Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

There is a kitchen sink sitting in my dining room.  Not an extra sink set up and functioning mind you.  Just a sink.  It is silently mocking me.  It is a daily reminder of what has yet to come and what is currently going on.  Its tilted against a book shelf and waiting for the day it will be put in a suitcase and taken to Ecuador, and yes...when we travel we take everything AND the kitchen sink.  I need it there.  I can't bring myself to put it away. 

The sink is a gentle reminder that we need to get back to Ecuador.  Every day as I walk past it I am forced to face the fact that although we need to get back to Ecuador in June, our funding is only at 60% and our support account started this month in the negative. God has called us to return to Ecuador and there is no doubt about that. I just wish I knew the plan to get us back there. Sometimes our road back to Ecuador is a difficult one.  It is usually a big unknown.  But we are not alone in our unknown and difficult road. 

God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son and did not reveal His plan to provide a ram until the very last moment (Genesis 22).  God did not reveal his plan to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo until they had stepped into the fire (Daniel 3).  And, God did not reveal His full plan for Jesus to all humanity until after Jesus had been crucified, dead, buried, and raised from the dead (check out all four gospels!). 

My situation is nothing new.  It is also no surprise.  The truth is that God often times allows difficulty to come our way.  It is not that God is singling us out.  It is actually quite the contrary.  We live in a fallen world and with a fallen world comes difficulty.  I am not talking about the deep dark heart ache that rears its ugly face and leaves us breathless.  That is another blog for another day.  I am referring to the uncomfortable moments that pepper our lives. 

We must be cautious not to exaggerate our difficulties and we must keep perspective. In a world full of suffering our daily frustrations seem too small to address.  But, day by day they are there and they are calling our name.  What do we do?  How do we act?  And why on earth can't they just go away?!

What we do is call our difficulties what they are; growing pains.  My youngest currently gets up at night complaining that his legs hurt.  It's growing pains.  He is shooting up taller and faster than his clothing can keep up with him.  He is experiencing pain because he is growing.  Growth often causes pain.  We can expect that.  But what we can also expect is the result.  We can expect to be taller when it is over.  If we handle our daily difficulties correctly we can also be taller at the end of the day.  We can find ourselves having grown deeper in our faith and stronger. 

We surely don't need to pretend that our difficulties do not bother us.  Pretending is just a fluffy word for lying and lying never got anyone anywhere good.  We need to face our difficulties with the grace and poise of a person who knows that in the end God has a plan.  It's the difference that a world walking, sometimes running, towards hell needs to see.  It is in those moments the non-believer notices a difference.  We hold our head up.  We live with hope.  And when asked, we need to have the reason for our hope ready to be shared.  Just check out 1 Peter 3:15.

This is why our difficulties can't just "go away."  God has a plan for them.  When difficulties show up the Christian's response has the potential to point to Jesus and save lives eternally.  Most people don't respond well to difficulty.  Many people complain about their situation, blame others for their problems, or hide in a hole to try to escape them.  But God calls us to be different.  Roman 12:12 says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."  We are to be joyful not because we are pretending but because deep down we have the hope of Jesus.  We are to be patient because growing takes time.  And, we are to be faithful in prayer.  When our difficult times arrive are we spending more time complaining and worrying or on our knees in prayer? 

And so today, as my sink is sitting in the dining room staring at me and our support account is looking tired and weak, I choose joy.  I leave the sink there because I need to practice choosing joy.  It does not just happen.  I choose it.  I choose to find hope in the God who has made a way for all to be redeemed because He deserves that and so much more.  I find patience because I know that "...all things work together for good for them that love God."(Romans 8:28).  I will pray to God that I will grow and strengthen in my faith during these difficult times.  I will also pray that that sink will fit into our suitcase because we forgot to take the tape measure with us when we bought it.