Oceans in the Desert

By Kathi Pelton

Sometimes your “Yes” to Jesus comes with great excitement and joy but other times your “Yes” comes with the sober awareness of sacrifice and cost. But it is then that it is accompanied by the awareness and posture that cries out, “Jesus, you are worthy of it all!”

These beautiful and sobering times remind me of Mary, a teenager being visited by the angel of the Lord who announced that the Holy Spirit would cause her to conceive a child, the Messiah. She had to be keenly aware of at least some of the cost: reputation, misunderstanding, accusations and so much more. Yet, in that moment of being chosen her response was this,

“And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” Luke ‭1:38‬

“Be it unto me according to your word.” Those words have become the deepest cry of my life. I would pray them in the days of my youth with little understanding of the weight that they carried— or the privilege and cost they would extract. Though I’d never change that innocent response of the youthful me, today when I pray it I understand the weight of taking up my cross and following him.

The beauty has far outweighed the cost and we choose not to count the cost but rather to count it all joy! He is so worth of it all and making his worth known throughout the earth is what we live for. To see Jesus receive His full inheritance is our greatest joy. He gave his all so how can we give any less; even in the moments that our whispered yes has the fragrance of sacrifice upon it? And the trepidation of human fears.

I believe every yes is a pleasing offering to him but the yes that is accompanied by tears and an awareness of truly having to let go of your will to receive his, is especially beautiful to him.

If you are in a YES moment— either for the first time or you’ve lost count because you have made this your lifestyle, then remember that the only regret you will ever have at the end of your life will be the time you held anything back from him. Your ALL is the only offering that is fitting for the God who gave his ALL.

When the Lord visits you (like young Mary), because he has chosen you, respond with the only words that are fitting, “Be it unto me according to your word.” If tears and sacrifice accompany your response then know that your words are like the costly perfume in the alabaster jar poured over his feet once again. The fragrance of your yes fills the room
and brings such joy to his heart.

Let us always say yes…

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Thank you for standing with us and sacrificing on behalf of the Lord.

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