Genesis 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
After having been sent off with nothing but some bread and water, Hagar found herself in a situation where she was sure that famine would take the life of her child. This was a pitiful sight. She could not bear the sight of the death of her child, so she cast him under a shade and put distance between her and her baby.
What “baby” have you cast aside in your life? That is, what dream… what vision… what calling… have you given up on? Have you found yourself, as Hagar, put out from among the very ones who inspired your dream to start with?
Perhaps the birthplace of your dream is not meant to be its harbor. If you find yourself twice removed from the place of your childhood, or the place of your humble beginnings with God, do not weep. I know that those are precious memories, and those were the days where life began for you spiritually. But know this; it is not where you started, but where God is taking you and where you finish that matters most.
Many weep because their “Abraham” cast them out. Many are saddened that those who were at first their closest companions are now like distant, cold acquaintances at best. Is the building gone because the scaffolding has been removed? Not so! For even God uses people as scaffolding in our lives to aid us in our building stages.
We find comfort today knowing that, even when others are no longer with us, God Himself stays with us the entire journey. So, if you have pitied yourself by thinking that because YOU were cast out, that your VISION is also cast out, stop it now! For you do not need who you thought you needed for God to finish what He started in your life!
I say to you today under what I believe to be the inspiration of the Holy Spirit… pick back up your baby! What you thought was over is just beginning. What you thought was unsustainable has at its core the seeds of God and is therefore destined to succeed. Hold it in your hands again. Touch it, feel it, cradle it, and nurse it back to health. Whatever your dream, your calling, your vision, or your purpose, “Arise, lift up the lad!”
Pastor Gary Caudill
Pastor very good GOD inspired word.