What’s Keeping You from Reaching Your Destination? Pt. 2
By Drenda Keesee
If you didn’t read about our first two attempts at getting a taxi to the train station in Japan, you need to get caught up here.
So, there we were—running short on time and without a ride to the airport. They said it would be an hour until the next taxi could get to our location.
We didn’t have an hour.
I started praying in the spirit and saying, “Okay, Lord, I trust you.”
Four or five minutes passed, and the third taxi driver showed up.
He was as kind as possible. He quickly put our luggage in the taxi just as I would’ve loaded it. He even came prepared with bungee cords so he didn’t have to shut the trunk completely. And the entire time he was loading our luggage, he was…
…apologizing that he was taking too long. Kirsten and I were stunned. He had loaded the luggage in just seconds!
He got us to the train station in time and the fare cost us half of what it had cost the night before—just $5.
I told Kirsten to give him a $25 tip.
He didn’t want to take it.
He finally took it and got out and unloaded all of our luggage.
Then he bowed.
Then we bowed.
Then he bowed. And we bowed again. We all kept bowing.
He watched us as we went into the train station, and we kept looking back and bowing.
And that’s when I heard God say, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”
And I realized at that moment just how God must feel about those that have a servant’s heart; those who have a heart to do what’s right; those who are humble and gentle.
The driver of the third taxi was faithful. He was kind. He wasn’t even looking for the reward, but he got the reward. In fact, he got an even bigger reward!
That’s how God feels about you when you have a right heart, when you manage your thoughts, when you think His thoughts.
The Bible says it’s God’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
The three taxi drivers really gave me great perspective.
How many times have you done something half-heartedly like the first driver? How often do you get caught up in the routine of your everyday life and get distracted from your purpose?
How many times have you lost your temper or treated someone unkindly like the second driver? How often do you think about getting even with people?
We’re supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus—saving and serving the world. We’re called to be servants.
But you can short-circuit the work of God in your life by allowing your heart to get out of line. Sure, you’re going to blow it sometimes. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to have opportunities to get offended and to offend others.
But you need to do your best to guard your heart, manage your thoughts, and manage your emotions.
You can have an attitude of joy and gratitude. You can have a clear vision of what God has for your life.
You just have to stay focused on your destination.
It’s God joy to reward you when you do. And it will be well worth it.
Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.
A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.
Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.
Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage and family. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide, and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary, and Drenda.
Through their own life experiences, the Keesees have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.
That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.
She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.
Gary and Drenda pastor Faith Life Church at The Now Center in New Albany, Ohio and also are the CEOs of Forward Financial Group.
