Mission Accomplished – Day 40

Posted on October 11, 2011 by marriageonamission

Several months ago, my deepest friend pulled me aside…and pulled up a chair. In her hands, compassion and a book.

I know her well…and she, me. If she was suggesting that I read something, it was definitely worth the read.

The book? One Thousand Gifts. Within its pages, author Ann Voskamp chronicles the transformation of her intimacy with God when she decides to note 1,000 things for which she is thankful…practicing the communing art of eucharisteo in ALL things.

Eucharisteo [Greek] = grace, thanksgiving, joy…in ALL things.

Especially the broken things.

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this to remember me.”  1 Corinthians 11:23-24, emphasis added.

So in June of this year, my adventure began…

Practicing “eucharisteo” with intentionality and purpose…determined not to look for, but to see the grace, thanksgiving, and joy…in ALL things. Every single one.

#59 – Love won

#60 – Love still wins

#61 – Romans 8

#257 – Praying friends

#285 – Cloud cover in heat

#374 -New mercy

And, as I peered through life’s difficulties and listed my thanks, I learned…

Choosing to see God in ALL things allowed me to see more deeply into the things of God.

So, when we set out on this mission 39 days ago…my own journey was already well underway.

Grace whittling away at my discontent.

#441 – I surrender all

#443 – Hourly bread

#484 – Fanning the flames

And now as day 40 sunsets, I ponder this truth: Clint and I may have been sent out across this nation on a mission for God, but…


God also had a mission of His own.

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 1 Timothy 6:6-7 NLT

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Harvest Hands – Day 38

Posted on October 9, 2011 by marriageonamission

I couldn’t help but stare at his hands when they welcomed us into their home. Worn with years and sun. Farming his land. Clutching the Word. Making sweet melodies.

And hers? Knuckly and slim. Embracing us warmly. Serving up coffee. Tickling the keys.

Together–his hand in her’s–they’ve harvested hearts for almost 50 years.

50 years.

Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: “What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.” Luke 10:1-2 The Message, emphasis added

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On Nights Like These – Day 35

Posted on October 6, 2011 by marriageonamission

The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything.

They hide a key in case no one’s home when we arrive. Their instructions? “Raid the fridge. Take a nap. Wash your clothes. Spread out. Enjoy. Be at home.”

We break bread. We talk marriage.

We share the loneliness of ministry…and we are no longer alone.

Friends become family on nights like these.

The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them. Acts 4:32-33 The Message

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The Stretching – Day 33

Posted on October 4, 2011 by marriageonamission

We know the feeling.

When our faith is being stretched to the max. Relentless pulling and stretching and pulling some more. But, why?

Because our faith is still too small.

And, while it’s much more comfortable to leave our faith the size that it is…

God stretches, and pulls, and twists it some more. But, rest assured…

It’s NEVER for nothing.

NEVER.

And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. (Philippians 1:6 Amplified.)

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The 5th Season – Day 31

Posted on October 2, 2011 by marriageonamission

Evidence of the changing season surrounds us. Autumn colors line the highways of New England, drawing thousands of tourists who want to drink in this beauty.

But even with all the glorious foliage signaling fall’s arrival, this is not the season that captivates us. We await a supernatural season.

It was during our first mission trip in 2006 that the Holy Spirit dropped something sacred into our hearts: “There will be a turning of a Fifth Season…a supernatural season of the Holy Spirit’s revival upon marriages and families across this nation.”

We firmly believe that God is waiting to cut loose with an unprecedented 5th Season revival; turning back the tide of separation and divorce through forgiveness and reconciliation.

Fast forward five years and eight more missions and we anticipate that 5th Season—a season absolutely impossible in the natural realm. May it be ushered in by, “the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17).

The God who can turn a shameful past into a hopeful future…

The God who can breathe brand new life into every dead marriage.

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Man of the Tombs – Day 27

Posted on September 28, 2011 by marriageonamission

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.

I wonder…where was this man’s family? His friends? Burned out, more than likely. We do that when circumstances become chronic…when healing doesn’t happen…

When the prodigal spouse still doesn’t return.

After all, it’s kind of…awkward, isn’t it? We run out of things to say and prayers to pray. And, it’s more comfortable to forget them than to face Heaven’s silence alongisde them. Day after day. Night after night.

Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Abandoned. Forsaken. Exposed. Wounded. His life was on no ones’s radar, but his.

And, HIS.

Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

His entrance into this man’s suffering came in the form of such a simple question. Surely, Jesus already knew his name, so why would He bother to ask it? One look at the man’s answer tells us.

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” Legion wasn’t the man’s birth name. It was his condition.

His circumstances had become his identity…the way by which he was known.

Abandoned. Forsaken. Separated. Divorced. Men and women of the tombs.

May we enter into their pain with simplicity. With engagement. With healing. With love. With Jesus.

(Scripture taken from Mark 5 and Luke 8.)

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A Little Closer – Day 25

Posted on September 26, 2011 by marriageonamission

Every Sunday evening for the last nine years, we’ve chased after God together.

We open His Word and feast on it. Chewing and chewing on every morsel; taking it down into ourselves…into our marriage.

We discuss those in need of prayer…and we pray for them…and for each other.

And, every Sunday night for the last nine years, the Holy Spirit has shown up. He has never missed a meeting.

And, every Sunday night for the last nine years, He has taken us a little closer to God…and to each other.

(View our weekly devotional time in action on our free podcast website. Click on #13 entitled, “Developing a Weekly Strategy.”)

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The 6th Sense – Day 23

Posted on September 24, 2011 by marriageonamission

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17

Define light and momentary. Over the course of the past week, we’ve sat across from couples whose troubles included multiple miscarriages, home robbery, income shortfall, unemployment, betrayal, panic attacks, cancer, and more. One look into the eyes of these folks will tell you that their troubles look, sound, smell, taste, and feel anything but light and momentary. No. Their trials are painful and heavy and chronic.

In the face of present pain, eternal glory can seem so very, very far away.

But, when all is said and shared, we stand and position ourselves in a circle.

The Body. 

His Bride. Her hands extended and grasped.

And She prays for that 6th sense called FAITH.

NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Hebrews 11:1 Amplified

Prayer: the collective strain of our hearts to see the unseen…to hear the inaudible…to touch the invisible…

To believe.

Prayer: the exercising of our Supernatural 6th sense; turning our pain to purpose…making our burdens bearable…transforming the chronic to curable.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18

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God’s Workmanship – Day 21

Posted on September 22, 2011 by marriageonamission

I left our room to be alone and pray, and I saw her there…

Fully at peace. Conpletely content.

Doing exactly what she was created by God to do.

Nothing less. Nothing more.

 For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in the [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]. 

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified

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What if? – Day 20

Posted on September 21, 2011 by marriageonamission

What if we believed? I mean really, REALLY  believed? Really took God at His Word regarding the miracles for which we long?

I “blame” the delivery delay of my miracles on God. “It must not be His timing yet,” is the rationale of the day. I blame it on others too. “So-and-so needs to do such-and-such first.”

Yeah, that’s it. I have it all figured out.

But, what if it’s NOT God or anyone else at all who is delaying the miracles I so desperately desire. What if it’s…me?

What if God is waiting on me?

What if God is waiting on you?

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  John 11:40

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