Living in the Tension

Author, speaker Jennie Allen once said, “Life is full and hard, but rich and fulfilling too.” I believe this sentence describes life in Lesotho well. Life here is very full and very rich, there is so much indescribable joy. There are so many occasions where one can clearly see that the Lord is their “Daily Bread” and provides exactly what is needed at the right time. Yet with all the joy and provision, comes deep heart ache and grief. I believe it is because of the deep heartache and grief, that the cause the joy and celebration to overflow from their daily lives. Living in the joy and grief, means living in tension. Living in a way that is always seeking God, even though you firmly believe He is always with you, you still seek to find Him. The tension is a hard place to be, yet it is a good place to be.

The past few months I have felt like I have been living in a huge tension. I desire to be completely obedient to God’s call for my life and in doing that I realize how much I need to be more like the people of Lesotho. I need to trust God more. I need to allow His indescribable joy over take each moment of my day, so that in all things I can reflect Him. There are moments when I feel like I am a horse walking around with blinders on. I am so focused on what tasks need to be done, that I overlook God’s presence in every situation. I am so busy looking ahead to the next team that is coming that I overlook the ones who are right beside me. The biggest tension right now, is that I am so focused on the next journey of sharing Beautiful Gate to those in the United States and Canada, I feel I am missing the beautiful people around me.

You do not have to be a missionary in Africa to feel the tension. There are moments in your daily life where you seek to be in God’s presence more, but the blinders you wear cause you to focus on something else. Today I pray for myself and for you that living life in tension causes us to surrender fully to God every day, so that His mercies and peace and indescribable joy overtake any other emotion we may have. The Lord is so rich and so full, that nothing else in this world can stand against Him.