My Place?

 I know it's been awhile since I posted (I mean like years.) I could say, "I've been sooo busy." I have but that's not a great excuse. I've been floundering a bit. I've been splitting my time between my family in one state and my friends in another state. And I have been feeling like I'm not sure I really have place. I've been asking myself, "Do I still have a place with God?"

    So, now, I'm taking a deep dive into my place with God. I know wherever I am He is there too. I like to think about Saint Patrick's prayer:

“Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.”

― Saint Patrick

    I know I'm no Paul but I can relate to what he said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:13-16

But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

    I acted ignorantly in unbelief to even wonder If I have a place with God. The grace of God is ready to overflow with and favor and agape love, and even faith produced from Christ Himself. I don't have to find my place with God. In my yielded belief, I'm surrounded and covered by God. I am most thankful for His patience toward me, because I need a lot of patience.

    Maybe you have been feeling placeless. But you are not. If you have received His salvation and grace,  God has overflowed on you. 

Christ has poured faith on you.

Christ has poured love on you.

Christ has poured salvation and mercy on you

Christ has poured His patience on you. 

Just look before you, behind you, in you, beneath you, above you, to the right of you, and to the left of you, and you will see the Glory of God. You have a place. You are in the center of God's purpose for you. 

We have a place in God.

He Found Me

He Found Me

I was sitting in my favorite nail salon with my favorite nail lady/friend discussing my upcoming mission trip. Suddenly she said, “God found you for this mission trip.” She is not originally from this country and sometimes has a little problem with English words but this really made me think. I had to agree. God did find me for this mission trip.

This is truer than I’ve ever thought before. It was an “aha” moment for me. Yes, God found me in saving me, “I once was lost but now I’m found…” But God also found me to follow Him, glorify Him, and to do His will. God did find me for this mission trip.

I never realized this in all the past mission trips, that God had picked me to go. God hand-selected this team coming from my church to go on this mission trip. We have been picked by God to do something that will have eternal value. This was not just a, “Hey, I think I’ll go on a mission trip. It’s convenient to my schedule.” It was not a random selection by God either. He didn’t say, “Hey I think I’ll let her go on a mission trip. After all, it is convenient to her schedule.” This selection by God was for a specific purpose we won’t even realize until we are back.

Wow, I am so honored that God put everything in my past to prepare me for this. But I need to look at every event in my future as a “God found me for this” moment.

In Luke 19, Jesus found Zacchaeus. Then He told everyone in verse 10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

Jesus came – He came with a purpose. He fulfilled the purpose. He brought salvation.

Jesus seeks – He searches the hearts of mankind to give a resolution to our sin problem.

Jesus saves – He rescues. He delivers. He heals. He preserves.

Jesus found me for this.

He finds.

He delivers.

He then finds us for this mission of reaching the lost.

How Are My Sheep?

God has brought something very serious to my attention. How am I using my (it’s really all His) money? I was skipping along happily through my days and not really regarding my budget. I made it years ago and was sticking to it but the circumstances of daily life have changed and I didn’t. So now I have to rethink and restructure. Is it painful? Yes.

Proverbs 27:23 - 27 Know well the condition of your flocks,and give attention to your herds,for riches do not last forever;and does a crown endure to all generations?When the grass is gone and the new growth appears and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,the lambs will provide your clothing,and the goats the price of a field.There will be enough goats’ milk for your food,for the food of your household and maintenance for your girls.

Applied to me in this modern day; I’m supposed to know the condition of my income. Like the shepherd should know each face of his flock, I’m supposed to know each line item and how much it is costing me. Because, yes, money doesn’t last forever. The writer of proverbs wants us to look ahead when the monthly money (that green grass) is gone. Does new money (new vegetation) replace it? Can I support myself with what is coming in? Can I maintain it for the year? I want the “girls” (whomever is dependent on my income) to be sustained.

Yep, I let this slip up on me. But I’m getting back to taking care of my sheep. It’s not an easy task to change a budget and stick with a new lifestyle. God, however, has so richly blessed us that we are accountable to Him to use our money not only for our household maintenance but also for the advancement of His kingdom on earth. It’s not just my personal sheep but the sheep of the world.

So with a lot of prayer and Holy Spirit intelligence (I’m not good with numbers.) I’m working out next year’s herd of sheep. I will know each fixed little sheep face. And have a better prediction of the variable sheep faces. I’ll even have to be ready for the emergency little sheep that are a bit unexpected.

It’s time to find out:

How are my sheep doing?

Desired Haven

What if you were one of Jesus’ disciples in the stormy sea when Jesus calmed the water by saying three words: “Peace, be still”? You would probably breathe a sigh of relief. Calm would probably engulf your body making your grip loosen, and your shoulders relax, and your muscles unwind. Spa time!

King David also wrote about this same scenario and the same feeling. I think that though we are not fisherwomen out on the stormy sea, we all have those moments when all we want is a little calm.

Psalm 107:23-31

Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
They saw the deeds of the LORD,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!

Those words really struck my heart as I read them this past week. I remember crying out to the Lord in my trouble and distress. I remember telling God that I felt like I was in a rushing river going toward the waterfall and all I could think of was just for God to let me pass a branch I could grab and hold onto before I went over the edge. I know that is a run on sentence but go back and read it as fast as you can and that is how I felt.

I know that I’m not the only one who has felt the storm of life.  You may have had this life hurricane and reeled and staggered your way at your wit’s end just trying to make it through the day. It’s in those times you and I cried to the Lord, “Give me a branch! Give me a branch!”

But our Lord God is greater than the storm. He doesn’t give a branch. He stops the tempest. We realize that He has delivered us to a safe harbor or our desired haven.

Our Deliverer has taken us into the middle of His love for us.

Let us always be thankful for His steadfast love in the storm and in the safe harbor.

He will deliver us to our desired haven…His arms.

Wait Like a Tree

After a friend asked me to paint a picture of a giant oak tree for her I started noticing trees. And I started thinking about trees. And I started looking at trees.

Trees are pretty wonderful. They all started from a seed, even the really big ones. Then they just grew. Rain and sun helped but mostly it was years that made the huge ones what they are today.

Years of just growing. Years of just being what God created them to be. I know it sounds a little sappy (yes, pun intended) but I never really thought about trees in the perspective of years, decades, and centuries before. With these thoughts in mind, I drove around town one day to find really large trees and wonder how long they had been there just growing and waiting.

In my quest to see giant trees I realized that God wants to take the time to make us into His ultimate design like He has taken His time with trees. He wants us to learn what doesn’t come fast and natural to us. Sin is natural for us (and fast before you realize it.) Godliness takes time. Some of us take longer than others to learn our God brought lessons. I'm glad God is a patient teacher and will pursue us even when we don’t want to pursue Him.

Trees are teaching me to wait. Trees are teaching me to look behind and see what God did with a seed like me and to look to the future to see the tree I will become. I know I’m taking the tree analogy a little too far, but when you just stop and look at trees you get the sense of the Creator and a sense of the created.

Joyce Kilmer Got it right.

Trees

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree… (skip some)

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray…(skip some)

Poems are made by fools like me

But only God can make a tree.

And looking at God all day and constantly lifting our prayers to Him is a great and glorious thing. Kind of like a tree. We wait and watch and learn and grow.

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

We can fly and run and walk unlike trees. But we must all wait. Wait for God to grow us into His likeness.

Wait like a tree.

Make Sure You’re In the Correct Line

Something wonderful happened to me when I printed out my boarding pass for a recent airline flight. It had “TSA” written at the top. I love those letters when I fly. That means I go in the short line and the whole process of check-in is so much easier. The workers don’t treat me like a would-be meanie. I always feel so intimidated and guilty when they do that. But this time I had a happy experience.

Not so for the elderly couple in front of me. They were in the TSA line but didn’t have the TSA clearance. They couldn’t understand why they had to go to the end of the other long, long line and start over. They were surprised and shocked. I mean, really, who would suspect these people? There they stood with shoes in hand, one carry-on apiece, and a little baggie of liquids. Weren’t they doing every right? Yes. Did they meet the demands of airport security? No.

I thought of That Day when Jesus lines us up to be evaluated to enter His kingdom.

(Jesus said) Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from Me, You workers of lawlessness.” Matthew 7:21-23

You see? It’s not what you have done for Jesus. It’s what Jesus has done for you. God the Father’s will is that you accept the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as atonement for you sin and surrender yourself to His leading in your life. You can’t do works, no matter how wonderful, to earn that.

The elderly couple was not in the correct line. They didn’t meet the standard, no matter how much work they had done to follow the rules. They had to go in the other line.

Without Christ’s salvation accepted there is no entrance in heaven, not matter how many wonderful Godly works you have done.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

It’s not “TSA.” It’s “HAS” – Heavenly Admittance Security

Make sure you’re in the correct line.

Cell Phone Trouble

I’m still in awe of modern electronics. Our cell phones have come a long way. Yes, cell phones are great…until you have a problem with them.

Cell phone trouble sent me to the cell phone technology help store. My phone wouldn’t hold a charge, any calls to me went straight to voice mail, I had no audio notifications that I had incoming calls or texts, and my calls out took so long to connect that sometimes my phone just dropped it, and just forget my outgoing text deliveries.

The kind young tech girl quickly found the problem. She said that every time my phone was used it had to do a search for a server. “But I have a server,” I said. “Yes,” she answered, “But your phone has to recognize it each time. It’s not the server; it’s the phone not having a consistent connection to the server.” And she fixed that.

Suddenly, my battery had longer life, all calls and texts were coming and going with speed, and all the pings and dings I programmed into my phone to let me know I had current information were pinging and dinging.

And I realized that, boy howdy, there’s a spiritual lesson for me here.

Stay consistently connected to God (the server.)

It’s not the server’s fault that I’m disconnected. It’s my fault.

R. A. Torry (A pretty famous evangelist, church and college starter of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) wrote it this way in His book, The Power of Prayer.

The people of Isaiah’s time were saying, “God does not answer prayer any longer. He may have answered in Moses’s days. He may have answered in the days of Elijah, but He does not answer any longer. Either His ear is heavy that it cannot hear, or His hand is shortened that it cannot save.”

“No, no,” said Isaiah, “The Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save: neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear. (Isa. 59:1-2) The trouble is not with God. The trouble is with you. Your sins have separated between you and God…If you are praying for something and not getting it, I beg you, do not think that God does not answer prayer…God may be dealing with you. He may be trying to bring you to your senses and to Himself. Get alone with God and honestly ask Him to show you if there is something wrong in your heart and life...When He shows you, set it straight at once. You will find an open heaven and a God who answers prayer.

Well said, R.A. Well said.

Stay connected to God by taking care of your sin.

And you will have constant  and consistent access to the Father.