I have been thinking about this for a long time, and meant to write it here, but I never got around to it.  A friend emailed me recently and I wrote him a reply, the significant portions I have reproduced here.

God really does want us to abandon all and serve Him with everything in our being.  However, many people go off the deep end in a direction that He would not have them go.  I see some of those here.  The key is to figure out what He is saying.  John 10:4 has been really help for me, because I often wonder, “What would God have me do?”

“And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” NKJV

It is our job as sheep to know His voice. Before we go anywhere, we need to learn how He talks to us.  Every day, every moment, where is the shepherd?  I often feel like the lost sheep, but He promises to go after us.

It has been a real joy living here.  At first the prospect of living in the midst of such poverty was a bit scary.  I knew, living so close to Kibera, that people were going to be coming by all the time asking for money.  I hate that.  I used to hate that.  On the advice of another missionary, I see each of those circumstances a chance to see “where the shepherd is.” I try to understand what the Holy Spirit is telling me to do, just at that time.  Should I give a job, food, milk, money, or not?  Eventually that kind of thinking starts to invade (in a good way) the rest of your life.  God is always there, we just act like we have to go somewhere to see Him.

Abandon all and follow the Shepherd.  You will not regret it.  I cannot give you that guarantee, but then it would not mean anything coming from me.  Take it from Him.