by wendy | Feb 10, 2020 | Encouragement For Your Heart, Focus on God
I was recently told, by a person who has been exposed to the Word their whole life, that Scripture just doesn’t hold their attention. I can understand that – especially if it is perceived as an assigned reading that “should be done.” I can remember trying desperately to comprehend my high school history book, but no matter how many times my eyes moved over the words, my brain simply refused to enter the information. It just was not interesting to me – it seemed to have no bearing on my life.
I have, at times, felt the same way about the Bible. Rote reading that didn’t make sense and certainly didn’t seem to apply. Once I began to understand though, that Scripture is a book of stories – accounts of the lives of real people like me who struggled – reading it became a lifeline instead of a chore. Suddenly, reading the Bible illuminated the darkness of my crazy life, helped me make sense of the chaos, called me to focus on the important things, and gave me courage to keep going. Scripture not only holds my attention – it compels me!
Yesterday, I was studying our Youth Sunday School lesson. We are using The Gospel Project curriculum and it is taking us consecutively through the Bible. The current unit carries us through the Exodus and wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness. Because we have been traveling through Scripture in the order that it happened, we are invested – familiar with the whole story. We have just experienced the awesomeness of God’s power as He orchestrated the release of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity and brought them through the impossible obstacle of the Red Sea. His people have been led and protected every step of the way, but as soon as they felt some discomfort, they fell to doubt, fear, and complaining. Under the commentary in my lesson, I wrote the following message: “When we focus on the challenge, we shake in fear. When we focus on God, we are encouraged.”
That lesson resonated with me. It seemed like a phrase I might need some day to encourage someone. I closed my book and continued on with my plan for the day – a busy one full of appointments with new shops and processing orders. By the evening, I was feeling overwhelmed by the growth of my business and the increase in my responsibilities. The things I had prayed for were happening – and it was scary!
As I crawled into bed, feeling anything but relaxed, I texted with my mom. “This is stressful.”
“Just focus and trust the Lord,” she replied. Those specific words were like a flashback!
I left my bed and pulled out my notes from earlier in the day.
“When we focus on the challenge, we shake in fear. When we focus on God, we are encouraged.” I had been right – I would need those words to encourage someone – that someone was me! The lessons learned by the Israelites wandering in the wilderness were a blueprint for my own wandering. As I read their story, I am reminded about the amazing show of power, provision, and protection God has showered upon my own life. When I read about their doubt and fear, I recognize my doubt and fear. When I see the kindness and grace that God showed them over and over – the patience He displays in their hard-hearted and hard-headed struggle to move forward – well, let’s just say that I can relate.
This world can seem like a meaningless, chaotic, mess – there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t need to be encouraged. I’m thankful that we have been given a guide – not a dry, academic manual of instructions – but a narrative of grace and a reminder that the God of the Universe is alive and active and cares about me!
“Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:13-14
by wendy | Feb 10, 2020 | Encouragement For Your Heart, Trusting God
On the first day of the year, I was determined to clean out the deepest, darkest place in our home – our bedroom closet – or so I thought. It turned out that God would show us that we had deeper and darker places that needed our attention. Isn’t it just like God to use those revelations to teach us to draw closer to Him?
I started out the day with a warm shower and a hopeful motivation. I was feeling inspired to get rid of the clutter in our overstuffed closet and the driving force was the desire to find my missing slipper. I coaxed Jerry into joining me in the project and we managed to remove 4 trash bags of clothes and shoes that were headed for donation, as well as another bag that landed in the garbage. We swept away the dust that had been hiding under that clutter and found more than just the missing slipper. We felt accomplished and Jerry headed off to the shower, returning shortly to question me about why there was no water pressure.
The day quickly turned from a hopeful motivation to a desperate searching. Jerry became tense and sullen. He tested the electrical connection and found that, though power was flowing to the wire, the well pump was not working. We stood at the top of the well and looked into the hole wondering, what are we getting ourselves into? Jerry searched the Internet for answers, phoned a friend or two, and we rode silently to the home improvement store to purchase a new well pump – a big expense that wasn’t in our post-holiday budget. As we arrived at the store I asked my normally confident husband, “Are you okay?”
He surprised me with a short, “No.”
While Jerry was perusing the well pumps and scouting for the necessary tools, I wandered around the appliance section and gave him some thinking space. I sensed that this project was leaving him stumped and concerned about the expense of calling a professional. I knew he was feeling helpless and I was completely powerless to assist. “Lord,” I prayed, “Please give Jerry wisdom – and some help.”
I meandered back to the plumbing department but my husband was no longer there. I tried calling him but he didn’t answer. Finally, I located him and he was talking to someone on the phone. “We may not need to buy a well pump,” Jerry explained, “Dwayne is coming over to help.”
On the way home, I discovered that Jerry had suddenly thought to call our contractor friend to ask his opinion. It “just so happened” that Dwayne and his wife had experience with well pumps and they had the tools to do the job! When they arrived, It took 5 of us to pull the well pump 350 feet out of the hole! The guys were able to find a severed wire that had caused our pump to stop working. They patched the wire, secured it to reduce the possibility of that happening again, lowered our well pump into the ground, and we had water!
Later that evening, I asked Jerry, “What was going through your head when you said you were not okay?”
“I didn’t know how to fix the problem,” he confessed. I often brag about my husband that he can fix anything. The truth is – while he is very good at repairing many things – he can’t fix everything. My faithful man had forgotten for a brief moment that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness, and his lesson taught me just as much. When we rely on ourselves for knowledge and wisdom we will come to the end of ourselves. But when we rely on God, the author of wisdom, we will never reach the end.
Jerry and I thought that clearing clutter and dissipating dust would bring light to our deepest, darkest places, and while those were good aspirations, they merely scratched the surface. God desires to do more in our lives than clearing the clutter. He wants to reach into the depths of our hearts and pull out the frayed cords that are shorting out the lifeblood of our souls. Whatever it is that is holding you back from a complete trust in God – fear, pain, unforgiveness, bitterness – God wants to pull it up, bring it into the light, and mend it. He longs to be source of everything you need – your strength, your wisdom, your savior.
Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mindset of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
by wendy | Feb 10, 2020 | Encouragement For Your Heart, Trusting God
My pastor has been preaching through 1 & 2 Kings for a while now. The past couple of Sunday’s have been eye-opening lessons about how God “thwarts” the plans of the enemy. I have found myself on the edge of my seat, furiously scribbling notes and trying to catch every word – I NEED to hear this one! It is so easy to become wrapped up in the anxiety of the times, worried over the “what-ifs” of the day. I am a natural worrier – especially over my children – and I sometimes forget that God is in control.
Here are a couple of nuggets of precious hope I have gleaned in the recent weeks:
He (God) thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their craftiness and the schemes of the wily are swept away. Job 5:12-13
People do plan wicked things. Sometimes, others do not have my best interest at heart. BUT – I can trust that God DOES have my best interest at heart.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
This is a verse I know by heart – but sometimes I don’t believe it in my heart. I find myself wondering if God really meant this for me. It doesn’t always feel like He is giving me a hope and prospering me – but that is because I don’t see the big picture!
My pastor often reminds us that, “If God allows a wicked (painful, difficult, hard to understand) plan to succeed, it is so the best possible outcome by the best possible means achieves the highest results.” (I hope I quoted that correctly!)
I can trust that my messes and my hard times have purpose and will not be wasted!
If you – like me – find yourself in the midst of impossible situations and hopeless times, I would strongly encourage you to read the story we studied this week in 2 Kings 6:24-7:20. The people were without hope and did not think they would survive. When the king expressed this to Elisha, the prophet encouraged him to wait “one more day” to see God’s provision. The king did wait and he was not disappointed. God is faithful!
In my notes, I highlighted, “When I am empty of me that is when God shows up BIG!”
Here is the verse I am camping on this week:
What is impossible with man is possible with God. Luke 28:27
