I SAY "YES"

My life is pretty amazing right now. God's got us living in a beautiful intentional community where every day I get to love on precious people and receive amazing ministry from unexpected avenues. My kids are doing great, my husband is hunky, and I have more friends than I ever have time to see.

But some days, I miss Swaziland and those sweet faces almost more than I can stand.

Mornings like the one I'm having right now find me close to tears just thinking about them and seeing other people's online posts and pictures related to Africa.

Because see, a true call to a people or place or cause isn't an escape from a yucky, mundane life. A true call is a supernatural impartation of love and passion straight from the Father's heart for a specific mission. It isn't a "get out of jail" card. It isn't a deliverance from struggling relationships or failures. It isn't an excuse not to deal with personal issues that need to be dealt with.

A call is something bigger than you. It is bigger than your circumstances. It is a love and drive so big for God and what He is calling you to do and be that you are compelled to say "yes" even if saying "yes" means big sacrifices. It is saying "yes" even if what you are already doing is fulfilling and fruitful.

Yes, sometimes the calling does take you from a place of ho-hum to a place of adrenaline and significance. Sometimes the calling does lift us out of a place of pain and struggle. But often the call takes a girl like me, who is perfectly happy with where she's at, and breaks her heart so intensely that all the good stuff of this life --- the growing church, the purpose-driven ministry, the beautiful adult children, the network of fabulous friends, the lovely home --- pale in comparison to what He's calling her, too. Even if that call is going to entail more heartbreak, many third world frustrations, a huge deduction in income, people with more needs than I can ever meet, and missing my American friends and family like crazy.

A call means that doing what God wants me to do for Him and His loved ones becomes the driving factor in my life and is as impossible to ignore as a hurricane ripping through my life.

 Let the winds roar, Lord. I am listening. I am going. I say "yes"!