Open

 

“Ephphatha!”
(Which means “Be opened!)
~Mark 7:34~

“Jesus not only opens ears—
he releases and opens up your whole being—
your heart, mind, emotions, finances and every other part of your life.”
~Nicky Gumble~

The last time I was outside of North America was over thirteen years ago. The day before we were set to fly out for that short-term mission trip, I confirmed that I was pregnant with our fifth child (a rather humorous story, in and of itself). Fortunately for me, the campus hosts made sure we were fed frequently and well—a necessary accommodation to stave off my morning sickness. Once home on native soil, I was caught up in the throes of diapers and child-rearing, and any personal attempts at short-term mission trips were pushed back—way back—into the archives of my BC (Before Children) era.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested in traveling or serving on mission trips any longer; in fact, my husband and I had embarked on several overseas short-term mission and vision trips, exploring the possibilities of where God would have us land. Our oldest son had accompanied us on three of these; but when the 2020 pandemic hit, it was almost as if our missional capacities and sensitivities lapsed into torpor, a kind of hibernation.

Then in 2024, my brother’s family took a short-term mission trip to Puebla, Mexico; in February of 2025, we decided to join them. In the flurry of the days leading up to our departure, I wrestled with travel anxiety as I tried to pack and continue to conduct daily business. The only journal entries I had written down had arisen out of this anxious place in my soul:

Beset by anxiety and fear
Help me feel you are near

As you led the Israelites through desert
Cloud by day, blazing fire by night,
Two burning suns in the sky
Help me know you are nigh

You Are Faithful.
Where are we going?
Why not step out?
Challenge your status quo
And Go

When the Israelites were led out of bondage and into the desert, their “status quo” ended up being challenged to the degree that they complained to Moses, whining how they’d rather be back in slavery than facing the hostile challenges of desert life. Their status quo had been enslavement! They had most certainly been under a heavy yoke, and so there was much rejoicing at the initial freedom they had achieved; however, even in their freedom, when things grew more difficult, they looked back at their bondage under a guise of disillusionment and covetous longing.

Isn’t that how it is with us? We grow so accustomed to the daily grind of our busy lives, with barely a thought of reassessing if what we are doing is what we ought to be doing. And here’s another thought:  what if the “thing you had planned” that didn’t turn out the way you thought, but what if that way was actually part of the Bigger Plan?

Even though the Israelites began their desert experience with whining, God refined their hearts as they started instead to lean in, allow God to open their spiritual eyes, and be willing to listen to God’s instructions for the building of the tabernacle.

“Everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came
and brought an offering to the Lord for the work.”
~Exodus 35:21~

This, too, was all I had to offer Him:  a heart that was willing and open to going. Come, was my silent prayer. Come and challenge my status quo; refine and open the eyes of my heart and unveil the areas in my life wherein I have grown too comfortable, to the degree that I don’t see your divine purposes in my life, and where all I see is my own agenda.

And He took my offering.

I left for this trip wondering why I was going and really not even wanting to go, but as I was serving at the orphanage in Puebla, I began to wonder how I could even go back home! How was I to fit back into my previous life model? I felt I had no ambition to complete the tasks before me; no desire to check off the tidy boxes of accomplishments.

“They will take their new experience
and invaluable insights back to their ordinary life,
but when they return,
they will find that the normal they once knew no longer exists.
Because they have gone through such significant change and transformation,
they now live in a new status quo.”
~Zach Leighton, “How to Tell Your Story”~

Upon returning home, my new “normal” of course included the things I had to pick up again:  preparing my piano students for competition, fine-tuning my responsibilities and tasks as a house manager for a local production in which my children were involved, following up with domestic chores and incoming guests, catching my children up in their biology and history lessons, as well as my own lesson planning for the classes I taught.

At the surface, activities ebbed and flowed as usual; within, I was still “stirred” and “moved” (Exodus 35:21), and my life was “Opened up” (Mark 7:34) to a more poignant degree. I took the plunge and invited my Spanish-speaking acquaintances, who I had met at the gym, to come to my home so we could all practice our language skills. My heart was also stirred to volunteer at a couple upcoming summer camps that my children had been involved in. Prior to this, I would take advantage of the time I had at home while they were at camp; now, I found myself wanting to engage this next generation of young people in discipleship and serving, just being available. All of this was an intentional purpose for me in specific areas of my life, all while intentionally not pursuing the things I wasn’t intended to add to my agenda.

As John Kenneth Mackenzie advised, “Don’t be unwise enough to think that we are serving God best by constant activity at the cost of headaches and broken rest. I am getting to be of the opinion that we may be doing too much” (Tileston, Joy and Strength, p.49). But we want the eyes of our spirit to be open to His leading.

“Be very careful, then, how you live—
Not as unwise but as wise,
Making the most of every opportunity…
Understand what the Lord’s will is.”
~Ephesians 5:15-17~

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…”
~Ephesians 1:18~