Rescue Story 2

 "Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers and sisters or mother or father pr children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much - homes, brothers, sisters, children, fields, all with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life." Mark 10:28-31

I last wrote on the beginning of my "rescue story," based on the impact of the song by Zach Williams. Today, I want to go deeper into the story.

I have always tried to be transparent and open about my life, experiences, failures, and victories. And the losses and the gains. I have shared a great deal about the former, but hopefully, I didn't come across to anyone as dwelling upon them. They were real. He was more real in the midst of them. He made the above Scripture from Mark 10 come alive and live in and around me.

I would not begin to suggest that I suffered anywhere near the amount that so many others have for the cause of Christ....but I have suffered and I have lost. My marriage, my child, and too many who I had believed to be my friends. I'm not trying to paint myself as a hero. I'm not. But I do hope that I've been faithful to His call, to not compromise His truth, and to follow what I believed was His leading and will, even when key people didn't agree or actively resisted. There was a cost in that, but for me, I didn't have to choose. I could not see how I could ever go back on the way He placed before me and led me to. I feared the consequences of that more than I feared the consequences of what I might lose. The pain of the loss was real, but I'm not focusing on that. I want to speak of the glory of what I gained through His making the promise of Mark 10 real in my life.

There is a sadness in my heart over the losses I've experienced, but the sadness dims in comparison with the rich joy I have experienced in how the Lord has given me so much more in return. In 40 years of walking with Him, ministering for Him, the riches He has brought to me are beyond description. He has not only given me people that love me, but people that I may love in return, and of every age. Friendships and relationships that have enriched me beyond words in this life, but that I know will extend on into eternity. Like Joseph, what the enemy meant for harm, God meant and used for good. His good and my own. He accomplished a "rescue" through these losses time and time again. He still does. I have been in the place of losing everything materially and, at least in appearance, relationally. Yet He has worked a richness into my life that I could never have perceived. Best of all, He gave me Himself. 

There's an old hymn that goes, "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus." It will be, but for me, and countless others, it already is. I have "seen" Him in ways I never knew I would. It has caused a hunger for more of Him that only grows by each day. I know the "rescue story" will never end.

Maybe you're in much the same place I was. Your choice to follow Him without reservation has come with a heavy price. He has not left you and He hasn't forgotten you. The temptation to give in, to compromise, to distance yourself from Him may be great, as is the cost. Trust Him. The pain of the loss cannot compare with the glory of the gain. Press on. Believe. Obey. Cling. It really will be worth it all. He has so much more for you than this.

Blessings,
Pastor O