A couple of months ago I wrote a post about Cross Cultural Missions http://familydisc
ipleshippath.com/2014/01/10/cross-cultural-missions-and-your-family/. I shared about a journey to Cambodia that I was preparing to embark upon. I have been back a month and am realizing that I never posted a follow up from my trip for those who don’t know me personally. Honestly, I had a really rough time with my re-entry into “real life.” I’ve been forgetting a lot of things.
My time in Cambodia was amazing and hard. I felt like my heart was breaking over and over again. I also saw the hope of Jesus interspersed in the pain and darkness. I had the opportunity to preach on the Sunday after I returned. I shared a bit about the trip and a bit about how God had been working in my life. (You can find the message here: http://risenking.org/Media/Messages.html. If you would like to hear it, just scroll down to February 2, 2014. Please be aware that I am discussing human trafficking and use concepts that may be too mature for kids to hear. I use words like pedophile, prostitute, and sex. Please use your discretion.)
I share in this message a major lesson that God has been teaching me that began before I went to Cambodia and was reinforced over and over again in Cambodia. Now that I’m back home, I am processing how to apply the concept of being Fully Reliant in my everyday life.
As we focus on the discipleship of the next generation, whether in our church or in our homes, this message of remaining Fully Reliant can be one of real freedom and empowerment.
Here’s the gist if you don’t have time to listen:
As I was preparing for all of the unknowns that I would encounter, I was freaking out a bit! I felt God calm me by saying, “You can’t be fully prepared for what I have in store for you, but you can be fully reliant.” God gave me a picture of a conduit. He said, “What is needed in every situation is Jesus! And you have Jesus to offer. You have everything that I have; you have power, love, compassion, strength, peace, joy, discernment. Be a conduit of ME!” As a parent, we cannot be fully prepared, but we can be fully reliant! As we connect with each child in our life, we can act as a conduit for what God has to offer.
A conduit is empty—which is how I felt. It’s empty on purpose so that it can transport what is needed. I needed to be an empty conduit and fully reliant on what God had to offer in each situation. My response to the challenge to be Fully Reliant needed to be, “Listen to God and do what he says,” and my response to the picture of a conduit was to stay current on my own stuff, be an empty conduit, and have one ear on what God was saying and one on the conversation so that I could speak what God was saying. Or to hold on to God with one hand while having my other hand on his precious child so that I could do what he was doing, or one eye on God and one eye in front of me so that I could see what he was seeing.
I relied on Isaiah 40:28-30 a lot in those days in Cambodia:
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even the young grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31
As we endeavor to raise our kids in a way that supports their relationship with Jesus and their discipleship, we can feel similarly to how I felt as I walked through my journey in Cambodia. Well, I won’t say we….I’ll say “I”. I often feel unprepared and inadequate and empty. However, as I put my hope in the Lord, as I am fully reliant on the Lord, as I am a conduit of all that He has to offer, as I Listen to God and do what He says…..I am led into what He has to offer. As we put our hope in the Lord, we are led into power, strength and perseverance. As you walk through whatever you encounter in your own family ask yourself the following questions:
Am I putting the hope of my family in anything or anyone other than God?
Are there any areas in my family or parenting that I am not being fully reliant on Christ?
Is there anything that is getting in the way for me to be a conduit of all that God has for my family?
What is God speaking to me about my kids or family and what am I going to do about it?
Family Discipleship Path 