As Jesus was
getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with
Him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the
Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been.”
- Mark 5:18–19
There's a moment near the end of Mark 5 that I think is easy to read right past. Jesus has just done something incredible. He meets a man whose life has been completely overtaken by evil. The man has been living among the tombs, isolated from everyone around him. People are afraid of him. He's hurting himself. He's uncontrollable. His life, by every human measure, seems hopeless.
Then Jesus comes and everything changes. By the time the people from town arrive, they find this man sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.
Can you imagine? After everything he'd been through, the man wants to leave with Jesus. That seems like a perfectly reasonable response to me.
Jesus, You saved me. You changed my life. Wherever You're going, I'm coming with You.
But Jesus tells him no. Instead, He tells the man to go home to his family and tell them everything the Lord has done for him.
In other words: Stay here. Tell your story. The place that held some of his worst memories became his mission field.
I've thought about that a lot because sometimes the place God wants us isn't necessarily the place we would choose for ourselves.
In 2002, we left Iowa. At the time, it sure didn't feel like a good choice or a good decision. It felt like we had simply run out of options. The company Randy and I worked for was going through serious downsizing, and both of us had been impacted. We had three kids, a load of debt and an opportunity to pick up everything we owned and move to Arkansas. There was just one little problem. I didn't want to go. At all. Our family was in Iowa. Our friends were in Iowa. Our lives were in Iowa. Arkansas was a place we'd never lived, and we didn't know anyone there. Leaving was the last thing I wanted to do. I cried for weeks.
Looking back now, I can see something I couldn't see then.
God knew what was waiting for us in Arkansas. He knew the people we hadn't met yet. He knew the friendships that hadn't been formed yet. He knew the opportunities that hadn't happened yet. He knew the lives that would eventually intersect with ours—and the people who would make a difference in our lives, too.
Twenty-four years later, I can tell you that moving to Arkansas was the right thing to do. I couldn't possibly list all the reasons. Honestly, it would probably fill a book. But I can tell you this:
We have made connections and been given opportunities to make a difference in people's lives that never would have happened if we'd stayed in Iowa. And there are people who have changed our lives whom we never would have known. I couldn't see any of that while I was crying about leaving home. I could only see what I was losing. God could see where we were going.
Maybe that's part of what makes the story in Mark 5 so powerful. The man knew what Jesus had rescued him from. Jesus knew what He was sending him to. And his story didn't belong only to him. There were people who needed to hear what Jesus had done.
The same is true for us.
We all have chapters we wouldn't have chosen. Places we didn't want to go. Circumstances we didn't understand. Seasons when all we could see was what we were losing, what had gone wrong or what we wished had happened differently. But sometimes, years later, we get the privilege of looking back and seeing God's fingerprints all over a chapter that once looked like a disaster.
And then we have a story to tell. Not a story about how perfectly everything worked out. A story about what God did.
That's what Jesus told the man to share. Not theology he hadn't studied, not answers to every question. Simply "Tell them what the Lord has done for you".
We can do that.
Maybe sometimes God brings us out of a there—and then uses our story to reach somebody who is still there.
Maybe someone needs to know that the season they're crying through today won't necessarily look the same when they look back on it years from now. Maybe someone needs to hear that losing what was familiar doesn't mean God has forgotten them.
Maybe someone simply needs to hear: I've been there, I didn't understand it either, but let me tell you what God did.
Your story isn't only about where you've been. It may become part of the way God helps someone else get where they're going.
Your story doesn't stop with you.
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible
- Mark 5:18–19
There's a moment near the end of Mark 5 that I think is easy to read right past. Jesus has just done something incredible. He meets a man whose life has been completely overtaken by evil. The man has been living among the tombs, isolated from everyone around him. People are afraid of him. He's hurting himself. He's uncontrollable. His life, by every human measure, seems hopeless.
Then Jesus comes and everything changes. By the time the people from town arrive, they find this man sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.
Can you imagine? After everything he'd been through, the man wants to leave with Jesus. That seems like a perfectly reasonable response to me.
Jesus, You saved me. You changed my life. Wherever You're going, I'm coming with You.
But Jesus tells him no. Instead, He tells the man to go home to his family and tell them everything the Lord has done for him.
In other words: Stay here. Tell your story. The place that held some of his worst memories became his mission field.
I've thought about that a lot because sometimes the place God wants us isn't necessarily the place we would choose for ourselves.
In 2002, we left Iowa. At the time, it sure didn't feel like a good choice or a good decision. It felt like we had simply run out of options. The company Randy and I worked for was going through serious downsizing, and both of us had been impacted. We had three kids, a load of debt and an opportunity to pick up everything we owned and move to Arkansas. There was just one little problem. I didn't want to go. At all. Our family was in Iowa. Our friends were in Iowa. Our lives were in Iowa. Arkansas was a place we'd never lived, and we didn't know anyone there. Leaving was the last thing I wanted to do. I cried for weeks.
Looking back now, I can see something I couldn't see then.
God knew what was waiting for us in Arkansas. He knew the people we hadn't met yet. He knew the friendships that hadn't been formed yet. He knew the opportunities that hadn't happened yet. He knew the lives that would eventually intersect with ours—and the people who would make a difference in our lives, too.
Twenty-four years later, I can tell you that moving to Arkansas was the right thing to do. I couldn't possibly list all the reasons. Honestly, it would probably fill a book. But I can tell you this:
We have made connections and been given opportunities to make a difference in people's lives that never would have happened if we'd stayed in Iowa. And there are people who have changed our lives whom we never would have known. I couldn't see any of that while I was crying about leaving home. I could only see what I was losing. God could see where we were going.
Maybe that's part of what makes the story in Mark 5 so powerful. The man knew what Jesus had rescued him from. Jesus knew what He was sending him to. And his story didn't belong only to him. There were people who needed to hear what Jesus had done.
The same is true for us.
We all have chapters we wouldn't have chosen. Places we didn't want to go. Circumstances we didn't understand. Seasons when all we could see was what we were losing, what had gone wrong or what we wished had happened differently. But sometimes, years later, we get the privilege of looking back and seeing God's fingerprints all over a chapter that once looked like a disaster.
And then we have a story to tell. Not a story about how perfectly everything worked out. A story about what God did.
That's what Jesus told the man to share. Not theology he hadn't studied, not answers to every question. Simply "Tell them what the Lord has done for you".
We can do that.
Maybe sometimes God brings us out of a there—and then uses our story to reach somebody who is still there.
Maybe someone needs to know that the season they're crying through today won't necessarily look the same when they look back on it years from now. Maybe someone needs to hear that losing what was familiar doesn't mean God has forgotten them.
Maybe someone simply needs to hear: I've been there, I didn't understand it either, but let me tell you what God did.
Your story isn't only about where you've been. It may become part of the way God helps someone else get where they're going.
Your story doesn't stop with you.
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible
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