Burt Prelutsky said, “I don’t pay for other people’s ideas. I steal them.” So, with that in mind, the idea for this article was gently swiped from Stuff Christians Like #506. Kudos to Burt and Prodigal John!
About fifteen years ago, I began everyday by praying something like this: “Father, send me. Place me on a street corner preaching the gospel in LA or Rwanda or somewhere, but send me.”
After a while, a prophetess showed up at my place and proclaimed, “The Lord doesn’t want you asking to be sent out preaching for the next thirty days. Instead, He has something else for you to do first. Then, you can ask again.”
I obeyed the prophecy and sought the Lord on what He wanted me to do. It seemed He wanted me to be a painting contractor.
And within thirty days, I was in the biggest trial of my life. One that destroyed my reputation, my finances, and me. I lost all of my friends and my ministry. Like Job, I spent the days weeping and bemoaning my birth. The only thing that kept me going was the understanding that the Father loved me and His grace. The following verse became my hope:
I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)
Now, after all these years, I know what the Lord actually meant when the prophetess said, “He has something else for you to do first.” He wanted me to die first; and He had the perfect plan to achieve His desire for me.
I’d like to say that I died easily. No mess. No fuss. No bother. But it was a slow, agonizing death. When death happened in part of me, another part would be revived and attempted to climb out of the grave. Then, that part would be dealt with by the Lord. All of this took time. Lots of it.
And yet, this morning, I finally obeyed the second part of the prophecy. “Lord, send me.”
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.
Larry Who 