No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The wine would swell and burst the old skins. Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins. Mark 2:22 (CEV)
Last summer, the Lord asked my wife and me to take a leap of faith into the unknown, and abruptly relocate our family across the country, seemingly without ministry, occupation or purpose. He only told us that He was going to make us new wineskins. Devoid of context, this held little meaning for us, and was nearly forgotten about until the New Year, when the Lord began to stir our hearts again concerning this word.
That’s when it became clear. We realized that while we have been waiting for Him to move circumstantially, He has already been well on the move in our hearts. He’s using our new environment – likeminded brothers and sisters, our church, and the journey itself (of course!) – to bring much needed change in us, especially in the way we see and worship Him. He is systematically breaking down our paradigms about His bride and Himself. He is patiently reshaping our passions and vision.
It’s been over 6 months since we’ve moved, and we still have no answers as to job, ministry and even calling. When friends ask us what’s new, we have to honestly say “nothing” in terms of the tangibles. But when anyone asks us about our purpose, or why we moved, we can no longer say we don’t know. We now have a certain answer: to become new wineskins. And we trust Him to bring the new wine when He sees we’re ready!
Lord, teach us to embrace the journey, to lay down our expectations, desires and ideas and pick up your yolk, confident that you are ALWAYS good and ALWAYS faithful. Amen!