Finding God and abundant life in the middle of the storm

Welcome to the His Call Your Coordinates series! 2020 has definitely been a challenging year, hasn’t it? Many of you feel lost right now. You wonder where God is or what your purpose is now that our world looks so wildly different. I can relate!

But our God is always with us. No pandemic can thwart His purpose for our lives. God is placing us at certain sets of coordinates to carry out His call even though our world feels a little wonky right now! Our theme verse, then, for this series comes from Acts 17:26-27b:

From one man, he [God] made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed time and the boundaries where they would live. He did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

I pray these words become more precious to you as we meet together throughout this series. It captures two truths that are vital for us to acknowledge whenever we feel lost or purposeless:

1) God has appointed us to live in a very specific time and place, so we are never truly lost.

2) God is never far from us, so we are never truly alone. 

I also pray that taking a fresh look at Paul’s missionary travels throughout the book of Acts along with various interviews I’ve had with some of my fellow author friends, help you have a light bulb moment; enabling you to live out God’s call in your life right from your own coordinates. For God is never far from you! Instead of holding onto the past and continually lamenting what could have been, let’s look to God and where He’s placed us for what we can be doing now.

Jesus settled His love for us on the coordinates of the cross, so we can settle into the coordinates He's given to us. Click To Tweet

So let’s get started, shall we? We’re off to visit the ancient town of Lystra first. Once we arrive, we’ll meet up with my friend and fellow traveler, Niki Hardy. I do hope you’ll unpack, sit for a spell, and listen to our recorded interview at the bottom of the page for further inspiration and encouragement before you leave and enjoy the rest of your travel itinerary, which is also listed below for you to reference! Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Welcome to Lystra!

 

His Call:

To remind others to worship the Healer, instead of the healing.

All of us fear sickness. No one wants to be sidelined with the sniffles or for their doctor to call with a positive test result. My nine year old daughter continues to wear her clothes inside out because she believes that by doing so, she’ll confuse COVID and it won’t come near her. While my nine year old daughter’s reasoning is precious, at some point she will realize that putting her faith and security in clothes is futile. What if she does get sick? What then?

No matter how we wear our clothes, sickness and a need for healing is part of our story because we live in a fallen world. We’ve been given a holy call to remind others to worship the Healer instead of the healing itself whenever illness occurs. This particular call existed back in 2019 and at the beginning of 2020. It remains the same today. Maybe you are already living this out. Or maybe it’s time for you to live out this type of holy calling in Chicago, Austin, Manassas, or Phoenix, moving forward.

Sickness is occurring. There is a whole bunch of it at various coordinates around our world, and in your own zip code as well. So what are we or those around us looking to for their ultimate security and for healing? How can we live out this call moving forward? Let’s consider what happened to Paul when God placed him in Lystra and how God’s been moving in a similar fashion in the life of my friend and rectal cancer survivor, Niki Hardy, to find out!

 

Your Coordinates:

Lystra (37° 39′ 50.83″ N, 32° 12′ 38.56″ E)

 

With the news of an impending attack and subsequent stoning still fresh on his mind, the Apostle Paul fled to the region of Lycaonia, and specifically to the town of Lystra:

While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was sitting and listening as Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed. So Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.   ~ Acts 14:8-10, NLT

Upon seeing Paul heal this man, the crowd proclaimed that Paul and his companion, Barnabas, were the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes. This may seem bizarre to us today, but back in Paul’s day, those in Lystra worshipped Zeus. They saw nothing wrong with bringing Paul and Barnabas flowers or making sacrifices to offer to the men (Acts 14: 11-13). But Paul had a problem with what they were doing! He asked them why they were doing this, since he and Barnabas were merely human. Paul counters their adoration of him with a proclamation about the One who had called him to Lystra:

We have come to bring you the Good News that you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. In the past he permitted all the nations to go their own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. ~Acts 14:15b-17a

Unfortunately, even after hearing Paul’s proclamation, the people continued to sacrifice to him, so he and Barnabas moved on to another set of coordinates.

Like Paul, we’ve been called to preach the Good News, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that those in our coordinates can turn from the worthless things of this world and back to the living God who is ready to forgive and love them. For God is never far from those in our coordinates nor was He ever far from those in Lystra because, “he [God] never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness” (Acts 14:17a). Sometimes our words will be received and other times they may not. But our call is still our call at the particular coordinates God has given us.

From England to North Carolina

My friend, fellow author and speaker, Niki Hardy, also knows this to be true. This snapshot from Paul’s travels reminds me of the journey Niki has traveled with God. At one time she lived in England and figured God was calling her to teach the Gospel there. But God had other plans for Niki and her husband, eventually calling them to plant a church at a specific set of coordinates in North Carolina, USA, instead!

In our recorded interview below you can hear more about how Niki knew that God was calling her to North Carolina. You’ll also hear how she came to worship the Healer and not the healing itself as she walked through her own struggle with rectal cancer. Today, Niki is being obedient to share about the healing that God, through medicine and prayer, has brought into her life through her speaking, writing, and her book, Breathe Again. From her coordinates in North Carolina, Niki is pointing others to God. Her call teaches us how to find abundant life in the middle of life’s storms. We too have been given a call to help others see that even when sickness befalls them, they can still thrive and not merely survive, even if their ultimate healing awaits them in Heaven.

So I encourage you to take a listen to our conversation and to take a few minutes to pray about how to use your own story of healing (can be in an emotional, relational, or spiritual sense as well) to draw the hearts of those in your coordinates to find their comfort and security in our Heavenly Healer. Yes, medicine and all types of therapy are wonderful and used by God to bring healing, but our ultimate source of peace and the strength to persevere in seasons of sickness can only be found in God Himself. Niki and I encourage you to help others realize this and to live this out at their coordinates too.

“You have a call and it starts now.”~Niki Hardy

Guest Bio:

Niki Hardy is a Brit in the USA, a rectal (yes, rectal) cancer survivor, pastor’s wife, tea drinker and teller of terrible jokes! As a speaker and the author of Breathe Again: How to Live Well When Life Falls Apart she’s all about meeting you when life’s not fair and helping you discover that with God, life doesn’t have to be pain-free to be full, then live it. You can find more of Niki on Instagram, and on her website NikiHardy.com When she’s not speaking, writing, or running trails with her Doodles, you can find her with a nice cup of tea, trying to figure out which remote control actually turns the TV on.

 

Additional activities for your travel itinerary:

Say “hi” in the comments below and answer one of the following questions to be entered into the “Travel From Home” Giveaway!!! One commenter will be chosen from the six blog posts in the series, and the winner will be announced on July 30th! 

• How have you seen God’s healing in your life or in the life of someone else?
• What has been your favorite vacation getaway and why?
• Who can you love by helping them to see that God has never left them? What evidence in their life or in yours proves this? How can you specifically share this with them this week?

Lastly, here is a link to a freebie that you can click on and print off for fun! I hope this prayer for your coordinates is a blessing to your heart and to your home:

Tracy Steel: His Call, Your Coordinates PDF

I also want to officially welcome you to my new website! I hope you will take a few minutes to look around at the new pages and features. I pray the things you read or listen to, encourage your heart and strengthen your faith. If you need prayer, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via the form on the “Contact” page. Thanks again for meeting with me here and have a blessed rest of your week!