The unexpected journey: the journey continues through 2015 and beyond

As I mentioned in the previous post the events of the past several weeks have put in jeopardy my newly found primary employment. There are two key factors that I want to address regarding that matter. You may recall from the previous post that I mentioned a trust and control issue. I went into this endeavor fully understanding that the annual salary from the primary job would be far short of the budget that I established as necessary to provide for the family. With this understanding, I dove headlong into the second employment in an effort to make up the difference. The challenge became two-fold. I was not allowing myself the necessary time to learn either system of operation; which meant that I was just getting by. This makes sense, for you must learn a new system before being able to operate it. This however isn’t the real challenge. The second—and by far most important challenge was/is this. As one who has surrendered there live to God the question isn’t can I learn this new system; but rather am I to be embracing this at all. In my case the answer was almost yes! There is no doubt that it was the will of the Father to open up this opportunity for employment. This means that the answer to the first part of the “am I to embrace this” question was a resounding yes. The second part is where the trust—our lack thereof—comes into play. It is my hope that in understanding my logic for doing what I did, you will learn something about both the will and desire of the Father. In my logic it made sense to take on the secondary job. It was something I knew—I only needed to learn their system of doing it. The problem was—if I may say it that way—I followed my logic instead of consulting the will of the Father. Instead of seeking the Father’s purpose for me in this matter, I allowed my logic to lead me. My prayers were something like this. “Since it makes sense for me to do this, I thank you for blessing me with the sales necessary.” Allow me to point out two very important elements in this. First of all I have made a solemn commitment to surrender my life to Christ and endeavor to follow His ways above my own. Secondly there is nothing wrong with the way I approach the Father in my prayers. The bible speaks in the New Testament book of James, if the Lord wills, this or that be done. In his writings to the church, the Apostle Paul says that we have been bought with the price of the blood of Christ and are no longer our own to fulfill the will of our desires. It is this second part that I speak to. By an act of my own free will I have surrendered my will to that of the Father’s will for my life. A friend once summed it up this way. He said that the bible tells us that the husband if the head of the wife. As the head of this union, I say that whatever my wife says is what we will do. His will was not violated in doing the thing his wife wanted done because he had given his will permission to do what she wanted done. In like manner, once you give the Father permission to allow his will to be accomplished in your life, you no longer violate your will to follow whatever his will is; because you have given your permission to follow his will. That being said, it does not mean that you won’t have to revisit your earlier decision to surrender your will to that of the Father when something difficult comes before you. The bible records that Jesus did that in the garden of Gethsemane when he asked the father of there was another way to accomplish his will without being put to death. In other words, “Can we talk about this?” This is very important to understand. The bible does not disclose the conversation between the Father and the Son. The fact is that the Son of God asked the question. It is also clear from the text that the Son concluded the conversation with the words, “Thy will be done.” Jesus was simply questioning if there were another way. He had already surrendered his will to do the Father’s will. This is where the value of the relationship is so very important. Could you even imagine thinking such a thought—much less expressing it—to a dictator? You could imagine the wrath of God descending in a ball of fire to consume him where he prayed. Instead the bible tells us that angels came to minister—or comfort—him. It is the relationship that allows such a conversation to take place. It is understanding the heart of the loving Father even when you do not understand his desire that allows this kind of dialogue to take place. You and I have such a privilege with the godhead.