Gobble, Gobble--or, Surprise! God's Blessing Might Not Be Where You Think!

This being a season when turkeys come to mind, I think it's an appropriate time to make a confession: in my walk with God I tend towards turkey-ism.

If you look up the slang definition of "turkey", you come up with a not very favorable definition. Although turkeys are intelligent creatures (at least, that's what Google says), around the 1920s critics started calling not-too-whippy theater productions "turkeys." And it was downhill from there. Sad face. Now "turkey" in the English vernacular references someone inept, nonsensical, a dud. Can I raise my hand here? While as a daughter of the Most High God I should be acting eagle-ish, I find that instead of flying , I tend to dud-ishness by mucking about on the ground like the feathery friends referred to.

There came a time when Auntie felt the need to defend her use of personal anecdotes when she taught or ministered. "Neenee," she told me, 'I would love to use examples from other people's lives, but the life I know best is mine. I am sorry if my use of personal anecdotes is distasteful to some, but those are the stories I can share best because they are the ones I have lived, the ones through which God in His mercy has deigned to teach me." I'm with Auntie here, so . . . please bear with me and today's turkey-ism topic.

Once upon a time there lived a girl who wanted to serve God--but in the States. This girl also longed for a loving home of her own, in part to override the memories of her childhood's somewhat dysfunctional home life. But . . . wouldn't you know it? The person God paired her up with in marriage was #1) a minister (she had wanted just an ordinary Christian), #2) a missionary (she had painful memories of hurts received on the mission field and really did not want to go that route again), and #3) a missionary to Mexico (while she loved Mexico she shrank from the legalities that had to be waded through to be in that country). Sigh . . . but she did what she knew was right. She knew God had called the husband He gave her to that country and as his wife it was her duty to support him and be at his side. So she girded herself up like a man (Job 38:3) and made the best of it.

Two years later she was walking down a street of the Mexican city in which she resided with her missionary husband, and, as she walked, the Lord began to speak to her.

"Remember what you wanted?" He gently prodded her. Yes, she remembered her old wants. "Think about what you have here." A glorious epiphany washed over her as she realized that everything she had really wanted, God had given her in this place to which she had not wanted to come : a loving home, a home filled with peace and God's presence. God had called them, her husband and her, to a place she did not want to go, but there God had given her the desires of her heart.

Kind of like Elijah when God told him to go to the brook Cherith (I Kings 17). It was there that God sent ravens to feed him (not the Jordan, not any other river, but the brook Cherith). When the brook dried up, God told him to go to Zarephath because ... "I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee" (v.9). Elijah went there, and there God sustained him through the widow's means.

As you have undoubtedly deduced, the recalcitrant girl was none other than myself. I did not want to go to Mexico, but it was there, as I yielded to God's will, that He gave me the desires of my heart. Seems I had learned that Father knows best, right? Not.

Fast forward a few years. Missionary husband has been promoted to Heaven. New husband, after twenty years in Texas, feels constrained to return to his home state. I pray about the move which I do not want to make and God speaks to me strongly about submission (yuck, yuck, double yuck--I don't mind submitting when it's something I want to do, but when it's not . . .). This time the recalcitrant woman (no longer a girl) girds herself more like a donkey, digging in her heels at every bend in the road.

But, wouldn't you know it? God proves Himself in the know again. After many hours on my knees (who knew it could be a good thing that turkeys tend to stay close to the ground????), realization about what God had done concerning this move humbled me once again.

Our home in Texas sold at just the right time. We not only got the best price for it, but the home purchased in the new state was acquired at just the right time, before prices rose exponentially. (So that was why my husband felt an urgency to move now!) And despite missing family and friends in Texas, a loving church family embraced us in the new state , patiently helping yours truly in adapting to a new culture and environment. We are finding not only rich avenues of ministry, but new brothers and sisters in the Lord that are enhancing the quality of our lives. As emotionally wrenching as the move was initially, in the end it has widened our horizons, and gloriously widened our circle of Christian friends.

So there you have it. Once again God had it right and I had it wrong, wrong, wrong. No wonder I feel turkey-ish! While there have been times when I definitely heard and obeyed God's leading, these are examples that show just how much I tend towards walking like a turkey--in the earthly realm, oblivious to the spiritual. Someday I hope to trade my "Gobble, gobble" once and for all for a serene spreading of wings, gliding high on His will like the eagles we are called to be.

May the Lord help each and every one of us to leave our turkey (earthy) sentiments behind and instead soar willingly in the center of His will with His magnificent convocations of eagles.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).