Summary: <br> Some of us woke up today to the life we once prayed for. You’re in a season of blessing and fruits. A season of joy and happiness. God has been faithful and you have proof of it. He has provided. He has made a way when there seemed to be no way. Look around you today and I bet you’ll find an abundance of answered prayers.<br> Now, what if God asked you to give it all up? What if the very thing he gave you was required as a sacrifice?<br> In episode 385 “God Said Yes”, I shared the story of Abraham and Sarah, the couple in their 90’s unable to have children and then God shows up and says “ahhh, no … that’s not the way your story will end. I will give you a child and many nations will come from you.” Now we fast forward a few years later after Abraham and Sarah have their promised child. Life was now good, they have what they want. Their son Issac is growing up and he’s a good boy. He’s everything they ever imagined. Everyday they were waking up to the life they had prayed for. And then God asked for it back as a sacrifice. This child for whom they had prayed, this miracle which God had given them, their hope and their future was now at risk.<br> Genesis chapter 22 in my bible is titled “Abraham Tested”. I wonder if the current chapter in your life could be titled something similar. You’re being tested.<br> Verses 1-2 says “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”<br> “Here I am,” he replied.<br> Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”<br> Yes, the son which Abraham had waited 100 years for, his pride and joy, his hope for the future is now being requested to be sacrificed by God. How do you even come to terms with that? Yo, like what God? You want me to give up the single most precious thing you have given to me?<br> Now imagine being the mama in this story for a moment. Imagine looking out the kitchen window and seeing your husband gathering wood. Wood for a fire. A fire that would burn an offering to God. A sacrifice. She must have known. She must have wanted with every ounce of her to run after her husband and son as they carried the wood to a mountain to build the fire.<br> What a mother Sarah was. What an example for us today. She was willing to sacrifice the best she had for the greater good in full trust that God would redeem it. What if she would have held on too tightly. What if she would have done what every single one of us would want to do – go slap your husband, call him crazy, and grab your child. Then become bitter at God for even asking.<br> But she didn’t. She watched as they walked away carrying the wood. She trusted God would follow through with his promise to not only give them a son but build nations from them.<br> I wonder if we hold so tightly to that which God has given us that we restrict life from fully flowing through us. I wonder if we treasure the gift so much that the gift itself becomes more precious than the giver. I wonder if we really truly trust God with the very things which he gave us first.<br> How tight is your grip? Oh I must admit, I have a death grip on some gifts in my life. I cling so tightly to that which I treasure and I sometimes hold back when God is telling me to let go. I have to wonder how much bigger and more beautiful some of the things in my life could be at this point if I would have loosened my grip. Why do I have to have it my way? Is this a lack of faith?<br> What has God given you? Are you willing to let him fully have his way with your life and all that he has given you? Will you trust if God takes it away, he will redeem it? Will you believe that he has a plan, and it’s a good plan? A plan to prosper you, not to harm you. A plan to give you a hope and a future.
