Lord, send me anywhere only go with me, Lay any burden on me only sustain me,Sever any tie save the tie that binds me to thy heart,Lord Jesus my King, I consecrate my life Lord to Thee.
This is actually a quote from David Livingstone, a great missionary to Africa who suffered a lot to see the Gospel brought to that continent.
Our sacrifices have not been as great but over the years. However, through trials and separations that have happened in our lives I often have clung to those words, “sever any ties save the ties that bind me to Your heart.” I want to be in and stay in God’s will. I want to be bound close to God and sometimes that means making the difficult moves when He asks us too. One such move was back in the beginning of 2021 and this is our story.
We had a very quick move to Florida with a new job for my husband. We also prayed about and looked in Florida for the sake of my health. My condition known as Ehlers-Danlos is a degenerative joint syndrome with many issues. You can read about that here.
This wasn’t made hastily in the sense of prayer and nor was it made gleefully since it meant leaving a church that has always felt like home. The people in it are truly our family. It didn’t just feel like home, it IS home. God healed me in so many ways at Joy Baptist. I will always return for visits and time with my church family there.
But, when God directs and leads, He never leaves us alone nor bumbling about wondering what we should do. God pointed the way and then laid each step out just as if we were walking across a stream on smooth rocks. Why? I believe He did this to show us just how much He is with us and how much help He would give us if we stepped out by faith!
Hebrews 10:38 tells us, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” We often hear the first part of this verse and it is so powerful as we walk this world and sometimes wonder how we will make it. If we are living for God and following Him then we can live by faith. How often we fail to see the contrast. If we fail to live by faith; if we fail to trust in His unwavering promises, God will not have pleasure in us. To me, this also means, we will have no peace. How do people live with no peace?
We stepped out by faith believing that God had something for us in Florida and we know that He has not nor will ever disappoint. How did we get over the sadness of leaving a wonderful church family? “The just shall live by faith….” God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, right? Read it here. So why not follow Him? He is faithful that promised and we know that He is working all things together for our good. We may not see it at the time but He can be trusted!
So in following by faith we can then trust God fully. In trusting God fully, He, in turn, will give us many delights. I love this verse in Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Obviously, this doesn’t mean if we desire a million dollars, He will give it to us.
For me, this verse says, if we are delighting in God we won’t desire that million dollars but will desire to be in His will. As we draw closer to God, our desires change and they become less earthly and more eternal. For me, I delight to be in the center of God’s will and this move showed me that no matter how painful leaving Iowa was; being here in Florida is beautiful because we are in His will.
When we have faith in God and we trust Him to lead the way we then can know that we are in His will. We can truthfully say, “Lord, send me anywhere”.
Enjoy this song. Lord Send Me Anywhere, by the Faith Baptist Church of Deltona’s choir.
