Leaving Your Family Behind

Family. 

What does yours look like?

 Is the relationship good, thriving, and growing?

Sure we all have our issues.

 I'm not talking about those petty trivial things.

  You wish your brother wouldn't do that. 

Or 

you wish the grandparents would take the grandkids more. 

 You've told them over and over but they just don't get it, they just don't listen.

Controlling or caring 

only you can say where your heart is truly at.

For me it's always a little of both.

Have you ever said, 

"Well you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family."

I know I have.  

Have you ever rejected your family, walked away from it all?

Have you ever said; 

 "I should divorce my family." 

Guilty, I've said that too.

You know all those things I've ever spoken, were out of anger, were out of hurt, and frustration.

It still didn't make it right or o.k. for me to say it.

What if you were being drawn by God to follow Him and leave your family behind.

Could you do it? Would you do it?

There comes a day when God begins to reveal truth to you.

  You are at a crossroads.

  You have just woken up to the very truth that all you have ever known is a lie.

  You come face to face with God and you cry out;

 I want to leave the organization, but I don't want to leave my family.

Why can't they see

Why won't they listen

 Why can't they understand 

what I am trying to show them?

 I love my family.

 Why can't they love me that same way and just accept me!

 I know they will disown me and shun me, who can bear that. I don't think I can!

YOU CAN!

God told Abram;

"Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land I will show you."

Is God calling you?

Jesus told us; "that a brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child...

And all nations will hate you because you are my followers.  But everyone who endures until the end will be saved."

Ok Lord, I give up my family, then what?

Jesus said;

"Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life." 

Again Lord, let me get things all situated.

 Let me figure out how I'm going to do this.

 What I'm going say. Let me go back and do what I need to do. 

 I have to it's required.

Let me say good-bye, and then I'll follow you.

Jesus said;

"No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Ok Lord I have a lot at stack here.

You do He said, but what is the greater of the two your family or your life?

I do want to follow you, I really do but...

Jesus said;

"If people come to me and are not ready to abandon their fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as their own lives, they cannot be my disciples.

So those who do not carry their crosses and follow me cannot be my disciples."

"But don't begin until you count the cost.

For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost

to see if there is enough money to finish it?"

"If you love me, you will obey what I command."

Lord, you're allowing me to exercise my free will.

Your letting me make the choice.

You want me. Your calling me.

Now I have to decide.

Wait...

You love me?

Even after all...

Even after all I've done?

Even after falling and believing the lie?

Yes, all who are hungry receive my grace.

You're loving me, even before I decide.

Yes

Obey me and honor your family.

I am Jehovah Nissi your battle fighter, you only need be still.

Precious one:

There is one that sticks closer than a brother.  His name is Jesus.

Love Him with all your your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

Even though the journey is long, and it will be hard.
Jesus will see you through it all.

Genesis 12:1, Matthew 10:21-22, Matthew 19:29-NLT

Luke 9:62-NASB Luke 14:26-27 GWT Luke 14:28 NLT

John 14:15-NIV 1 John 4:19 NIV

Matthew 19:19-Ephesians 6:2

Exodus 14:14

Proverbs 18:24

Matthew 22:37

Logic

There was a time in my life 

that I was fully convinced I had all the answers.

Of course by all means

 it wasn't a pride thing, I just knew

 and you didn't.

I knew how to

 teach you

 tell you

 and train you

 on how to become one of God's chosen ones.

I had it ALL figured out!

There's 

a system

 a process

a working to get your way in.

How? 

Through 

logic

 through process of elimination.

By way of not questioning the answers given to me by man.

I knew that when you stumped me on a question

 that I didn't have the answer,

I wrote you off as 

"Worldly."

 A lost cause.

Or

"We'll see who wins in the end."

What arrogance I once had. 

 What pride. 

What righteousness. Self righteousness.

Logic:

Reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity.

I have always earned for greater knowledge. 

 I have always wanted an answer for everything.

Life was logical. 

Relationships were logical.

 God was logical.

Oh but God...

I like Nicodemus tried ever so hard to come to know Christ through logic, through human reasoning, through past beliefs, through process of elimination.

"Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." John 3:2-ESV English Standard Version

Makes Sense.

Logic:

Coming to God based off of what I know to be "truth."

Coming to God in my way, 

when I have everything sorted out.

Coming to God when I have all my knowledge put together.

All my ducks in a row.

I had a lifetime of old beliefs "logic"keeping me stuck and stagnant.

Hence, why I sat in limbo for 13 years!

I kept trying to understand through my mind

my eyes

my strength 

and my will.

Coming face to face with the question

"Do I believe Jesus was God?" "Do I believe Jesus is God?"

As I searched and read through scripture, that's all that would ever come up.

Everywhere I turned it was that one daunting question.

When I was all out of logic and ready to lose my mind

it was then that I slid my mind aside

and slide my heart in place 

and by faith not fully understanding believed.

Believed in 

Jesus as God!

When logic comes in...

  I tell myself

"By faith"...

Logic...

"By FAITH"...

Not by a system, not by works, BUT BY FAITH!

God saved you (me) by his grace when you (I) believed.  And you (I) can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we (I) have done, so none of us (I) can boast about it.  Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT (me, and I-my additions)

I BELIEVE!

The Little Mermaid

Ariel in the movie The Little Mermaid,

 her and I  have similar story lines.

The only difference Arial's story is just that a story.

Mine is reality.

In her world, under the sea, was normal.

In her world, under the sea, she had her family.

In her world, under the sea, she had it all.

All, so she was told.

In my world, as a Jehovah's Witness, was normal.

In my world, as a Jehovah's Witness, I had my family.

In my world, as a Jehovah's Witness, I had it all.

All, so I was told.

Ariel, she took a chance and looked above, she looked beyond her boundaries and discovered what she was told was a forbidden world. A forbidden world above the sea.

That world. Those humans, they will hurt you, they won't understand.

 You will have no part of that world!

 She was told.

Ariel wanted more!

I wanted more!

What would Ariel give? What would Ariel pay?

 What would Ariel do? To be apart of a that world?

That world above the sea.

What would I give, what would I pay,

 what would I do, to be apart of that world?

The world right outside my window.

You don't get to far, when your friends, your activities, 

your total being and existance is decided for you.

Oh, the times I sat and wondered, when is it my turn?

My turn to experience what I feel so pulled to do.

Oh, the times I wished I could be apart of that world.

Easy? No

Confusing? Yes

Answers? Soon

You make an informed decision, 

a choice, and you don't look back.

If you want to move forward. You can't look back.

Lot's wife looked back. Genesis 19:26

Determined? Yes.

Courageous? Absolutely!

Willing? Yes.

Glad I did? Absolutely! 

Going above and beyond.

Coming up for air, 

and breathing my first breath in a new world.

Indescribable!

Those humans in that world that was cut off from me, the ones Ariel and I were told would hurt you and will never understand.  That world we were told we would never be allowed to be apart of.

We became apart of it.

We risked, and went forward.

We entered a world we knew very little about.

In our journeys...

Aerial found love in a prince named Erik.

I found love in a King named Jesus.

He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 19:16

I've let God transform me into a new person by changing the way I think.

Romans 12:2.

Come be a part of a world

 where you are 

 free.

No longer wishing you could be

part of that world.

What would you give if you could live out of the chains of rules and dictations?

What would you pay to spend a day, knowing you are forgiven by grace and not works?

Ephesians 2;8,9

When will you be ready to stand?

Ready to know what the people know.

Ask God the questions and get the answers from Him and not man.

I had my turn.

When will it be your turn?

*Part of Your World 

The Little Mermaid

Watch it on Youtube

**All Images taken from Google Images