Follow Me

"And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, 

Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; 

for they were fishermen. 

Then He said to them, 

'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' 

They immediately left their nets and followed him."  

- Matthew 4:18-20

These verses have been on my mind a lot over the last couple weeks. I think about Peter and Andrew being fishermen and about how before Jesus entered their lives, fishing is what they did every day.

I've noticed that the things we do every day somehow begin to define who we are. I have been a nurse for almost 2.5 years now. Before that, I was in nursing school for three years. For the last 5 years, nursing has been a part of my identity.

When people began to hear that I am stepping away from my nursing career for an undefined period of time, some had a hard time wrapping their minds around it. "But, you're a nurse. You worked so hard to be where you are right now. It's such an admirable profession. The job security you have. You are so good with people. You're such a good nurse; your patients and co-workers love you."

I wonder if Peter and Andrew received similar responses... "But you're a fisherman. You're just going to walk away from your livelihood?? Something you're good at? Who does that?"

I'm learning that sometimes the Lord calls you to do things that others might think to be impractical or irresponsible. For a long time, my life only functioned through practical decisions. Those of you who know me well, know that for a few years, every decision I made was based on whether it answered one question: does it make sense? If the answer was yes, I did it. If it didn't, I didn't.

Several years ago, the Lord spoke through Hector Morales on the last full day I spent in Guatemala in 2007. He showed me that I have a choice to accept both good things and bad things. At that time, I struggled almost daily with fear. Fear is not from the Lord. (2 Timothy 1:7) Fear is from Satan, and I could choose to not accept what Satan was offering me. That conversation helped break the chains of lies that held me captive to fear, and from then I slowly began to regain my trust in surrendering my safety and security to the Lord.

A few weeks later, I started nursing school. Five years, and a month or so, later, I'm again learning that I have been living my life under a misconception: nursing makes sense, so it's what I should do.

Friday was my last day at Baptist Health in Little Rock, AR. David and I are so grateful for the support our families and friends have given us as we step out and trust the Lord in His calling me into a new chapter of our life: a chapter challenging us to trust His provision, sovereignty, and calling for our lives.

So, I think about Peter and Andrew. They just followed Him. They didn't know where they were going to end up, or how deciding to walk off the beach away from their nets that day would change the rest of their lives and billions of other peoples' .. They just trusted that He was up to something, and they were going to follow Him there... God's up to something, and we're following. : )