Two years ago, due to the ailing health of my wife’s mom, plans were made to move to Aiken, South Carolina. Fortunately, we had time to prepare for this transition from Delaware. As I read God’s call to Abram in the passage below, this was immediate. God didn’t say, “take your time.” Rather, Moses suggests that this move was instantaneous based upon the directions from the Lord.
Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others]. 3 And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and [a]curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves]. 4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran, Genesis 12:1-4.
In 1993, I lived in 6 different states in the first 6 months of this year. I resigned from a youth ministry position in Maryland so that I could attend a Trade School in Minnesota. While waiting for an interview in South Dakota, I spent a month in Ohio living with my parents. When this ministry opportunity fell through, I accepted a teaching position at a Boarding School in West Virginia. At the end of the school year, a dream job opened up for me in Columbus, Indiana.
Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, Isaiah 43:18-19.
God’s providence during this time of transit helped remove from me the fear of the unknown. The moment one door was shut in my face, another one miraculously opened. I was living the famous poem Footprints without ever realizing it. Just before 1993 came to an end, I met my future wife Leanne at a Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago. Thirty years later, God has prepared me by reminding me of the promises in the Bible so that while I’m in transit, the Lord still provides.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 