Stretching & Growing

Interface Paradigm #3 – God's two-fold mission agenda for this age is:

• to take out of the world a people for himself and
• to mature and prepare his people, for his new world, in the eternal ages that lie ahead.

Have you found yourself stretched lately as you try to walk out God’s mission in your life? I’ve noticed that my dependence on God’s provision and power increases when I have to step out to join Him in mission.

Christmas Chocolates

Last Christmas, for example, we took chocolates to our neighbours, a simple act of kindness to begin relationships in our somewhat new neighbourhood. I wrote my cell number on the pretty wreath box, and several months later Lisa said that box was posted on her wall to remember my number.

Yet that small act of vulnerability to walk across the driveway and across the street took tremendous effort.

After several conversations since then, I’ve bought the chocolates for this year and wonder if it might not be even better to invite them over … S-T-R-E-T-C-H again.

Wrestling & Growth

Stretching (or growth) came for me not only in walking across the street but in walking through a family member’s ‘dark night of the soul.’ The signs of desperation were growing, tensions rising, and my momma heart grew very heavy.

As I wrestled with Father, I found that not only was the situation miraculously transformed by God’s direct intervention, but my feeble faith grew ‘ten sizes that day’ (to quote from the Grinch).

The result of the wrestling was twofold – the darkness turned to light for my family member, and God caused me to grow in my faith.

A Two-Fold Mission

In Simply Mobilizing paradigms, I am reminded that God's two-fold mission agenda for this age is BOTH to take out of the world a people for himself AND to mature and prepare his people, for his new world, in the eternal ages that lie ahead.

While I am ‘going’ or ‘stretching’, I find myself drawn into greater maturity in Christ.

What is God calling you into today that will propel his mission forward in our world and, in the process, make you a better disciple?

Valerie Penney serves on the Simply Mobilizing National Coordination Team as the Atlantic region coordinator, and works for Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada International Missions, equipping leaders globally. She and her husband Fred found themselves living in Newfoundland in 2018, back to the community where Fred grew up. On a free afternoon, they may be found hiking the East Coast Trail or Face-Timing with their three granddaughters.