One of our primary ‘jobs’ during our three post-Cherokee weeks has been planning. We divided the jobs before us into major categories: short-term projects, raising support, stateside ministry, financial record-keeping, going through our stuff, and the actual travel. The result of our planning? The Genie in Disney’s Aladdin sang of “a list that’s three miles long, no doubt,” – and something very much like that is now helping us track and organize our efforts on a day-to-day basis!
Each day is now an incredible test of our reliance upon Jesus; there is always too much to do! Between evaluating our things, meeting with the missions committee, planning a field budget and getting ready for a partnership meeting… it can be hard to tell what to do next when everything ‘has’ to be done now! This kind of mindset easily leads to discouragement, and we are all too familiar with that battle.
Yet our success in each day is not measured by the number of check-marks on a list, but by whether we were faithful to what the Lord Himself has put in front of us. Did we walk in reliance upon Him in each task? Did we count our lives as His to use, even when it turned out our goals were not the same as His? And did we view each challenge as an opportunity to be stretched by our Lord, growing in Christ’s likeness, and deepening our relationship with Him?
Yes, these have been very productive days – and we have begun to check many things off our lists. But the most productive parts of our time have had nothing to do with the lists we’ve made, and we thank God for reminding us what success is really about.