My Devotional 8/8/17 Is God Calling You to Plant a New Field? By Shana Schutte

My Devotional 8/8/17

Is God Calling You to Plant a New Field? By Shana Schutte

Excerpt

Imagine a farmer is growing beans.  The beans are growing well in the same field where the farmer has planted them for the last few years.  One day God calls him to plant a new crop in a new field, but there’s a problem. Growing the beans is already taking all the farmer’s financial and physical resources and he doesn’t feel confident about taking the risk to make a change.

If he wants to grow the new crop God has assigned, the farmer will have to resist fear.  But imagine that instead the farmer says, “I can’t plant and grow a new crop because it’s going to be too hard.  I don’t have the money; I’ll have to buy another piece of land.  There’s too much risk involved.”

When God says, “Stop what you are doing.  I want you to leave that field and come plant in this one over here,” and we allow fear to dictate our response, we may refuse to leave our “field of security” to plant in God’s new field.  But God promises He will enable us to accomplish what He has called us to do.

Fear will make us want to cease what we are doing—or never begin something new. Remember, what you focus on will either fuel fear or fuel enthusiasm. God will provide for you as you step out and make the adjustments necessary to follow Him into the unknown.

Very timely for me as lately God has put it on my heart to step into a new area of serving Him—sex trafficking awareness. It started when I watched the documentary I am Jane Doe. Having seen the movie Taken years before, I was well aware that young girls were kidnapped overseas and sold into sex slavery. I am also well aware that women are prostituted daily in this country. But seeing victims recall their trauma first hand just stirred something inside. Especially when I realized many of these victims were not, as we’re often told by the enemy, making a choice to do it. And further, most victims aren’t even adults—they’re children! And then I was horrified to learn that our government has the authority and opportunity to do so much to stop or diminish it but they aren’t doing it.

After letting these things marinate in my spirit for a while, I stepped out on faith and applied to be a volunteer at the Wellhouse. I go to training next weekend. I know this will require so much of me—time, money, emotions, change, etc. I may have to give up other things that I enjoy—worthwhile things—to be able to do it. But I truly feel like this is what God wants me to do right now. Of course, I will continue to seek His direction in prayer and as always, if I’m wrong, He will intercede somehow. But opening this devotional having just sent off my application—just makes me feel like I am following His lead.