Mother Hen
All last week and especially upon returning from Winter Camp, God kept pressing on my heart the words "letting go."
Letting go in this sense is not a "bad" thing - it is a mother letting go in order for her children to grow. To experience, to explore and to get out of the protection of the "mother hen" in order to put into practice and exercise the things "mother hen" has taught.
I praise God that He has give me a pastor/shephard hearts. But anything without balance can be counterproductive. My natural tendency is to love, care, and protect so much that it can become quite "selfish" in where I want to keep people all to myself b/c I love so much and desire to protect so much. But I must remember that God loves the one's I minister to more than I could ever. To love is to let go at times. To release and let people go in order that they may experience, hear and learn from God themselves.
Someone prayed over me and said they see me as a "mother hen." The job of a mother hen is to protect, care, and love but I also believe it is her job to know when it is the right time to release and let go of the baby chicks so that they may soar and be all that God has intended.
I praise God that He has given me the strength and the grace to do such...or in the process of doing such. It has been a bit challenging and uncomfortable but it is the process of God stretching me and teaching me to entrust all things to Him.
"Letting go" doesn't mean you don't love. It actually demonstrates a true testimony to what love really is - sacrafical, not considering ourselves but the best for the other person.
I will always remember what Anh Dat told me the summer he moved to DC and we just began courting. We had just gotten back from my youth group beach trip. We were in my living room and he turned to me and said out of the blue, that he cares and wants nothing but God's best for me even if it meant not him. As hard as it may be, he would be willing to "let me go" if it meant God's best for me was elsewhere. Wow. I will always remember those words.
All of this love and letting go stuff keeps reminding me of God's love for us. Is it not true that God did the same? He "let go" His Son Jesus Christ for that one brief moment b/c we needed a solution to our sin problem that kept us from God the Father. Sometimes letting go is the ulimate demonstration of love. Though it may be strange to understand as it is happening, but rest assure that God is always there.
Letting go for me has been more in the context of ministry - especially in regards to those I have had an incredible honor of discipling and serving. Does this meaen that I will stop loving, following up or serving? Absolutely not. It does mean that I can and will be ok for them to be ministered and discipled by others. I love them too much to keep the sheltered and limited to what I can offer. They must learn and grow from others.
Letting go has also meant letting go of my comfort - comfort zone. God wants to do a new thing in me, but I must let go of the former things: fears, insecurities, old ways of thinking in order for Him to bring the new. Praise God.
What does the words "letting go" mean to you? What needs to be let go in your life, ministry, job, etc in order for you to experience and dive into all that God has in store for 2008?
The one resounding reminder from Winter Camp for me was that God has prepared everything for us. Everything! Often times it is us ourselves that hold us back from receiving and walking in all that God has. It is our decision. The ball is in our court.
Letting go in this sense is not a "bad" thing - it is a mother letting go in order for her children to grow. To experience, to explore and to get out of the protection of the "mother hen" in order to put into practice and exercise the things "mother hen" has taught.
I praise God that He has give me a pastor/shephard hearts. But anything without balance can be counterproductive. My natural tendency is to love, care, and protect so much that it can become quite "selfish" in where I want to keep people all to myself b/c I love so much and desire to protect so much. But I must remember that God loves the one's I minister to more than I could ever. To love is to let go at times. To release and let people go in order that they may experience, hear and learn from God themselves.
Someone prayed over me and said they see me as a "mother hen." The job of a mother hen is to protect, care, and love but I also believe it is her job to know when it is the right time to release and let go of the baby chicks so that they may soar and be all that God has intended.
I praise God that He has given me the strength and the grace to do such...or in the process of doing such. It has been a bit challenging and uncomfortable but it is the process of God stretching me and teaching me to entrust all things to Him.
"Letting go" doesn't mean you don't love. It actually demonstrates a true testimony to what love really is - sacrafical, not considering ourselves but the best for the other person.
I will always remember what Anh Dat told me the summer he moved to DC and we just began courting. We had just gotten back from my youth group beach trip. We were in my living room and he turned to me and said out of the blue, that he cares and wants nothing but God's best for me even if it meant not him. As hard as it may be, he would be willing to "let me go" if it meant God's best for me was elsewhere. Wow. I will always remember those words.
All of this love and letting go stuff keeps reminding me of God's love for us. Is it not true that God did the same? He "let go" His Son Jesus Christ for that one brief moment b/c we needed a solution to our sin problem that kept us from God the Father. Sometimes letting go is the ulimate demonstration of love. Though it may be strange to understand as it is happening, but rest assure that God is always there.
Letting go for me has been more in the context of ministry - especially in regards to those I have had an incredible honor of discipling and serving. Does this meaen that I will stop loving, following up or serving? Absolutely not. It does mean that I can and will be ok for them to be ministered and discipled by others. I love them too much to keep the sheltered and limited to what I can offer. They must learn and grow from others.
Letting go has also meant letting go of my comfort - comfort zone. God wants to do a new thing in me, but I must let go of the former things: fears, insecurities, old ways of thinking in order for Him to bring the new. Praise God.
What does the words "letting go" mean to you? What needs to be let go in your life, ministry, job, etc in order for you to experience and dive into all that God has in store for 2008?
The one resounding reminder from Winter Camp for me was that God has prepared everything for us. Everything! Often times it is us ourselves that hold us back from receiving and walking in all that God has. It is our decision. The ball is in our court.
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