Whither Thou Goest, I will Go….

Dear Elisabeth,

Good morning! Today, as I wake up, you and Howard are on your way to South Dakota to MAKE your own home together. This is that day that I have awaited since you were a little three-year-old asking your daddy if he would help you find a husband one day. 😀

I can’t say that I haven’t been crying rivers of tears the past few weeks. I have. My face is puffy and hoping to get back to normal before Christmas! ha! Letting go of our beloved children is never easy, even when we know that they are stepping into their calling. I am just going to miss you. I am going to miss you like crazy.  However, Elisabeth, I am also flooded with the absolute delight of seeing you step into marriage so beautifully.

• You have followed your husband’s wishes in going with him so far from home.
• You have embraced not only Howard, but also his whole family as your own.
• You have let go of all that we provide for you–cars, home, all of the stuff, and most of all, your identity–to set out on a life that God provides through Howard (and boy, is God set loose to bless you!).
• You have been a beautiful picture of a bride awaiting her groom to come and get her–every time that I think over your marriage, I think of Christ coming back to rapture the church.

Elisabeth, as you leave town, I want to share a bit from my own wedding ceremony. It has been a lesson that has helped me to follow your father wherever he leads, even when it meant pay cuts, leaving friends, family, and our church, being all by myself with little children, and moving into new seasons of our lives. It comes from the book of Ruth….

Look in the Message at Ruth 1, begin in the first verse…

Ruth 1 (The Message)

1-2Once upon a time—it was back in the days when judges led Israel— there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah left home to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The man’s name was Elimelech; his wife’s name was Naomi; his sons were named Mahlon and Kilion—all Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They all went to the country of Moab and settled there.

3-5 Elimelech died and Naomi was left, she and her two sons. The sons took Moabite wives; the name of the first was Orpah, the second Ruth. They lived there in Moab for the next ten years. But then the two brothers, Mahlon and Kilion, died. Now the woman was left without either her young men or her husband.

6-7 One day she got herself together, she and her two daughters-in-law, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home; she had heard that God had been pleased to visit his people and give them food. And so she started out from the place she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law with her, on the road back to the land of Judah.

8-9 After a short while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, “Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me. May God give each of you a new home and a new husband!” She kissed them and they cried openly.

10 They said, “No, we’re going on with you to your people.”

11-13 But Naomi was firm: “Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I’m too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There’s still hope!’ and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow.”

14 Again they cried openly. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye; but Ruth embraced her and held on.

15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.”

16-17 But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”

18-19 When Naomi saw that Ruth had her heart set on going with her, she gave in. And so the two of them traveled on together to Bethlehem.

I know that this is a mother-in-law story, but look at this as Ruth’s commitment to her husband and his family. It was steadfast, committed, and unwavering through everything, even the loss of her husband.

Elisabeth, there is a song that I want for you to hear. It reminds me of this passage of Scripture. Here are the lyrics (great copywork! ha!)…

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It’s a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We’ll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it’s something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they’re falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it’s something worth fighting for

Love will come to save us
If we’ll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it’s something worth fighting for

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It’s worth fighting for

Always fight for your marriage. Keep that same commitment that you have today as you follow Howard to South Dakota. FOLLOW HIM. Trust him. Let him loose to hear God (NOT YOU) and lead you gently. Have that same commitment that Ruth had. Look again at verses 16-17…

But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!”

Look at that passage again in the King James Version (the one read at my wedding)…

And Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the LORD do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”

This passage verbalizes my commitment to your father. Times haven’t always been easy. Following him has not always been easy. Actually following him has meant those physical moves away from family ad friends for his work. It has also meant moving from comfort zones into sometimes the completely unknown–even feeling some of that right now. It has meant leaving behind my identity when we first married and grasping toward a FULL identity that is unveiled over the years–the complete me. It has meant big decisions and little decisions. It has meant following when *I* had a better plan, but finding that God blesses the plans of our husbands and takes care of all of the details to care for us, provide for us, and bless us beyond anything WE could think or make happen ourselves.

Elisabeth, I am going to miss you like crazy. I will miss those girl-times. I will miss our spontaneous lunches. I will miss our late night talks. I miss your hugs. I will miss watching you day by day. But, I would never in a million years hold on to those and miss what I am seeing today. This is legacy. This is my heart’s dream for you.

I have trained you up in the way that you should go. Today, my beloved eagle, it is time for you to rise up and soar. You were made for this!

I love you beyond words.

Mom