Bound in Love

Luke 10:1-12

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few…

I have always thought that being a missionary would be an amazing call.  Responding to Jesus’ call and going somewhere new and different to spread the Good News.  To change lives and help people get to know Jesus Christ and His radical love. 

In fact we are all called to live on mission wherever we are.  Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means radiating Christ in our lives to those around us, in small ways and big ways. In smiling at and greeting  those we meet with love, in being a helper, in bible studies and soup kitchens. At church, in our homes and in all aspects of our lives.  Do we know Jesus intimately enough to share what relationship with Him looks like? 

Recently our daughter discerned a call to be a FOCUS missionary on a college campus. She left her corporate job behind and followed Jesus to Austin Texas.  An exciting adventure for sure!

“Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my Savior,my deliverer, my friend, I trust You, You take care of her.”

As a mother watching this play out, I have been overwhelmed at the amount of grace poured out by God when we follow His will.  We can indeed do things we never could  do alone because when we have Christ in us all things are possible. I have seen this play out right before my eyes in the last few months in my daughter’s life.  God has given me the privilege of seeing Him work in all things intimately in the life of my daughter.  

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is yield to the grace, which often comes through a hardship or a stretch moment or moments. I have said in my head many times “ok God, I don’t want this, please take it away” and then I remember “everything is gift” and I can breath out and receive whatever grace God knows will draw me closer to Himself. 

Letting go of being in the same city with my daughter, getting to share daily activities and daily life with her seems like a big ask. God has blessed us with a close relationship and a beautiful friendship. We see the world through the same lens and we love Jesus with the same intensity. Sharing the walk of a disciple with her has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. And that’s not over, it’s just at a distance of 921 miles.  I know God will provide the grace to let her go, to give her wings to fly, to go out there and change lives of young women in Austin, Texas through Jesus.  

“Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my Savior,my deliverer, my friend, I trust You, You take care of her.”

We know one thing for sure: God is all love all the time. All love all the time. I keep repeating that in my head. As we drove away from Austin and she watched us leave, the tears were abundant and I kept handing her back to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This beautiful soul is not mine and she never has been. She is Yours Lord. 

“Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my Savior,my deliverer, my friend, I trust You, You take care of her.”

When I was six months pregnant with my daughter (in 2000) God called me to speak at a Life in the Spirit seminar at Christ the King in Atlanta. This seminar was about learning Who the Holy Spirit is and about how He acts in our lives – how to recognize the movements of the Holy Spirit and respond to them as Mary did with docility and a big YES.  My talk was about walking away from sin, about the power of the sacrament of confession, about conversion and how that leads us to personal relationship with God.  When we clean up our interior lives there is more room for God. 

The night of the talk I was prayed over by a prayer team and several priests and I remember the feeling of all those holy hands on me and on my pregnant stomach and feeling the grace poured out abundantly. It was electric.  After the talk many people came up to me and said “God has special plans for that baby, he or she just received an enormous Holy Spirit outpouring while in utero.” 

And so here we are today, and that baby is now on mission. And I will miss her and the joy of spending time with her in person.   

“Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my Savior,my deliverer, my friend, I trust You, You take care of her.”

As we stopped for lunch on the drive back home I was still crying, I have a really big heart and I feel emotion intensely.  Trying to eat my Chick Fil A while crying was a challenge. My husband left the table for a few minutes and a women came up to me and said: ” I don’t know what’s going on or why you are upset, but God wants you to know everything is going to be ok.” I told her I had just left my daughter in Austin to be a missionary and she said “God has this.” Which made me cry even harder. She leaned close to me and said “do you need a hug?” I nodded and she gave a big hug which felt like a huge hug from God. In that moment of sadness, of letting go, of trying to embrace God’s good plan and struggling, God drew me so close and gave me a hug from Heaven.  God is good all the time. God is all love all the time. He has a plan and it’s a good plan. I love you Lord! 

“Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my Savior,my deliverer, my friend, I trust You, You take care of her.”