♡ George Müller
George Müller, after a raunchy youth in Prussia, found the Lord, moved to England, and followed the Lord's leading to serve the real-life children whose poor lifestyle was described in Charles Dicken's novels. The orphanages Müller founded served over 10,000 children during his lifetime, and the 117 schools he established offered Christian education to over 120,000 children.¹ What makes this more amazing is that he believed God for all the financing; his only fund-raising effort was prayer, not soliciting donations. His critics accused him of raising the poor above their natural station in life! (Such critics know neither the character nor the power of the Lord very well!)
Müller's life makes a worthwhile biographical read; between his bouts of serious illness in his earlier days and the enormous amounts of money it took to accomplish the vision the Lord had given him, he had ample opportunity to be anxious. But about five years after accepting Jesus as savior, when he began to accept Him as Lord as well, Müller learned the truth in his statement: The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.
It is because of this truth that we can call KatieLyn a faithless bride. But don't take my word for it—take scripture.
Matthew 6: 30-34If God so clothes the wildflower of the meadow,² which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the nations eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But first, pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow…
Notice that verse 34 is a command: Do not be anxious for tomorrow. The Douay-Rheims Bible translates it this way: Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow. "Solicitous" includes the worry aspect of "anxious" but it adds the connotation of seeking out the worry. I believe that is exactly what KatieLyn was subjected to—that she was being coached to seek out concerns over the marriage in direct opposition to Jesus' command to believers that they not be anxious. Anxiety that stems from a desire to control a situation shows no trust, no faith in the Lord.
The bottom line: Worry, concerns, anxiety, misgivings, disquiets, cares, and apprehension are all sin. They all indicate a lack of faith and trust in God.
There are two ways to deal. 1. Start trusting God. This is hard at the start, but ends in perfect peace when seen all the way through to the end. 2. Call it quits. This brings an initial relief from pressure, but ultimately just kicks dealing with the original issue into the future, and it carries collateral damage from betraying those people God gave you or placed in your life.
The Lord wanted KatieLyn to simply trust Him. We were doing what we could to make this as easy for her as possible.
The Lesson
In hindsight, I see how I had entered a "dammed if you do, dammed if you don't" situation. I had suspected much already, but the confirmation came when Gwen, mother of the runaway bride, bragged to me that she had been reading all my email correspondence with KatieLyn all along. At that point the devil's strategy was clear. I had said a lot of things for which the motivation of my heart had been to assure KatieLyn that she was welcome, appreciated, and wanted here. That got twisted to mean that we wanted to regulate and manipulate her here. When KatieLyn visited here in person, I'd hold back and give her some space so that she could see that I wasn't trying to control her, but my true motive there was twisted into the thought that I was aloof and uncaring. Both sides of the devil's stratagem were lies. She would have been happy here. She would have thrived as her own person. And I would have loved her.
The Lord wanted KatieLyn to flourish like a wildflower, but she ran from His plan.
¹ Wikipedia
² literally, herbage of the field
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