Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3 NASB

When I looked up the word, blessing, google defined it as God’s favor and protection. “It means to be in favor with, of one mind with, and in tune with the will of God. Blessing is not about getting good things or experiencing happiness. It’s about aligning oneself with the Great Liberator–Jesus Christ.” (Carlsbad Current-Argus) I like that.

So often we misconstrue the concept of blessing as something we earn or perhaps deserve. But I sincerely believe that it is simply birthed out of the love God has for us. He loved us from the beginning and regardless of our choices or the path we’ve taken, He will love us to the end.

When I began to share the blessings of the Lord on my life, I should have simply called it, times of favor. That is truly what I feel. Those moments when God steps in and changes everything. When you sense the warm smile on His face as surely as the sunshines to warm you after a cold wind blows.

Abram (later Abraham), didn’t know God. But he somehow got His attention and spoke these words that changed his life forever. Get up, pack up your tent and leave your comfort zone and everything you hold familiar. Say bye to the family and move on down the road. He didn’t say go north, south, east or west. No He just said go to a land I will show you. Pretty vague for all those who need a sure thing before they move.

But Abrams example taught me to go where He leads and don’t look back. The life I have is His to do with as He pleases. I’m merely on a journey with Him, learning to trust Him until that trust becomes bigger than anything I face or any obstacle in my path. I don’t need it to make sense before I do it. I know His voice and choose to keep moving down the road even if the end isn’t where I thought it might be.

Just before I turned 18, our family moved to Haiti to start an orphanage in Dessalines. It wasn’t my calling, I didn’t want to go, but I went because it was what mom wanted. I wanted to stay in the States, meet a nice man, get married and have children. It was in my heart to do so and this was definitely not anywhere close to that goal. But I placed my dreams on hold and decided to get as close to God as I could and ready myself for what He needed from me.

I remember having times where the presence of God was so close I literally felt Him in the room with me. Our conversations were sweet and at times I felt I was being swept up out of the room. Such sweet communion. I sang songs to Him, told Him of my deep affection towards Him and after some time, I surrendered my hopes and dreams to His keeping. I decided that if what I wanted wasn’t what He wanted, I didn’t want them either.

A year later, Walt came to Haiti on vacation. As we sat sharing the Word together at a small table in the living room, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “This is the man you’re going to marry.”

I was a bit taken back to say the least. I remember thinking, “But God, I don’t even love him.” To which He responded, “I will give you My love for Him.”

It was like God removed my lid and poured love into me like I’d never felt for anyone before. When we finished our conversation, I excused myself, went into my moms room where she lay on the bed, and told her what had just happened. She looked at me and said, “Well, I guess if it’s God, He will bring it to pass.”

Eight months later I returned to the States and Walt and I began to date. A month later he asked me to marry him. On February 14, 1976 in a small church in Michigan, we began our journey as husband and wife.

I’m thankful for that blessing. I’m thankful I’ve learned to trust His voice, to go where He tells me. It isn’t always easy, but it’s always right. I wouldn’t want to live any other way than to be completely aligned with Jesus.

Sandy G