIntosh’s story is a little like that. She relinquished her settled and secure day job – with benefits – to answer God’s persistent call to ministry. She is finding Him to be a true Promise Keeper as her dependence on Him has had to grow her way beyond her human comfort zone!
I can think of times in my life where I was “forced” out of my comfort zone and went “kicking and screaming” into something so unfamiliar that it was frightening. As a not-always-compliant Christ-follower, it has been my experience that God has often had to lock me out of my comfort zone to get me to cease “leaning on my own understanding” and trust that He really meant it when He said He would never leave me or forsake me.
Some of the toughest challenges of life present themselves to us as “impossible situations.” Here at the sixth decade of my life I am finally catching on to the fact that God is indeed the God of the impossible. None of us are guaranteed a certain script for our lives, and sometimes even our best laid plans go awry. And in the middle of the very hard thing, God blesses where we could never imagine finding a blessing.
Donna Sims, President of the Madison County offices of BankPlus, has found being mom to a special needs son a cherished privilege. It was the “impossible situation” that took her relationship with God to a whole new place as He provided strength beyond her strength at every age and stage of Wade’s life. Read her story in “Family Focus.”
Living My Call features Barbara Beavers of the Center for Pregnancy Choices. There was not one thing comfortable to this wife, mom and Home Economics major when God interrupted her with an unexpected passion for the unborn and for the woman facing the “impossible situation “ of an unplanned pregnancy. She was propelled straight out of her comfort zone and to the front lines as an advocate in the Pro-life arena.
The best part of my job is meeting people like the ones we feature this month. I know there are people in offices all over the place who go to work every day and feel that their jobs are draining, dull, and negative. I am not one of them. Hearing the stories of so many regular people who are not out there seeking to fill themselves with whatever the world is peddling next, but who have a deliberate and very intentional faith walk…well, as Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” It is true. Thanks for sharing these stories with us.
From Marilyn’s Bookshelf:
Zoom Entrepreneur by Martin Willoughby
MCL’s “As I See It” columnist Martin Willoughby shares the five core skills of great entrepreneurs and as you would expect, there is a lot of heart and soul in Martin’s words. In fact, this book is not just for business. It’s a playbook for living life. Find out more at www.zoomyourbusiness.com