Shut up and let God work!

On the last night of CIY, everyone had an envelope with a card in it taped to the bottom of their chair. On each card was a challenge that everyone had to complete within the next year to help grow their faith. The rule was that if you open it, you have to do it. This was scary because they let us know what some of the challenges were. There were things like Don't buy clothes for a year and Sell something you own that's worth more than $500 and give it all away.

For all of the kids it was scary because there were things that they either didn't think they could do or they just weren't willing to do. On that night a number of our kids opened their cards. I didn't.

My reasoning was that I've always done multiple things and this is the first time in my life that I've only had one job to focus on (that and I was not so secretly worried that it would tell me to learn a new language and spend 2 months in that country). I felt like I have enough direction to go in, I don't need another one to commit to.

Today, I'm sitting in my office and wrapping up some administrative stuff from the trip and preparing for VBS next week, and that stupid card popped back up. After throwing it away and hearing it scream at me for 20 minutes, I dug it out of the trash and opened it up.

After seeing the card and remembering my reasoning for not opening it, I realized what I just did. I put a God in a box. After telling Him that I am already doing this, this, and this and that I can't handle anything more, He firmly responded back, "You don't think I know that? You don't think I know exactly what you need and what you can handle?"

I'm glad my card didn't remain in the trash and I'm proud of our kids who had enough faith to open their's. I can't wait to grow closer in a relationship with my Lord and Savior by reading 66 books in the next 365 days. Please pray for me and hold me accountable.