SAFE COUNTRY

“But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” Nehemiah 4:7-9

The book of Nehemiah is a beautiful picture of what happens when the people of God get serious about the work of God. It’s a story of the Church (comprised of every true follower of Jesus Christ) fighting hard individually and collectively to let God take ground through them. The walls of Jerusalem were broken down in many areas and God called His people to participate in the hard work of rebuilding them.

They were weak with their walls down, prey to anyone that wanted to take them over. God used one man (Nehemiah) to rally His people to obedience when it looked hopeless and overwhelming. They put their whole hearts into it (Nehemiah 4:6) and the demonic forces got very angry. So angry, in fact, that those dark forces even called a special meeting to plot how to specifically stop what was happening.

So when does Satan really get stirred up? When Christ-followers start obeying the Lord in a way that allows Him to close in their spiritual gaps. Nothing chills Satan to the bone more than Christians who lay down distractions, selfishness, and plain old carnal living to get on mission with God.

How has that been applying to me personally? The Lord has made it clear to me that I should be on mission for Him every day whether it's in my own backyard or in Uganda. And as I've been letting Him do that through me more intentionally lately, I’ve been learning that I have big gaps when it comes to loving people well. My nature is to show love to people up until the point it gets inconvenient, uncomfortable, and costs me something. In the recent past, when pressed with the invitation to go "the extra mile" with people, I usually defaulted to smiling politely, saying “No thanks”, and waving goodbye in my rear-view mirror. Cheerfully defying God's call to feed His sheep (John 21:17). One of God's "frozen-chosen".


For the gaps in me to be closed in, I'm not "trying harder, praying more!". I'm just saying "yes" when His Holy Spirit nudges me (when before I used to fight it and rationalize disobedience). I'm not "working harder" to be a better Christian; He's making me more aware of my gaps and I'm letting Him have more control. For me lately that means driving the extra mile to pick someone up, giving the extra dollar when I want to fearfully clutch it, spending the extra time on the phone with the hurting woman, and engaging with (rather than rushing away from!) my neighbors when we see eachother outside. It taking every opportunity to trade recipes with and pray with the elderly widower three houses down the street. It means I have a reoccuring Friday date to make crafts and read God's Word with the nine year old girl thirty minutes away.

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5 

In my weak moments, a selfish part of me cries out “Send me to Africa to love an orphan, Lord!". "Selfish?", you ask. Absolutely. It's easy for me to want to escape the humble and mundane daily calls to obey Him with a fantasy of what I think will be "the real deal". It's unreasonable of course (sin always is!), since living in Uganda will be undoubtedly be a new level of mundane and humble. When my flesh cries out "Oh to just hold an unloved child in Africa!", I should look for an unloved child to hold here. He knows full well that changing my location doesn’t change my heart. If I can't obey Him contentedly here, I'll never be able to when I'm completely uprooted and asked to do it in a foreign culture. It’s like believing the plane trip overseas will have magical powers to transform me.  “Tada! The newly-minted Missionary! Just board the plane and you’ll be ready to serve long-term under extreme pressure.” Wow. Kind of like thinking that the matrimonial aisle magically transforms a couple into totally different people, right?  It's no joke that short-term mission trips and the first few months of mission work are often called the "honeymoon" phase. The bubble quickly pops and the Christ-follower realizes they signed up for more than they realized. The flaws they had in their "Safe country" (Jeremiah 12:5) come out in the "thickets" of their new home.  Anything worthwhile (living on mission wherever you are, strong marriages, wise parenting) takes gut-wrenching preparation prior and continual work during. No magic wands and no short-cuts.

“But He [Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

Lord, help us to live for You right where you have us. This season of life, this group of people, this task set before us. Oh Lord, all I have is NOW to serve You! Show each of us the “little” ways we can be more faithful right where we are. You say that whoever is trustworthy with a little will be trustworthy with much (Luke 16:10). How we respond to what’s right in front of us will determine how we handle the next assignment You give us. Help us to allow You to send us out into areas that make us feel weak and clumsy. For me, You know that it’s loving outside my comfort zone in the dailyness of life. Show each person who reads this what it looks like for them. Show them their gaps and how You want to fill in and repair them. Guard them right in the middle of the demonic attack that will be lobbed their way as they cooperate with Your Holy Spirit. Give them the eyes to see who that discouragement is coming from and help them to press even harder into Your side. Help us to pray and post guard day and night to meet this threat (Nehemiah 4:9). Help us to watch You heal us and others around us as we allow You to take control. Love others well through us in the safe country and the thickets (Jeremiah 12:5). In Jesus Name, Amen.

WHEN DREAMS DIE

Cheery title, huh? To be honest, I’m writing about a topic so close to my heart right now, that the thought of typing it out for others to read makes me nervous. But if there’s that much resistance to me writing it, it must mean that this will be blessing for me and others if I obey God.

If you’ve been reading some of my past posts, you’ll notice a common thread pointing to what the Lord is doing in my heart. It involves surrender. Surrendering the last few years of my life to the Lord to use in whatever way He chooses. That means He can take me wherever He chooses (Southeastern Uganda?), have me do whatever He wants (Practicing as a registered nurse in a clinic? Partnering with the local church?), serving whoever He wants (AIDS patients? Orphan care? Vulnerable women and children in general?). Well now He’s tapping me on the shoulder and asking “what about the when, Joy?” Joy: “God, I think we’re good on the when. We've talked about the timing, right? You told me November and that still sounds good to me. You don’t need to touch this!” Or maybe He does.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." John 1:1-3


Just a little reminder of how much God doesn't need my help...

The word for me go to Uganda came from God and therefore He OWNS it. He was in the beginning with God, and therefore He already knows how my life is supposed to play out. All things came into being through Him, and therefore He is Lord over all.



How is He asking me to apply these truths to my life right now? He’s asking me to trust Him enough to give Him my “go date”. He’s saying “You’re not to control any part of this, not even when you ship out for three months.” In short, lay down the November date. Has He given me an alternate date to look forward to? No He hasn’t. He just whispers “wait”. What is this doing inside me? It’s causing every part of this dream, this calling, to fall to the ground and die. Die so it’s dead, never to be seen again? No. Die so it can be resurrected by His hands alone.

The account of Lazarus comes to my mind. Two people that Jesus loved, Martha and Mary sent a message to Jesus. Their brother Lazarus was very ill and they simply said “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick” (John 11:3). It’s obvious from the note they sent Him that these three enjoyed an especially intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. In His interactions recorded with them in Scripture, Jesus was like a big brother to each of them and often stayed in their home, just resting and enjoying their company. So does He hurry up and run the short distance to their neighboring village to make things OK? No. He trusts these three friends enough to handle a tough test: He makes them wait. Wait in silence when everything seems on the line.  “But when Jesus heard this, He said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.’ [..] So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.” John 11:4, 6

I think something inside of us is shocked and even angered by this. "He chose to let Lazarus die, be buried, and rot in that tomb for four days?" Yes He did. Why?  “So that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” (vs 4). For His glory! And if you think that sounds cold and heartless, please note in verse 35 that “Jesus wept” and that He was angered and deeply moved by the human suffering that our sin brought into this world (vs 38). He couldn’t wait to roll that stone away and raise the dead man (a beautiful picture of what He would do on the cross for us just a short time after this). This would happen in His timing, in His way. It’s all about His glory, folks.

“Jesus said, ‘Remove the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?’ So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.’ When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”  John 11:39-44

The death was real but it wasn't permanent. He had resurrection in mind the whole time..He had His glory in mind the whole time. He was trusting His friends to obey Him, walk in the dark, and rely on who He is and not what they see or feel (Isaiah 50:10). To experience a miracle, they had to have their faith tested to their limits. They received their brother back from the dead but, more importantly, they gained a deeper trust in Christ. Lazarus wasn't the only one who would be unbound and 'let go' through this process. Unbelief and pride died; faith, humility, and awe were resurrected.

So what does this have to do with God’s calling on my life? It means that over every square inch of Joy Wood's life God cries out “MINE!”. I don’t get to tell Him when I should leave for Uganda and He doesn’t even need to tell me what His next move is. I’m back to sitting in the back seat of the bus again, humbled in a deeper way. And as painful as it is, I can honestly say that I’m extremely grateful. I’ve caught a few glimpses of my heart making this horribly all about me, an idol instead of an act of worship to my King. It’s made me shudder and be grateful He’s bringing this stuff out to kill it. Its better that He makes me wait. This wait won’t end in death…but for the glory of God.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  John 12:24

Lord, our dreams, even the ones YOU give us, are not our own. They belong solely to the One who plans them from beginning to end (John 1:2-3). The way you work them out (the where, what, who, and when) all belongs to You, Lord Jesus. Help me to posture myself as a servant and a child and let You work out the details. Thank You for the painful waiting periods in our life that bring out the sin in our hearts. The waiting and the uncertainty doesn't make me act a certain way, Lord...it brings out what's been in my heart the whole time. Thank You for the idolatry and self-centeredness You've been revealing and removing. Thank You also for the unrelentless certainty in my heart that You WILL resurrect this for Your glory. Every time You've brought something down to death in my life, I've seen You swoop in and amaze me with how You move. Lord, I take the desire of my heart and I break it over Your feet (John 12:3). Be glorified with how You make it all come together. I'm waiting in expectation even as I seek to be faithful right where You have me now. In Jesus Name, Amen.

MIND SPLINTS

“Though the fig tree should not blossom,  nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's;  He makes me tread on my high places. [..] ”   Habakkuk 3:17-19

I was sitting in my car early in the morning, waiting for a friend when this verse drifted into my mind. Let me tell you, it was a like a lifeline being thrown to me. I had been struggling pretty much since my eyes opened that day with giving Him control over the future and His plan for my life. He’s stripped away a lot of black, tarry ‘yuck’ (pride) lately, but there are always abundant layers of it to scoop out.  I looked Habakkuk 3 up in my little Bible and the words hits me in a fresh way.

Read Habakkuk 3:17-19 again slowly and think about what the author is saying about his life. These are the words of a broken, surrendered man. They might read: “Though my life may look like a total failure, though other people’s expectations of me aren’t met, though my dreams for myself may look different than I imagined, though the amount of suffering was more than I anticipated, though the wait is longer than I thought, though there’s not a cent in the bank account, though I may not even know where my next meal is coming from, though I have nothing but Jesus Christ to my name!...”   I think I uttered “Oh my word..” out loud as I sat there and took that in.

Have you ever felt like your life or performance doesn’t measure up to your expectations or the expectations of others? I think most of us wrestle in that place pretty frequently in at least some small way. Sometimes the Lord has us wrestling more acutely and deeply with those feelings for an indeterminate season. Habakkuk’s words in the next breath shocks me. After that honest confession of what his life has “produced” (by the world’s standards), he utters a deliberate, startling declaration. “YET I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” 

Some translations use the word “exult” instead of “rejoice”. Exult means to literally “leap in the air for joy”.  He threw his whole mind, will, and body into praising God in his trial. It’s this kind of conscious decision to trust God and focus on His goodness that fills our heart-tank with strength to keep waiting, praying, and obeying. The Lord revealed to me the other day that much of my weariness in the wait has a lot to do with my thought patterns. I need wrist splints for my thought life. “Wrist splints?”, you ask. Well let me explain.

 Thanks to the aging process, my flawed human DNA, and heavy daily computer use, I now wear to bed amazingly cool, superhero-like wrist splints (Cool? Well, not so much…and there’s no "carpal-tunnel girl" in the superhero galaxy). About four months ago, I noticed that if I would work on my computer for 4-5 hours straight, I would get wrist pain that would steadily increase. This would progress until I would have trouble typing an email. I was making the median nerve in both of my wrists pretty unhappy with my repetitive movements. Resting and a new keyboard helped, but the tenderness wouldn't go away completely. I was baffled that I even began to wake up in the morning with pain after eight hours or “resting” my wrists. Being the good nurse that I am, I ignored it as long as possible and didn't look into the problem too deeply. "I can fix me!", she cried. My pride got worn down as I continued to lose function and not get better despite my efforts and my own "treatment plan". Finally recognizing I couldn't fix this, I researched some more found out to my surprise that most of the damage was being done while I was asleep. I learned that those in orthopedics recommend reducing the inflammation by sleeping with special wrist splints. Why?   It turns out that when I go to sleep and go on “auto-pilot”, I’m flexing my wrists all that time, doing damage and weakening that area. My wrists had to be locked into a certain posture in order to get well. Slightly dubious and feeling a little silly, I put my splints on for the first time and went to bed. I woke up absolutely pain free and feeling stronger in my wrists than I have for months. That strength in my wrists even lasted during my computer work for most of the day! I was (am!) praising God and sorry I hadn’t used these blessed little things four months ago.

How does that speak to me about my thought life? Well the Lord showed me that the more my mind is “splinted” against wandering into focusing on agendas, time lines, and “how is this going to work??”, the less wearied and weakened my heart is in the wait. The Lord spoke to me recently one morning and said very clearly about my thoughts: “Content drives motivation. Where you focus is what you’re feeding on.” I’ve been feeding myself a steady diet of impatient, fearful, agenda-conscious thoughts about my future. Even little “snacks” along that line (just a thought here or there!) have been sapping my strength. I need to feed on the truth of His Word and who He is. The Lord told me that there can be no auto-pilot in my thinking in this season if I’m going to endure. Hebrews 10:36 says “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” 

He allowed a little margin in my thought life before (and protected me for the most part in my ignorant sin), but there’s no margin now. I’m accountable to Him for what I now know.

  “If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?”  Proverbs 24:12

Back to Habakkuk 3:19. “… He makes my feet like the deer's;  He makes me tread on my high places. [..] ” He is the God of my salvation (vs18) , and out of that great salvation is power to obey Him. This power to obey does NOT flow out of me trying harder but out of letting Him take over.  My free will (my "want to") and His Holy Spirit (His "how to") meet up when I surrender control over to Him. It's not us trying harder with "God on our side", it's living the absolutely "exchanged life" that Galatians 2:20 promises. I agree with what He shows me and say "You're right, I can't handle this and it's sin for me to try to do it on my own." And as I cry out "God help!" in my thought life (or whatever He points out) and turn it over to Him, He will make me leap over rocks that are impossible for me on my own. For me these big boulders are my unbelief ("How in the world is God going to bring me back to Uganda? This wait feels so long, is He still on the job?") and pride ("I don't like the way this looks! It doesn't feel neat and tidy.This isn't the training program I thought I signed up for, Lord!"). So now that you know how to pray for me, what is it for you? What is He asking you to give over to Him?  If we do, He will faithfully cover rocky, high territory that makes our knees shake. He will cut off things we were never meant to carry. He will glorify Himself all along the way.


Lord Jesus, help us to rejoice (leap up in the air!) over the fact that you picked us out and saved us. Your salvation for us on the cross is more than enough to make us have a heart filled with holy joy.  Please help us to fix our minds on YOU and receive what we need to endure. My mind is so undisciplined and distracted every day and I’m asking You to help me to not take a single thought lightly. You have shown me that stray thoughts are not innocent and I’m not “spiritual enough” to handle even a few lies nesting in my mind. Teach us to take every thought captive to You and make them obedient to You (2 Corinthians 10:5). As we do that, You’ll give us the daily victory we long for.  Don’t let us think this is another thing to add to our legalistic list of things to do! We can’t DO anything apart from you (John 15:5). It’s only through a personal relationship with You that this is possible. Once we know You as our Savior and Lord, it’s only through gazing at You and Your finished work on that cross that we have freedom from our sin. Thank You, Jesus! Amen.