The End of the Rope

Sandy Taylor recently received a ministry email from Wycliffe missionaries to Papua New Guinea, Jim and Cindi Farr. They ended with these thoughts written by Carol Jean Gallagher:

"I have always been one who could do almost anything I put my mind to
(except maybe sports). I got good grades, made it through SIL school, did
POC with a 4-month-old baby, learned a language, (helped) set up a
preschool curriculum for the Bariai people, did Scripture Use activities
for the Bariai and the PNG Branch, home schooled our kids at various times,kept our finances and life organized and made sure we had what we needed every time we traveled to the village. I was able to do it all.

"For the past few years, though, I have been finding it harder and harder to do it all - at least with peace and joy. Dealing with or avoiding stress
has been a big part of life. A few weeks ago (while on furlough, after a
move, but before I got sick with malaria and appendicitis), I cried out to God, 'I'm at the end of my rope.' Almost immediately I sensed God saying,
'You're not at the end of your rope. I'm your rope, and I have no end.' It
didn't change circumstances, but it gave me hope. I kept pondering that
thought over the next weeks.

"Then God built on it with the following thought, "If you're at the end of
your rope, you’re hanging onto the wrong rope." There really are two ropes. For years, I’ve been hanging onto the rope of "self." Being at the end of my rope is exactly where God wants me. I need to let go of that rope and hang onto God. I have the choice. I can either keep hanging onto my own efforts, or I can let go and hang onto God.

"Lately I'm realizing how worthless my own rope is. Who knows how many years I've been at the end of the rope and haven’t even known it. I've been counting on my grip on the knot on the end of the rope to keep me going. God has been unraveling that knot until there’s nothing to grip anymore. I'm starting to get a picture of God's rope. It's not just a rope to cling to, hoping I don't fall off. God is holding me on. Or rather, I'm actually wrapped inside the rope. It's a comforting place. I feel the rope swaying in the winds, but I don't need to fear; I'm wrapped in the rope. As I allow it, God works the fibers of the rope (himself) into my very being. I'm still learning. I know my trust in him will be tested and temptations to turn to myself will be many. There is a place for our efforts, but only through the power of Christ. Hopefully I'll put these things into practice in my life and learn to work them out in practical ways."

Hopefully, we will too.