Snip-Its of an Amazing Journey...

This morning as I spend time with the Lord reading His Word, being comforted by His presence, enjoying fellowship with Him, He so sweetly reminds me of the lengthy but oh so amazing journey He has had our family on for the past six-and-one-half-years. The journey that began with Kyle's UC diagnosis. An infirmity that had no signs of warning, only an immediate reality. No precursors, only instant symptoms. We had no idea how vastly our lives would change through that "blessed diagnosis". Definitely not something we would have asked for yet one that had been divinely ordained through our Master, Maker and Creator. A diagnosis that would step-by-step draw us back to Himself in a way no human mind could predict, imagine or understand.

Through the various seasons and "road-trips" of this journey we have learned so much. We have grown in unique and distinct ways. We have been transformed...changed...remolded. We have found what it is to "rest"...trust...wait. We've grasped the concept of simplicity...surrender...stripping. We've realized the freedom that comes from literally letting go of all that is familiar...comfortable...ordinary...typical...to follow hard after God. We've seen the amazing places where living "God-sense" takes you in place of common-sense.

As I opened my Bible and read my devotion, I once again stand in awe of the way God thinks, works, provides... As in all areas, what we see as difficult, detrimental, devastating, God sees as productive, fruitful, life-changing. As we take on the mind of Christ and surrender our will to His will, we too will see His good in every situation and circumstance He allows to touch our lives. For us we are still seeing the benefits...fruit...gain...more than six years later...an investment that has immeasurable returns...all from a "diagnosis". A physical "diagnosis" that had great spiritual returns.

Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

1 Samuel 3:10

What hinders me from hearing is my attention to other things. It is not that I don't want to hear God, but I am not devoted in the right areas of my life. I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions. ~Oswald Chambers

Kyle and I can define specific "seasons" throughout this journey and with each "season" came a new truth...a new reality...a new surrender. One of the most profound "seasons" was when the Lord clearly laid Mark 8:22~26 on our hearts. When He distinctly said, "In order for you to find healing, you must leave the village and not return." For us, that meant leaving a house of ten years in which both of our newly born babies had come home to, a town in which most of my family lived, a church where we had served and ministered for twelve years...all that was comfortable, familiar, ordinary, typical... He needed to take us out so that we could see, hear and know "afresh". We had to let go of all that we possessed in order for us to be fully surrendered to Him. It was letting-go of the "things", "service", "convictions", that this devotion referred to as "dominions" that keep us from hearing God.

The road hasn't always been an easy one to travel, but it's been worth every step-of-the-way. The "push" has been worth it...through hospital stays, relocations, multiple diagnostic tests, simplifications, separations, surgeries, painful purifications, surrender, stripping... Through each of these processes, we've learned to hear God in a whole new way...on a whole new level...

Speak Lord, for your servant is listening....