A few weeks ago, I talked about the “cost” of our return to Japan for a longer time. Leaving was so much harder the second time because we didn’t know how long we’d be away and because we had to do something with every.single.thing in our house.

Some material things were harder to part with than others. When I was a child, my mother prayed for a piano for “not more than $25,” Daddy’s top figure, and God provided. My sisters and I helped our father strip the ugly black veneer, finding beautiful woodwork underneath. All four girls took piano lessons and we spent many hours playing and singing around that piano. When my mother passed away, Donn rented a U-Haul to bring the much-loved piano to Sandy Lake.

As we prepared for Japan, I tried to convince myself it was “just a piece of furniture.” I didn’t want to pressure our children by asking if anyone wanted it. Then someone in our daughter, Angelyn’s, church offered to give our granddaughter, Joy, free piano lessons, BUT they had no piano! You know the rest of the story! I love seeing and playing the beautiful piano in their home when we visit them.

Another hard-to-part-with piece was our corner cupboard that I’d finished myself years earlier. As I prayed about that piece of furniture, I felt prompted to give it to a friend who didn’t have much furniture in her apartment. She was delighted to get it, but when God called her into missions in China a year or two later, she gave it back. Changes in our son’s life made it possible for him to store it until we returned. Each time I look at it, I’m reminded of God’s gracious goodness in returning something He knew was precious to me.

Prior to our singing ministry  when the Lord asked us to “Sell what you have, give to the poor, and come follow me,” one of the items we took with us because no one bought it was our bedroom suite. When I mentioned to Donn that it hadn’t sold, he admitted even though it was on the “For Sale” list, he had asked the Lord to allow us to keep it because it meant a lot to him.

God doesn’t always work this way, but in each of these cases, God restored the much-loved item (s) to us after we laid them at His feet. It was our willingness to make the sacrifice that was important. This reminds me of the sacrifice God asked Abraham to make in Genesis 22, to sacrifice the son whom he loved. But after Abraham demonstrated his willingness to make the sacrifice, the angel of the Lord said, “Lay down the knife; don’t hurt the lad in any way for I know that God is first in your life—you have not withheld even your beloved son from me.” (Emphasis added.) God provided a “ram in a thicket” for the sacrifice (Genesis 22:13 TLB).

Nearly always when God requires a sacrifice, the test is to determine who or what is first in our lives. Is there anything or anyone that will stand in the way of our obedience to Him? Is there a person or thing that has become an idol─some thing or some one we think we can’t live without? Although we passed the tests of willingness to sacrifice things that were dear to us, our biggest test was yet to come.

Father, help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength without reservation, keeping you first in our hearts and lives. Amen.