Springfield Church in Hays, North Carolina had been planning their afternoon of service for months. Weeks of preparation had gone into delivering care packages to residents near the church’s property in mountainous region of Wilkes County. They had planned to hit the streets after the morning worship service.
But as they finished the Sunday School hour before the service, they heard an elderly woman with dementia had wandered off. When they finished the morning service, local first responders had set up a command center in the church’s parking lot.
The church decided to postpone their planned service project and join in the search for their neighbor. After a little more than two hours of searching in the woods members of the church found her standing in a creek at the bottom of a steep bank about a quarter of a mile from the church building.
Thankfully, she only had scratches and bruises.
Sometimes being available to God doesn’t go the way you think it will.
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In her new book I Surrender All, Priscilla Shirer, says, surrender to Christ is “the crux of what the invitation to discipleship demands.” In the book she talks about the heaviness of the task but Shirer says this sacrifice is worth it because losing one’s life is the only way to find it.
“We’re afraid surrendering the whole of ourselves to Him, giving Him full access to our entire lives, will cause disruptions to our preferred way of living our lives,” she says.
Shirer makes the case that being a true disciple of Jesus means being will to truly allow the Jesus to be the Lord of your life.
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In a Lifeway Bible Study, Bartholomew Orr writes, “Too many people listen to others and change frequently to fit the status quo. They pursue the American dream and not God’s assigned destiny. They are coerced or influenced to follow in their parents’ footsteps, instead of seeking their heavenly Father’s plan for their life. Don’t feel pressured by those around you to be somebody you’re not. Be who God says you are.”
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