Living Untethered: Relinquishing Control to God

My husband and I were gifted a week at a Lakehouse in the Shushwaps. What an idyllic setting. It was in the off season but warm enough that we could enjoy kayaking on the lake, sitting by the campfire near the water’s edge, relaxing in the outdoor hot tub, or sitting by the fireplace indoors when it got too chilly to be outside. It was a week of Sabbath rest for us, holy ground. Just the two of us on ‘lake time’. Our quiet times with the Lord had no time limit so we could just sit and be still giving him and each other our undivided attention.   We slept when we were tired and ate when we were hungry. One morning towards the end of our stay I was looking at the photos I took during the week. Almost all the pictures are about serenity. The lake is calm, the sun is shining, the sky blue and dotted with just enough clouds to make a great refection in the water. That is what my soul longs for and often finds, total serenity in Jesus. I took time to look at the definitio...

“ Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’ “The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. ”  ( Luke 13:6–8 , NLT) This was almost verbatim what I said to Tom when we moved into this house in October and my lime tree was starting to drop its leaves. It was given to us in the spring as a pastor appreciation gift several years ago. It was healthy and bushy, full of life. When we put it on the deck for the summer, it put out beautiful fragrant blossoms and yielded us many limes. But when we took it back into the house when the weather turned cool and the days grew shorter, it developed a bad attitude. The once flourishin...

Originally Written in May of 2018 but when I came across it I thought it fit for such a time as this. Once again, I find myself in transition. My husband resigned his position and I have retired from over 40 years of teaching piano. What are we going to do when our paychecks run out but there are still bills to be paid? For as long as I can remember I had the promise of some form of income in the fall. The salary of a rural pastor is almost always not quite enough to make ends meet so the subsidy of teaching music lessons has saved the day on more than one occasion. This fall not only will my income not be present, neither will his. Plus, we have a huge mortgage. Did we hear God correctly when he said to me, “retire now”, and to my husband, “resign now”? It doesn’t make good economic sense.   We live about two hours from a wilderness campground we love to go to. There are no services out there. You have to bring your own water, firewood, and even your own toilet. It is qu...