Transparent Tuesday: What Happens When He Calls My Name?

Life as a Fugate wife has been super busy these past two weeks.....so this week, I would like to feature some dear friends of ours, David and Lindsey Owens. David and Lindsey are missionaries in Guatemala, and to me are a great example of responding to God's call. I am inspired by them. Read Lindsey's latest post (below) from owensinguatemala.com to see why....

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What Happens When He Calls My Name? (Stealing Cookies)

“Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Lindsey stole the cookie from the cookie jar!”
“Who Me?”
“Yes, You!”
“Couldn’t be!”
“Then Who?”

I remember this being one of my favorite games as a child. Sitting around in a circle singing about cookies…. What’s not to love?  I enjoyed being in the group… asking who stole the cookie and emphatically shouting “YES, YOU!” to whoever was accused… but I never wanted my name called as the Cookie Stealing Culprit.

Twenty years later, the song is no longer a game but a reality. As a Christian, I have joined the crowd too many times wondering who God will send and calling out those around me. Send John, God. He is an awesome public speaker. Or send Kerri. She is amazing with kids and is bilingual. I have seen many gifted people in my life take on ministry opportunities and make great impact for the kingdom of God…. while I continued to sit in the circle “helping” God pick His next participant.

But what happens when He calls my name?

Two years ago, David and I responded to God’s call to become full-time missionaries in Guatemala. At the time, I felt relieved that God had called my name and I had responded like Isaiah.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
-Isaiah 6:8

I guess I always thought it was a one-time question, my test was over. But the reality is… God continues to call me out of the crowd daily. Sometimes the tasks are easy… “Lindsey, love on this single mother.” “Lindsey, remind this little girl how beautiful she is.” “Lindsey, make sure this family has enough food to eat.” Sometimes they are harder. “Lindsey, go to the hospital with Silvia and hold her hand during her exams.” “Lindsey, walk alongside Lesvia through the loss of her baby boy.” “Lindsey, continue to fight beside Damaris’ as I heal her from her spiritual attacks.”

These are the times when I say… “Who Me?”
“Yes, you.” He whispers to me in a soft voice.
“Not me.” I respond. “I’m too young. I have no idea what to do. What would I even say?”

Then comes the question that breaks my heart… “Then who?” He asks. The reality is, God will send someone else. His will and desires will be complete with or without me. But, why wouldn’t I want to be involved in God’s plan? It is during these times, when I take a deep breath, remember the words God spoke to Isaiah, and though my flesh says “I’m in over my head.”, I take the next step in following after Christ.

“‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
-Isaiah 41:9-10

It’s not easy. But it’s worth it. What has God asked you to do? Do you respond with a shocked and afraid “Who Me”? Or in the words of Isaiah, “Here I am Lord”?

Please join me in praying that David and I will always respond to God by saying “Send me” as we strive to follow Jesus and share the Good News of Christ in El Rosario.

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Would you pray for David and Lindsey? I loved Lindsey's words, "I guess I always thought it was a one-time question, my test was over. But the reality is… God continues to call me out of the crowd daily." Sometimes I get caught up in focusing on figuring out the big thing God will call me to...the purpose of my life here on earth...and I forget about the daily callings. God uses us in all moments, big or small...once in a  lifetime or daily. 

Read more about David and Lindsey and their ministry here: vencedorministries.org

Be inspired. Make a difference. 

Answer God's call for your life. 

Transparent Tuesday: Sacrifice

When we forgo the American Dream, we Put God First. When we put God first, we naturally Surrender all other things in order to wholly serve and worship Him.




Surrendering in our world suggests "giving up". We worry about surrendering because of the things we might have to sacrifice in the process. Surrender implies sacrificing freedom, when in reality, surrender IS freedom. What are we afraid of? When we live our lives for ourselves, we are missing out on all that God has in store for us. Don't default to fear, but instead default to the greatness of God*.


*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented August 31, 2013, by Chip Jackson


Part 4 (excerpts from Anything by Jennie Allen)


What if He lets me suffer? What if he asks me to sacrifice? What if none of my dreams come true? The very thought doing anything demands everything. We have to face our fears. If we believe He is real, if we believe He has an eternal heart, we have to face the fact that a God like that may mess with our temporary comfort. As Christians, we are called to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily (Luke 9:23). If we live our lives in this way, we will no longer look at things as "my dreams/our dreams" but we will know that we are following God's plan, a plan much greater than anything we can dream for our futures. We must deny ourselves lordship, abandon our earthly hopes and dreams, and invest all that we have for Jesus and the gospel. The very thought of doing anything demands that we give up our plans to follow after God's plan for us. In 1 Peter 2:11, we are referred to as "aliens and strangers" of this world. If we truly believed that this is our temporary home, we wouldn't be trying to make ourselves so comfortable in this life. 

If we believe that this life is temporary, that belief alone changes how we live it. James 4:14 states, "What is your life? You are mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Think about the wet dew on the grass each morning. It is there when I wake up, but almost gone by the time I make it to work. THAT IS HOW TEMPORARY OUR LIVES ARE. Isn't that crazy? James compares 100-ish earthly years to the time it takes the dew to dry up off the ground....If we, too, can begin to view this life as temporary in the grand scheme of all the things Jesus has to offer us, then our lives would be changed. Sacrificing would become second nature as our eyes our focused on things above and not on early things.


"Since the you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 2:16


Following Him completely requires belief that He is good even if everything here and now is not, that He sees us and has an intentional plan for our few years here. This lyric from Lift My Life Up by Unspoken has been stuck in my head all week regarding this post on sacrifice: "If I'm under fire, I know its refining me." God chose us for an intentional purpose, whether it be a purpose that we had in mind or not. He will place us in certain situations so that we may be set apart, so that we may shine His light. 


Christ says, “If you are for me, then the world will be against you. If you are not willing to lose everything you have, including your life, DON’T EVEN FOLLOW ME. Expect persecution, and consider that a privilege. (Matthew 12:30, Luke 14:26, Matthew 5:10) How powerful those words are. Trials purify our faith. In order to consider persecution a privilege, we must not just set aside a devotional time, but instead live a life of devotion. If you haven't heard of Paster Saeed Abedini, I urge you to read his story. He was tricked into flying back to Iran where he was arrested and taken away, simply for being a Christian. He has recently been sentenced to 8 years in one of the world's worst prisons. His every move is scrutinized as the guards wait for him to deny Christ, yet he sees it as a golden opportunity to shine God's light in the world's darkest places. You can listen to a letter he wrote to his wife from prison here. We don't all have a Saeed story, but we all have struggles that we are facing. How are we handling those struggles? Do we see them as a "golden opportunity to shine the light of Christ?" Remember, today's pain is part of tomorrow's redemption story**.


*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented September 7, 2013, by Matt Newman


So Jesus prayed for us, not that we would be kept from hardship or suffering but that we would be kept from the evil one who desires to take us out. What happens when we are truly devoted to God? So devoted that we are willing to do ANYTHING to deny ourselves and follow Him? We can again look to Daniel 3. God used the small steps in Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego's life when they refused to eat the king's food and responded in faith to the king's dream. These small steps prepared them to refuse to bow to the king's statue, when they knew that the consequence for not bowing was to get thrown into the fiery furnace. The furnace was part of God's design for their lives. In verse 25, after the three men were bound and thrown into the flames, King Nebuchadnezzar says, "Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods." How can we apply this to our lives today??? Jesus was INSIDE the furnace. The three men could have just bowed to the king's statue to escape the flames, but if that were the case, they would have missed the chance to be in the presence of God. If God leads you to it, He is already there waiting for you in it!* 

*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented August 25, 2013, by Doug Raines


With no regard for the way this would impact her short life here, she looked for the big picture As a woman, the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, can give me an example of how I should live my life. Growing up in church, I've heard the story of the birth of Jesus so many times, that I often forget to be genuinely awed by it. Imagine it taking place in the modern world. A teenager pregnant, claiming to be a virgin. Imagine the ridicule. Mary faced the same ridicule in her time, and instead of allowing it to change the whole story of Christ, our whole story, she looked at the big picture. See, Mary knew that this life is just temporary. We don't know how much she grasped the role she would play in the coming of the Savior, but just imagine what would have happened if Mary didn't want to suffer or sacrifice her temporary comfort in the name of Christ....God chose Mary, and He is looking for those qualities in each and every one of us. Are you willing to say yes???

Samantha 

Transparent Tuesday: Surrender

 Two weeks ago, I posted about the American Dream and how we could practice giving rather than gathering. Last week, I discussed Putting God First in our lives; both posts were inspired by the book entitled Anything by Jennie Allen.

"I surrender all, all to thee my precious Jesus, I surrender all..." That hymn is much easier to sing than it is to actually live out. When we believe in the power of God and then choose to put Him first in our lives, the next logical thing is to surrender everything else that was in the way. We must surrender in order to truly live.

Part 3

For believers in an eternal God, it shouldn’t be unusual to risk our entire lives for Him. It should be the norm for every person who claims Christ. In our society, it is so easy to get caught up in doing the "right" things. Like, we have to go to college so that we can get a good job. We have to find a good paying job so that we will have enough money to live comfortably. We have to start a retirement fund so that we can live easy lives when our working days are over. But when we try to live "easy", "comfortable" or even "practical" lives, we could be missing out on what God has called us to do. I am not saying that it is bad to go to college, get a good job, and retire. It is good to have those things in place. Maybe God's plan for you is embedded in those things. But if God laid something different on your heart, would you be willing to risk all of those things in order to answer the call???

If Christ is raised from the dead, we risk it all, losing what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose. If we truly believe that Christ hung on a cross for us and died for our sins, then we must have the mindset that we, too, can risk it all. If we truly believe that this is only our temporary home, than praying for ANYTHING and risking it all, isn't sensless. Yes, it is radical. But aren't we all called to radically follow and serve the One who risked it all for us??? So if you are ready to surrender to God for ANYTHING, now what…..PRAY. Only through His Spirit will we know what to do , and only through His Spirit could we do it. 

Little deaths always feel like big deaths until you let go….then you wonder what was the big deal? What do we hold onto our possessions for? It is amazing how the things you try to hold onto the longest, or refuse to surrender, seem to be the things that you miss the least when you finally let go. I think of Jonah. If I refuse to do what God asks of me, HE has the power to make it happen anyway. Would you rather just listen to God, or end up in the belly of a big fish. Your choice. 

She traded entitlement for surrender and God took her up on it. If you pray the prayer, expect God to take you up on it. One thing that God is teaching me about surrender is that I must step out of my comfort zone in order to truly surrender. For me, I find comfort in keeping to myself, being introverted. It takes me a while to warm up to people. I can pinpoint two specific times where I felt God leading me towards strangers....wanting me to ask them their name, or how their day was...just start a conversation with them. And both times, I have failed. I let fear take over, instead of trusting in God. I think about Daniel 3, and how God prepared Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego along the way with small steps of surrender (choosing to not eat the King's food, choosing to not bow to the King's statue) before they were to be thrown into the fiery furnace....I have to respond to my small steps first. Do I compromise to make life easier or better? Do I respond out of fear or in faith? Will I conform in order to fit in? Will I hand on to my life or surrender it to God?*** I have to practice surrendering to God in these small steps so that I will be prepared when God leads me towards my fiery furnace.

***Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented August 25, 2013, by Doug Raines

"Our hands are lifted high in SURRENDER, Your grace for me is always enough." 

Samantha

Transparent Tuesday: Putting God FIRST

Last week, I used Anything by Jennie Allen to talk about avoiding getting caught up by material things. You can read that post here. When we can overcome that desire to live the American Dream, we can then put God FIRST in our lives. 

Part 2

We seize more of God when He seizes us through our broken dreams Sometimes we get so caught up in the world, that God has to break us down so that we will actually turn to Him. I have seen this play over in my life several times. I get busy being "of the world", and I start trying to do things on my own, and God has to pull me back towards him through my brokenness. Is God evil because He causes brokenness? No! He loves us so much. He wants ALL of us. Love is jealous, especially God’s love. He wants me and I want everybody else.

God was REAL and Heaven was coming and I wanted to hold every moment on earth in light of that moment when I would meet God face-to-face. So I get a wake up call, and He gets all of me. But then, it becomes somewhat of a game for me. I get caught up in "holding every moment on earth in light of that moment when I would meet God face-to-face" and I start searching for moments. The intentions of my heart are no longer to serve God, but to serve myself and my satisfaction and my pride, etc. 

What if the things I thought He wanted from me were the very things keeping me from Him? I have always felt like my life had a specific purpose. I feel set apart. I feel like God is going to use me to do something magnificent for Him. But sometimes, I search for that “something”. I volunteer for something, and then wonder…”is this it?”. I plan for the future and wonder, “will that be it?” And the whole time that I wonder or plan, I am missing out on GOD’s plan for my life, the ultimate plan. I try to find what I think He made me for, and I miss out on HIM.


"Christianity is a statement, which if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." C.S. Lewis God calls us to follow him completely. In Matthew 6:22-23, Jesus says, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will  be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." In some versions, vs. 22 says, If your eyes are healthy or single... So good=healthy=single. Single vision means that our eyes our only focused on one thing. Spiritual things. Heaven. Therefore, if your eyes are bad, or maybe we could think if our eyes are "double", one eye is focused on Spiritual things while one eye is focused on material things. EVEN THEN, we are filled with darkness. Even with our one eye on Heaven, our whole body is FILLED WITH DARKNESS*. That is so powerful. We cannot serve two masters. Either God is first, or He isn't. 

*Taken from sermon notes at Fellowship Bible Church of NWA, Mosaic Congregation presented June 1, 2013, by Mark Shatzman

But part of trusting this God and part of obeying Him is participating in his plan for our relationships. For married women, running ahead of our husbands shows them we don’t need them, shows them they can’t lead us, that we are faster, deeper, and love God more. If you are married, know that making our husbands feel inferior is not God’s will. If your loved ones are not there, LOVE them and WAIT on God. Putting God FIRST means replacing something else that was first in your life. Maybe that something was a spouse or another loved one. Putting God first doesn't mean throwing that person away...it means loving them more, loving them like God loves you. When God is first, we can love deeper and trust stronger. When God is first, we imitate His love to us in how we then love others. 

Joe and I have begun having the conversations about what our life might look like now. We have begun to pray for our "anything" out of the fact that God is first in each of our lives and in our marriage. We are open minded to where God might lead us and when He might lead us. Don't get me wrong. It is scary to think about the unknown....but when you think about it from the perspective that this life is short-term, and that we are here to serve a greater purpose, the unknown is so, so sweet. You might not be ready to pray for your "anything", but please pray for the Fugates as we pray for ours. 

Samantha