The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.[a]” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. 9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
Footnotes:
12:7 Hebrew seed.
The infamous "call". Ever had one? I would think Abram was crazy, but been there, done that. When I lived in Northern Michigan, running an art gallery, teaching art classes to alternative education students, assisting to bring local theater to our community, in addition to Kiwanis Vice President, member of the Chamber Ambassadors, the Downtown Development Authority, and an active member in my local church, I certainly didn't plan on picking up everything and moving to a foreign land. But that is what God called me... and my family... to do.
I had been restoring a 110 year old schoolhouse for nearly 10 years. We were getting ready to put the drywall up and paint. This was after replacing the heating and plumbing, electrical and insulation, windows and more. I crumpled brown craft paper and airbrushed along the ridges before hand pasting it on my bathroom walls. Two coats of polyurethane and hand drawn seams later, it looked like the walls were made of raw stone. In the kitchen I made my own backsplash tile by embedding old pop tops and mid-century gadgets into the mortar, between the tiles. I faux painted my own stainless grease guard behind the stove and had started a room sized mural of a mountain landscape in the laundryroom. I had intentions of dying in this home.
But God had other plans. He called me by name. "Melany, I am ready and I need you in ministry." I remember thinking about walking away from it all, and hearing God's reassuring "I will give you another." So we sold it all... the gallery and the business, the schoolhouse and its furnishings. We packed our keepsakes and clothes, my mom's china and kid's belongings, and we went as we were called. Four hours south to a new land, a new community, a new home, and a new life.
And now, 15 years later, the promise "I will give you another" rings true as I sit in my 1930's farmhouse, surrounded by 5 acres and a dairy farm, a gallery and a studio, plus multiple outbuildings, barns, and a pavilion for family to gather. One day walking back to the house from the studio I stopped, realizing a thought. So I asked God "Does my grandpa know I live on a farm now?" I grew up on my grandfather's farm. In that moment God replied, "I asked him to help me choose it for you."
[sigh...]
I wept tears of joy. It still amazes me today.
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