Identity 2013

i • den •ti •ty Faith & Fellowship

- the distinguishing character or personality of an individual : INDIVIDUALITY

Church of the Lutheran Brethren

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i•den•ti•ty

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Two-Thousand Thirteen

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Issue No. 2

In This Issue 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

LIKE ME

w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / i d e n t i t y n e t

FF

Trust, Read Daniel Berge

Jesus

FAITH & FELLOWSHIP

Adam Krog

Identity Issue No. 2

Stop Struggling Paul Tjelta

Director of Communications: Tim Mathiesen tmathiesen@clba.org | twitter: @ffmag

Don’t Forget Kirk Militzer

Editor: Brent Juliot bjuliot@clba.org

Created in Christ

Publisher/Graphic Designer: Troy Tysdal ttysdal@clba.org

Fred Scragg

Know Jesus

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright ©1973. 1978. 1984.

International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Jason Lang

re:Think

Kristina Lee Grandstaff

Identity Challenge

(Answers are found in the articles)

Identity in Christ

2.

1.

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Christian Resources Websites to find Christian connections and resources:

2.

www.everystudent.com www.ccci.org (Campus Crusade) www.intervarsity.org (Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship) Across Down 1. We have _____ in 1. Jesus’ fulfilled Jesus name.

God’s _____.

2. God reveals 2. Our talents himself through are _____ for the ______ Word.

God’s glory.

Fill in the blank: 1. “__________ comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

www.athletesinaction.org (Athletes in Action) www.fca.org (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) www.worldmag.com (World Magazine–Christian world perspectives) www.focusonthefamily.com (college perspectives/counseling referrals) www.navigators.org (Navigators Christian Fellowship)

- Romans 10:17

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Faith & Fellowship

Fix Get ready, followers of Jesus, for your faith to be tested. You are now in a time of life where you will find that your peers, teachers, and others you know will confront your beliefs, asking: “Do you really believe there is only one way to heaven?” “How can you be sure that you are forgiven for your sin?” “Why would a loving God allow bad things to happen?” “How can you know for sure that the Bible is true?”

How will you respond? How will you make sense of it all? Where will you go for answers? What will you do when your faith is challenged? Students who follow Jesus have big hurdles to overcome.

Think of hurdlers in a track meet. In the 400 meter hurdle race, the runner has to stay in his lane the entire way after the starting blocks and clear ten hurdles that are evenly spaced along the way. I love to watch these runners. They are so graceful, but what impacts me the most is that they never look at the hurdle itself. Their eyes are always looking forward to the finish line.

When your faith is challenged, don’t look at the hurdle in front of you. Look to the finish line and do not get tripped up by the opposition. Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured www.ffmagazine.org

Glimpse your eyes on Jesus

such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Jesus knows what you are facing, and he faced opposition as well. He was scorned, mocked, beaten, and nailed him to a cross, taking what you deserved. Yet he did not abandon his mission to save us from our sins. The Pharisees continually challenged the teaching and authority of Jesus, yet he did not give in to them, continually fixing his eyes on the goal of rescuing lost sinners.

Jesus has already overcome the opposition and won the victory for us! Because of his triumph, we can keep our eyes fixed on him, the author and finisher of our faith!

When your faith is challenged, and it will be, fix your eyes on Jesus!

JANET ANDERSON

Here is a great resource for you when you have questions: www.GotQuestions. org. There’s even an app for it! CHECK IT OUT! Janet Anderson is the program director at Inspiration Point Christian Camp + Retreat Center in Clitherall, MN.

Visit Inspiration Point Christian Camp + Retreat Center online at www.ipoint.org

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TRUST

READ

DANIEL BERGE

W

hat is the Bible, and what should I do with it?” Is that a question you’ve ever asked yourself?

There are a lot of different ways to answer a question like that. Basically, the Bible is the way God has chosen to reveal himself to us. If we want to know about God, how we relate to him, and how we relate to the world, we can read the very words God chose to hand down to us: The Bible.

That sounds easy, right? Why is there still confusion about the Bible? Well, there are a lot of different ways to answer that question too. Frankly, it is a collection of old books, and the world has changed a lot since it was written. Still, this is what God has given us, and it’s more relevant than we might first think.

So what should we do with it? Take it seriously. It’s God’s Word; he wants us to have it. Here are a couple of ways to take it seriously: Trust it. Many have tried to strip out the miracles or other difficult ideas from the Bible because they seem too unlikely.

But, when you begin with the idea that the universe began at some time in the past, and God was the creative genius behind that beginning, then no miracle can possibly seem out of place or impossible. We take the Bible seriously when we trust it as truthful. If we start deciding what God can and can’t do, we’re placing ourselves above God (pretty much a bad idea).

If you find yourself struggling with difficulties in the Bible, keep an open mind and be careful who you’re listening to.

Many people talk about the Bible without believing in creation, miracles, or the resurrection. They might sound convincing, www.ffmagazine.org

but their ideas aren’t always as complete as they sound. They claim to “know” a whole lot more than they actually do know. Be careful—and be open to mystery. God cannot be fully understood; it would be really strange if we could understand the infinite Creator of all things. If you have specific questions, your pastor should be able to help you think about them.

Read it. We also take the Bible seriously when we actually read it. I don’t mean just memorizing Bible verses (which can be helpful). I mean reading through the different books of the Bible in their context; that means in big chunks. The Bible isn’t a collection of quotes; for the most part it’s a collection of books that tell stories. We take the Bible seriously when we read and reread these stories.

God chose to reveal himself to us through stories, and for good reason. Stories have a sneaky way of forming the way we think.

We usually just enjoy stories, and don’t think about how they affect us. But look at how many people can sit around quoting their favorite movies. Think about how the things we say come to us from stories: “Beware of the Dark Side!” The way we talk, the way we joke, and even the things we value are really shaped by what stories we spend time with. When we enter into any story we allow our thinking to be shaped by it.

Spend time with the Word of God, and allow these stories (and the other books, letters, etc.) to be the stories that shape the way you talk, think, and understand the world. God has chosen to hand down these stories to teach us how to think about him, ourselves, and the world. Don’t neglect his

gift by limiting yourself to random verses.

Read the verses and chapters around your favorite Bible verses and get to know the context they came from.

Take God’s Word seriously. Trust it as truthful and take the time to try to understand what it is really saying by reading it in its context. Allow it to form the way you view God, yourself, and the world. God chose to reveal himself through the written Word, which ultimately points to his revelation of himself through Jesus Christ… but that’s another article.

Daniel Berge is a 2012 graduate of Lutheran Brethren Seminary.

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Jesus ADAM KROG

W

hen I was in college I worked at The Home Depot. My job there was to bid building projects for home builders. A building contractor would bring me a drawing for a house he planned to build and I would take his plans and create a list of materials needed to complete the project. I learned that The Home Depot is able to provide nearly every single item a person might need in order to build a new home.

There was one item, though, that I could not provide: ready-mix concrete.

Concrete is an essential part of every building project because it makes up the foundation. No serious builder would ever begin a building project without first leveling the ground and pouring a foundation of concrete; it is the solid footing which every other material is rested upon and fastened to. It ties the entire building together and enables it to stand firm against even the fiercest storm.

Without a solid concrete foundation, it wouldn’t matter how well the rest of the home was built. It simply wouldn’t have a chance of standing the test of time.

The Bible tells us that God has a building project of his own. But God’s project doesn’t involve a physical building; instead he is in the process of building a spiritual dwelling place for himself. That dwelling place is the Christian Church and God wants to include each one of us in this building.

1 PETER 2:4-6 “As you come to him, the living Stone— rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God 6

through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’”

This Scripture teaches us about God’s good intentions for us. It says we are like “living stones” and God will use us and our unique talents and gifts to build his Church. God loves us; he chooses us and uses us to accomplish great things in this world for his own honor and glory.

But that’s not all it teaches. It also mentions one very special stone in God’s building, the cornerstone. The cornerstone formed the foundation of an ancient building in the very same way that concrete is the foundation of buildings today. When God set out to build His church, he needed an absolutely perfect foundation, a cornerstone, a solid rock he could trust.

Unfortunately, the world had no such person. Just as Home Depot can provide every material except the most important one, the concrete foundation, so God could find no suitable foundation in our world either. Since the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, all people are sinners. As the Bible says, everyone falls short of the glory of God. There are no perfect human beings; no one is good enough to be a suitable foundation for God’s Church.

So God provided the foundation himself by sending Jesus. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came down from heaven and was made man and lived the absolutely perfect, God-pleasing life that we could not. No matter what temptation came his way, no matter what life threw at him, even when he was tempted by the devil himself, Jesus Christ remained absolutely

obedient to God. In doing so he proved that he was the perfect foundation for God’s Church, a solid, unmovable rock we can trust.

When Jesus laid down his life for our sins by dying on the cross, he made it possible for his perfect righteousness to be credited to us through faith. When we come to believe in Jesus, God ties us into the foundation; He connects us to Christ.

We find all our hope and purpose in this world in knowing that God has called us to be part of his building project, and he has set us upon a perfect foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord. As “living stones” in the Church we know that we are part of a project that will endure forever because God is our builder and we are made right and given an eternal foundation in our Savior Jesus Christ. All our hope in this world and all our hope of eternal life with God in heaven rests on our relationship with Jesus Christ, our foundation, our cornerstone.

Rev. Adam Krog serves as pastor at Elim Lutheran Brethren Church in Clearbrook, MN.

Faith & Fellowship

S

ummer is the time for swimming!

It is the time to dive into the clear blue water at the local pool, jump off the dock into your favorite lake, or splash in the ocean waves. Water provides us with fantastic opportunities for fun.

But water also holds a dangerous power; it has the frightening ability to drown a person. If you have ever found yourself in distress while in the water, and been confronted by the possibility of drowning, you know how terrifying water can be. If you’ve never been in that situation, imagine it for a minute.

You realize that you are no longer able to keep your head above water. Your attempts to raise your mouth above water 8

fail. You panic! What an unbelievably scary moment! Then suddenly someone is there to help you, arms reaching out to grab you. A rescuer has appeared and pulls you out of danger. Right?

Surprisingly, the drowning person who has someone swimming out to rescue him is still in great danger. Unfortunately, it is common for the person in danger of drowning to continue struggling and flailing wildly with his arms. In his panic to save himself, he can make it impossible for the rescuer to help him.

In an even more unfortunate occurrence, something similar can happen to us spiritually. We find ourselves drowning.

Perishing. In fact, Scripture tells us that

we are all perishing in our natural sinful condition. There seems no escape from God’s punishment for our sin. You realize that one day you will stand before God as your judge, and hear him pronounce the punishment for your sin: eternal hell. An unbelievably scary moment!

Unless someone is there to help you.

A Rescuer has appeared. Jesus comes to rescue you from the penalty for your sin by offering forgiveness. He has taken your punishment on himself. Through faith in Jesus’ death in your place, you are saved! You are out of danger, right?

Surprisingly, believers in Jesus may still find themselves in spiritual danger. As with the drowning person who struggles Faith & Fellowship

stop

struggling PAUL TJELTA

to save himself and in so doing hinders the one who is trying to rescue him, our efforts to save ourselves may endanger our faith in Christ.

The Bible tells us that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Rescuer!

He gave his life as the sacrifice for our sin. Through faith in Jesus we receive forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life. But sometimes we begin to think we can help Jesus out a bit. “If I live a good enough life, if I try really hard to keep from sinning, then God will be more pleased with me.” We begin to put some hope in our own efforts to save ourselves.

We begin to struggle in the water, rather than resting in the safety of our Rescuer. www.ffmagazine.org

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to Christians who were beginning to try to save themselves. He said this to them in Galatians 5:4, “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (NASB). These people were trying so hard to save themselves, to please God by keeping the law, that they had given up on faith in Christ. Our desire to be good people, to do good things, can take the place of our faith in Christ and we will perish in our flailing efforts.

Consider the two alternatives: You can try to save yourself through your own good works, and in so doing reject Jesus, the One who is there to rescue you.

Or, like a drowning person who rests in the arms of a rescuer, you can just stop struggling and rest by faith in Jesus as your Savior. You are saved by faith in Christ. Just stop struggling!

Paul Tjelta serves as pastor at Bethesda Lutheran Brethren Church in Westby, WI.

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t e g r Fo

ITZER

MIL KIRK

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he first 24 hours. Yup. Super smart people who look at the sociological changes that happen with young adults have determined that the first 24 to 48 hours away from home will set the direction for the entire collegiate years.

Whoa. That is a gutsy statement.

If you extrapolate that out from day one and two away from home... The window between ages 18 and 30 will significantly determine the course and direction of the rest of your life. How come? The Big Three ‘M’s will most likely happen in your life. The Big Three ‘M’s are: Master.

Mate. Mission.

Now it may seem that our culture could care less about those. I mean hooking up and having fun and checking out new friends/parties/groups will always have a pull. Now that parents aren’t in the picture or at least you don’t have 24/7 access to them, you now have to own your faith.

So the heart question for you to wrestle with is this… What will you do? What will you do with what you have been taught and seen modeled and lived out?

How will that mark what you will do now?

Here is a something to chew on: Don’t forget to remember. When you struggle, or fall, or doubt, or when your conduct or words or actions don’t match up with what you know to be right.... don’t forget to remember.

Shame comes rushing in. Guilt comes pouring on. And your soul screams…

“God, where are you?” Your head is scrambled with thoughts like, “Why have I done this?”

A very wise man—one who experienced www.ffmagazine.org

a ton of parties, drinking, and sex—wrote, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth...” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

That key word remembering is twofold:

1. Looking back (reflection) on past events. (“That was incredible, God. You came through.”)

2. Looking forward to what lies ahead. (When I can’t see the future, but I know God is there and he won’t leave me on my own.)

Don’t forget to remember the picture of the extravagant/prodigal father who runs toward his son in Luke 15. (Note: “Prodigal” doesn’t only mean rebellious or wayward but it also means extravagant love… seen in the picture of the prodigal/ extravagant over-the-top loving father in Luke 15.)

God runs towards us. Don’t ever forget to remember that.

The Prodigal/Extravagant Father throws his arms out wide to rebellious and wayward sons and daughters and says, “You are back. Let’s have a party!

Fire up the grill for some good steaks.

Bust out the sound system and make-asome-a-noise! Because my young adult child didn’t forget. He or she remembered where home is. Yahoooo!”

Don’t forget to remember when you do leave home that others can help you remember. When you feel all alone, you aren’t. His community of other disciples of Jesus will encourage you.

Hanging out with others your age who love Jesus will help you not forget

to remember. In old school terms that is called the “fellowship of the saints.” Throw in good coffee, open conversations, laughter, prayer and God’s Word… and you have a setting where God the Holy Spirit will come. And you will remember.

Oh yeah, you will remember God’s faithfulness. You see, we either follow by design or by drift, but to merely fall to default leads to disaster. So when you are on campus or in a new community away from home, seek out passionately those who can help you process and wrestle through difficult issues: Questions of sexuality, how to really know truth, and asking not only who God really is, but what am I? Nail those big questions down.

And don’t forget to remember—Jesus really lived. Really. God’s Word is a rock solid basis to come back to.

That is worth remembering.

Rev. Kirk Militzer serves as the East Campus Pastor at Triumph Lutheran Brethren Church in Moorhead, MN.

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FREE DOWNLOAD: www.CLBNETWORK.org/identity

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FRED SCRAGG

he lights go down. I take my place on the stage. Sitting on a stool behind a mountain of drums and cymbals, my hands wrap tightly around tree trunks fashioned into musical instruments for my using. I wait, hiding in the darkness, anticipating the rhythms I will create.

The buzz from a stack of guitar amps fills the crowded and smoky room.

And these hopeful words flow from the 12

microphone through the speakers into the ears, minds, and hearts of a waiting audience: One died for all. One takes the fall. One life so we can live on!1 The singer screams to the audience, “Believe that!”

And after a count of four beats from the drumsticks in my hand banging against one another, the sound of the entire band instantaneously reverberates throughout the space. Joining in without hesitation,

every person in the room jumps up and down to the pulsating sounds of a Rock ‘N’ Roll band.

The scene described above has been a familiar experience to me for close to 20 years now. However, the message proclaimed has changed because my identity has changed.

Before receiving faith in Christ, I identified myself as a drummer. I took the stage to receive applause, honor, glory, Faith & Fellowship

and fame for myself. I was driven to play every note, every beat, at every concert, so that the crowd would tell me how great I was. I wanted to hear that they wanted to pursue a musical career because of me, that they wanted to leave everything behind because of how great I was.

After receiving faith in Christ, which washed me clean of the guilt of my sin and reconciled me to God, my Father in heaven, I now identify myself as a Christian who has been given the gift to create and perform music. The Holy Spirit now drives me to play every note and every beat at every concert to hear the crowd say how great God is.

The Bible tells us the good news that “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18,20a).

For the majority of us, the talents and passions we had before receiving faith in Christ do not disappear. Instead, those talents, gifts, and passions are made new through faith in Christ. Look at your life right now. What are you good at? What is your goal for a career? What do your youth leaders encourage you to spend your time doing?

What does your pastor ask you to help with? The answers to these questions will be a clear indicator of what God has gifted you to do both inside and outside of the church.

Before I received God’s gift of faith in Christ, I was a drummer in a rock band. I drummed to earn glory, honor, praise, fame, and recognition for myself.

After receiving God’s gift of faith in Christ, the old was gone. I no longer use my talent and passion for drumming and music to gain attention for myself. Instead, my years of training, practicing, and performing music are used to bring glory, honor, praise, fame, and recognition to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Since receiving faith, God has enabled me to meet several Christian musicians and songwriters. They gave me opportunities to create and perform music that tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

To date, God has shown his favor to me by allowing me to lead praise and worship songs in Japan on a missions trip, tour with Hillsongs in Europe, and share the stage in the States with major recording artists from both the Christian and non-Christian scene, such as Candlebox and Family Force 5.

In the person and work of Jesus Christ, I have been washed, I have been cleansed, I have been made whiter than snow.

That is why I and my band, The Royal Guard, proclaim to every crowd that we stand in front of: Hail the King!

Hail the King of all! Under his command we march on!2 Fred Scragg is Lead Pastor at Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church in Huntington Station, NY.

www.facebook.com/theroyalguard http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalGuardMusic 1 Davidson, Todd. Lyrics. “Showdown.” Showdown. CD. Independent. 2009.

Davidson, Todd. Lyrics. “Hail the King!” Hail the King! CD. Independent. 2013.

2

www.ffmagazine.org

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The Royal Guard at building dedication concert and benefit, Genesis Church, Long Island, New York 2012 (Fred Scragg, Andy Ascolese)

The Royal Guard opening for Family Force 5, Ollie’s Point/Revolution, Amityville, New York 2012 (Fred Scragg, Todd Davidson, Andy Ascolese)

Above: The Royal Guard touring with Hillsong in Europe, Sporti Hall, Tallinn, Estonia 2010 Below: Fred Scragg preaching on Good Friday, Bethel LBC, Huntington Station, New York 2013

Know

Christ?

JASON LANG

I

f you could meet anyone in history, who would it be? Julius Caesar?

Shakespeare? Picasso? Leonardo da Vinci? Aristotle? Maybe someone more personal? Your great-great-grandmother?

That girl you had a crush on before you moved away? Or maybe, Jesus.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to hang out with Jesus, to spend time with him? It would be awesome just to spend some time getting to know Jesus, to hear his thoughts and be amazed as he shares what’s on his mind.

Knowing someone is different than just knowing about someone.

We can talk about Jesus without really helping people get to know him. We can talk about Jesus like he is a person from the past out of a dusty history book rather than the living Son of God. We can tell you about Jesus, that he is the eternal Son of God, the agent of all creation. But how do you get to know Jesus, I mean know him in a relationship? He is alive, and just because you can’t SnapChat with him doesn’t mean you can’t get to know him.

In fact, he was “texting” you before you even had a cell phone. And that’s how we get to know Jesus, not just memorizing Jesus’ stats like his healing average or his people fed ratio or his miracle count. We get to know Jesus by reading his texts— reading the true stories that his friends told and wrote down so everyone could get to know the real Jesus.

A story that has really helped me know Jesus is an Easter story, but it doesn’t get a lot of attention. After Jesus was tortured on the cross, he died as the sacrifice for people’s sins. Very early on Easter Sunday morning, he came back to life. He got up, took off the sheet that was covering his face and folded it and placed it to the side before he left the tomb. Jesus left the 14

tomb right before the angels scared the guards, causing them to faint. Then they rolled the stone away. When the women showed up, they saw it all, except Jesus.

They ran back to the rest of Jesus’ friends who were crushed, sad and afraid, hiding in a locked room, but they didn’t believe the women. One of the women met Jesus in the garden, but didn’t recognize him until he spoke her name.

And in the middle of that very busy day, Jesus took the time to meet two of his friends who were walking away. Those two were on the wrong road headed the wrong way, and Jesus walked with them and shared the truth about who the Savior is (they didn’t recognize him) and why he had to die. As they walked, Jesus showed them right from the Bible that he was the Savior. Interested in what he was saying, they urged him to take a break and join them for something to eat. As Jesus prayed and broke the bread and passed it to them, they recognized him. Then he disappeared from their sight. That’s Jesus, one who is willing to take time out of his busiest, most important day to walk and talk with some friends who are going the wrong way. That’s what Jesus does for us too. You can read the whole story in Luke 24.

My passion is to introduce people to Jesus, to help people actually get to know Jesus—not just facts about him. So, who is Jesus? I can tell you about his birth, his life, his friends, his enemies. But I would rather tell you about the time he touched and healed a man with a nasty skin disease. Wanting the man to be right with God and accepted in his community, Jesus sent him to the priests so that he could show he was healthy and ready to go home.

If you want to know Jesus, you have got to hear about the time he was at a party and a prostitute washed his feet with her tears, or the time he was transformed into his heavenly glory right in front of his closest friends. You have to hear about the time a man worshiping at the temple took the baby Jesus in his arms and said, “I can die now, because my eyes have seen God’s salvation.”

When you hear these stories and read what Jesus said to these people, then you are getting to know the real Jesus. You see him touch real people and tell them they are forgiven. You see Jesus change people’s lives, and you realize, as you are getting to know Jesus, he is changing your life, too.

Rev. Jason Lang serves as pastor at Emmaus Road Church in De Witt, IA.

Faith & Fellowship

Kristina Lee Grandstaff serves as Executive Director with Freedom Forth Ministries in the Greater New York City Area.

Email: www.FreedomForth.org.

FF

P

ray about it, God will show you the way!” You’ve heard it and I’ve heard it, but when you’re in facing a crossroad in life, these words don’t necessarily make it any easier.

Our teens and twenties are transitional years filled with new experiences, trials and growth. We progress from graduating high school to deciding on the right college and major; from moving out of our parents’ home into our first apartment to beginning a full time job.

I always thought I knew exactly how my life would look in my mid-twenties; let me tell you, the Lord had different plans.

He has taken me down a road less traveled and has continually shown me that I cannot do anything in my own strength.

I worked at a high fashion job in New York City, but felt called to move back to my home town to establish a grassroots nonprofit ministry that serves women, teen and children survivors of domestic trafficking and violence.

I told God, “But I am not qualified Lord!” He answered, “[Be] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Still, there have been moments of doubt.

Just last May, our team finished the second year of our program. It had been an impactful year; however, our continued funding was uncertain. “OK, Lord, I am going to move back to New York this summer. I trust that if you want this program to continue, you will make that path clear.” Two weeks after our Closing Dinner, I received a letter containing a check for $25,000 that funded our program for a third year. Let’s just say my suitcase remained in the closet.

Sometimes life takes us down long winding roads with detours and roadblocks, roads we never expected to be on. As for the future, I don’t know what is in store. I am probably about ten years older than you; surely life’s decisions become clearer, right? What I can tell you is that the peace and joy that I have come to know is not the result of having all my questions answered. It comes instead from the assurance that the Lord has faithfully met every one of my needs and that he has a plan for my life. I am convinced that he has a plan for your life as well, and I am confident that his plan is far grander than any of us can achieve in our own strength. The desires that he has placed in each of our hearts will come to be, in his perfect timing. He only asks us to trust.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

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{God’s Will, God’s Timing}

For change of address: Faith & Fellowship P.O. Box 655 Fergus Falls, MN 56538-0655

by: Kristina Lee Grandstaff

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