The Call - Part 4

When we were asked to lead the mission trip to Honduras, only Brandi and I, along with a few friends in our married small group, knew what was stirring in our hearts. Brandi and I had talked about how we could use this trip to hear from God to give us direction about what this calling meant.

Now, it’s important to remember that despite Brandi hearing from God and despite the fact that I felt God was trying to speak to me,  I wasn’t crazy about it. I was leaning toward the comfort, safety, job security and career direction both of us had with our positions at Healing Place Church Highland Campus. Simply put, I was running from God’s calling.

We were excited about our trip to Honduras. We hit the ground with the team and went to work immediately on the special project we had for that team and all the normal ministry events we held at the church. With that excitement, we went down our own paths. We were not united. We got very frustrated with each other because we thought we were supposed to walk this out, talk this out together. It came to a head and we talked about it. We FERVENTLY discussed it! That’s the best way I can say that we got in a HUGE FIGHT. As big as a fight a couple can have while leading a dozen 18 to 22 year olds. It was tense.

Then, the night we had the team debrief to go over the lessons learned, wins and takeaways from the trip, we prayed as a group and then one of our Honduran pastors gave us an encouraging word. It was one of those supernatural moments that brought clarity, joy and peace. He shared what He felt God needed to communicate to us through him. Ps. Derek was translating and after a moment, it was like I didn’t even need Ps. Derek’s translation any longer.

I knew it was God because it was affirming, edifying and confirming to what God had been speaking to both Brandi and I. God reconciled me and Brandi and also, reconciled my mind and heart to His calling for our family. Not only that, but God showed me that the enemy was attacking our marriage specifically to keep us from being united about this calling to Honduras. “New levels, new devils,” is what we hear in ministry. The enemy is calculating and strategic. The enemy’s activities and priorities indicate where The Kingdom is gaining ground. So, if our marriage was being used as a distraction for our calling in Honduras, there must be something significant for God's Kingdom and The Lamberts in Honduras.

We came home from that trip with a fresh perspective. I knew that the blessing from our spiritual authority MUST confirm this calling. God WILL NOT call you to step from under your spiritual covering. We KNEW this calling HAD TO LINE UP WITH THE HOUSE WE WERE CALLED TO SERVE. The Kingdom is about unity, not disunity. So, we shared our hearts with Br. Wayne Austin, Br. Earl Rentz, our direct supervisors. We shared our hearts with Ps. Jeff Rentz, HPC’s Missions Pastor. Finally, we met with Ps. Mike Haman, our Lead Pastor to share with him what was on our hearts. We ensured him that we were submitted to the house and knew this would only work if it lined up with the mission and vision of the house. We asked him if he would consider us when he was ready to resource what he saw for the HPC Honduras Campus future.

So, here we are! Until next time, thanks for checking in!

Gered, Brandi, Jada & Josiah