Day 11- Abraham and Issac

So I was talking with some friends who were missionaries to Poland, and were planning on being there for 1 year. They ended up selling a lot of their stuff, their car, furniture, pretty much everything except clothes, their bed and a dresser or two. Well they get over there and things don't quite work out and the end up coming back to the states. They were there about 2 months and felt defeated and kind of like "Why did you make me do all this so that we would come back in 2 months?" Well as I was talking to them last night they feel as though God needed to show them something and the only way to do it was to strip them of all of their comforts, possessions, and talents and send them over to Poland. Now they have come back with a passion and desire to have a ministry over here that is what they wanted to do over there. But how much easier it is because they speak the language, know the city, and are in a general sense familiar with the surroundings and culture. It made me think of the story of Abraham and Isaac. See Abraham was being spoke to by God and God told him that he needed to sacrifice his first born son. Abraham was kind of weirded out by this whole thing and wanted to know why. But God told Him to trust Him and so as Abraham had Isaac down to sacrifice him, about ready to cut his neck, God spoke up and said that He wanted to test Abraham. That he didn't really have to sacrifice his own son, and there was a goat in a bush nearby. Sometimes God wants to see if we are willing to "sacrifice our own son", or completely trust Him when we know it sounds off the wall. I think of Mark 1:1-4 it talks about John the Baptist and how he is out in the wilderness. Well the Greek word translated there means solitude, or gives the concept of being stripped down of everything. If you think about it, John the Baptist was stripped down of everything even to his clothes and all he had to rely upon was God. I want that in my life today, I don't want to rely on my talents, possessions, or situations, I want to rely fully on God. The second I stop relying on Him I'm sinning and need to repent because I cannot do anything myself to please Him, He must do it through me. Jesus make it so, I want to be stripped down of everything so I can gain You! I know once I gain You that I have the whole deal, the entire thing, the whole purpose for living. I want so badly to be dominated by You, I lay myself down as a sacrifice for You!