Simple Truths and Amazing Grace

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.     Ephesians 3:20 NLT

God.

He’s got it under control. 

ALL of it. 

Why do I struggle and stress and worry so much, when I know this to be so true?  I amaze myself sometimes!

The Lord has been taking me through a season of learning to trust Him more fully.  I haven’t necessarily been the best student…

I am so prone to over-think things, analyzing situations and circumstances from every conceivable angle, considering every imaginable outcome, and generally just concluding that I need to be prepared for the worst-case-scenario, because that’s most likely what will happen.

Some would classify that as “pessimism.”  I like to think of it as “realism.”  The truth of the matter, though, is that it is unbelief.  God calls that “sin.”

He has repeatedly told me in His Word of His nature.  He is good.  He is a loving Father.  He IS LOVE! 

And He provides. 

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.     Philippians 4:19 ESV

Ask, and it will be given to you…     Matthew 7:7a ESV

You do not have, because you do not ask.     James 4:2b ESV

If I can believe so many amazing things about God, why do I struggle so with this one thing?  (Not my only struggle, mind you, but a big one…)

I just got a message from my husband.  A need that I had not yet given to God in prayer is already being met.  Very tangibly and specifically, a need that has been running around in my head for about twenty-four hours is already being met with God’s provision.

I am a little ashamed to admit that I hadn’t yet asked God for this need.  I’ve sure been asking Him about a lot of other stuff.  I’ve been wondering if He would take care of these other things that seem to me very urgent.  Hour by hour I am having to consciously turn those concerns back over to God after letting my mind drift back to trying to figure out the answers for myself.  And while I’m doing that, He’s already taking care of the thing that I hadn’t brought to Him yet. 

He’s reminding me again of simple truths and amazing grace.

So here I am, confessing my unbelief, humbled again at the goodness of my God.

Perhaps you, too, have things on your mind that have kept you distracted and concerned.  It may be that you also struggle with anxiety and worry.  Maybe, you’re an analyst like me, and you just can’t figure out how it’s all going to work.

I hope I can encourage you today.  Confess the unbelief.  Turn those concerns over to your loving heavenly Father.  Then let it go. 

Rest in the knowledge that He truly does have it all under control.

…Just a thought…

Simply Trust and Fear Not

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?     Matthew 6:27 ESV

Fear.

Fear is a very real problem in our world today.  To be sure, we are living in crazy uncertain times.  There’s a pandemic.  There is questionable leadership worldwide.  War.  Fuel concerns.  And every day, we’re all getting older, which brings each of us a unique set of fears and worries.

I’m not here to make anyone feel badly about their own fears…

On Tuesday I had a close encounter of my own.  I was in the fitness center, sweating like crazy on the treadmill.  My alarm went off, telling me it was time to go check the laundry in the next building over.  So, off I went to move the clothes, hoping to not lose too much momentum along the way as I hoped to continue my workout.  What I discovered was that the outside air was actually much cooler than the air inside the fitness center.  So I moved the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and decided to set off on an outdoor run.  As I was enjoying (translation: huffing and puffing and gasping for air) my run along the waterfront road, I saw up ahead that there was a bird.  It was a large bird.  It looked to be as tall as I am!  I ran a few more steps toward it, thinking it would go on about its way and move, but instead it seemed to be staring me down, daring me to come closer.  I made a quick left turn, and finished my run and my laundry without further incident.

All of that to say that I tend to be a bit of a coward at heart.  This new addition to the wildlife encounters I’ve had on my runs over the years notwithstanding, courage is not my strong suit.  In my head, I know that had I continued down my original path, Big Bird probably would have moved along, or even if he had stayed right where he was, I likely would have just run on past without incident.  But in spite of that knowledge, I allowed fear to change my course.

I think this is a common theme in the world today.  Many people are allowing fear to dictate their course in life. 

I am among those people.  I worry way too much.  I don’t really worry about the pandemic, other than to be concerned at how a virus is being used to manipulate and control.  But I worry about other things – my family, finances, incredibly large fowl…

But I serve a God who repeatedly tells me to, “Fear not!”

Life on earth is uncertain.  It always has been.  It always will be.

I do not know how many days the Lord has allotted me to live on this planet.  What I do know is that I don’t want to waste a single one of them. 

Fear wastes my time and energy.  That’s why I’m trying to make a point of reminding myself to “fear not.”

I’d like to think that most people are just doing their best to respond to the scary happenings of the world today.  I think that’s great.  I believe that the Lord put brains in our heads and gave us the ability to think and reason so that we would apply those skills to life.

Instead of assuming that the people with whom we may disagree are ill-intentioned, what if we were to begin to operate from the place of believing the best in others?  (I actually believe that most people who fall on the same side of the issues as I do are already taking this approach, but it is not reciprocated.  I don’t know how we fix this, other than simply to pray for eyes and hearts open to the Gospel message.) 

We just must always be careful that in our efforts to stand for truth that we stand in humility and compassion.  We need not compromise, but we must be kind.

Life is risky. 

Trust God.

And be careful.

…Just a thought…

Almost There

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.     Exodus 15:13 ESV  

This line was from a song that Moses composed.  You might think that this would be a song sung when the Israelites came into the Promised Land.  It was not.

This was the song of the people when they had just crossed the Red Sea.  They were on the edge of the wilderness, just beginning their journey.  I don’t suppose they realized at that point that they were heading into the wilderness.  All they knew was that in just a very short time, they had seen the Lord miraculously deliver them from slavery in Egypt and  - no less miraculously – they had seen the Red Sea split and they had walked through on dry ground and been delivered from the Egyptians a second time.

They had a great celebration, singing, dancing and praising God!  This was a people who obviously understood what a great God they had!

Or, maybe not.

After this big party, Moses sets out to lead the people to the land of abundance the Lord has promised them.  Three days into the journey, they began to grumble.   Three days!  All it took to move the children of Israel from praise to complaint was three days and some bitter water.

We look at this and roll our eyes, berating the people for their lack of faith.  We think that they should have remembered the miracles they’d just witnessed, and simply trusted God.  We are certain that had we been in their sandals, that’s what we would have done.  We would have patiently trusted in the God who split the sea!

But probably not.

We tend to be so like the children of Israel – the freed captives.

We seem to have this inner sense of entitlement that thinks that life should be easy.  Easier, at least.

Actually, from the beginning, God wanted a different life for us.  He did not want us to be “entitled.”  God designed us for contentment. 

In Eden, God’s intent was that Adam and Eve would tend the garden, and enjoy its produce as they rested in fellowship with Him.  God never intended that they would be idle, but He did not want them to struggle.  He wanted them to enjoy life!

But, the enemy entered the picture, and contentment turned to entitlement, and sin.

Contentment understands, “God will provide all that I need.”

Entitlement, on the other hand, suggests, “God let you down.  He’s actually got more, but He’s selfish and hasn’t given it to you.”

We may not really say that with our words, but isn’t that actually what we’re saying with our faithlessness?  On some level, don’t we sometimes think that God is holding out on us?

The Israelites thought that.

They had seen God move in mighty ways, but three days without finding water led the people to doubt God.  Then at Marah they found water, but it was bad.  And so they grumbled.

God provided, again, and He made a way for the water to become good.

This was a teaching moment.  Exodus 15:25 says, “There the Lord… tested them.”   It was not by accident that the water was bitter.  It was a divine invitation to trust the goodness of God.

And even though the people initially failed the test, God still made them a promise.  He told the people that if they would simply follow after Him, listening to His voice and obeying His commandments, He would protect them from disease.  God offered them a simple path to health and healing.

And then He took them to Elim.  Twelve springs of good water and a lovely place to camp were waiting for them there.

God could have taken the people straight to Elim.  They could have bypassed Marah altogether.  But the Lord wanted them to understand His nature.  He wanted them to trust in what they knew – not just in what they saw.

I don’t know what struggle you’re facing today.  I’ll bet it’s not three days without actual water, but maybe you feel like you’re in a dry spell.  Maybe you’re face-to-face with a bitter circumstance, and you feel like God let you down.

Trust what you know to be true.  Your heavenly Father already has a plan to make the bitter water sweet.  Listen to His voice.  Obey His commandments. 

Follow Him.

You don’t realize it yet, but you’re almost to Elim!

 

…Just a thought…

Full Circle

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.”     Jeremiah 29:10

Sometimes God’s promises take time.  That’s the condensed version of what the Lord has put on my heart today.  His timing is not my timing.  His promises will be fulfilled.  It will happen in HIS time.

You can stop reading right there if you'd like.  The rest is mostly my rambling my way back to that conclusion - that God's timing and mine are different.  Or feel free to continue.  All the gory details are below:

In 2012, we unplugged the J2911 bus and moved south.  We came with big dreams and high hopes.  We were ill-prepared for what we would find. 

Initially, I was thrilled to be back in sunny Florida, in the land of my birth.  We found a great little campground near the shore, needing a place to stay for a couple of weeks while we looked for a home.  I anticipated going to work within a few days, expecting that with my skill set, finding gainful employment would be a cinch.  I had picked out the car that I wanted to buy, as we would need two vehicles to get around.  Life was looking great!

July 2012

Soon thereafter, life was not looking great.  We were broke.  I could not find work.  We could not afford a home.  The campground was substantially raising their rates in anticipation of the snowbird migration, so we would have to move.  (And I’d suffered an abscessed tooth, further depleting our resources and optimism.)  And on top of that, we had not been able to find a local church, and we had no support system locally.

As the dreams began to die, a college friend of my brother was contacted, and arrangements were made for us to move our bus to a “senior” manufactured housing development and live there for a few months.  In other words, we went to live at the old folks’ trailer park.

Jeff and I both eventually found work, neither of us making much more than minimum wage.  Jeff had to drop out of flight school, because we could not afford it any longer.  Millie spent her days confined to the interior of the bus, independently working her way through her junior year of high school, waiting for me to get home in the afternoons to answer any questions that came up.  We seldom ventured outdoors during daylight hours, as young people and big dogs were technically not welcome at the trailer park, and the anticipation of the scowls we would encounter was often enough to keep us inside.

To say that was a hard year would be an understatement.  Discouragement and disillusionment set in quickly and deeply.  The isolation was almost unbearable at times.  But we pressed on.

In due time – several months after the move – I got up very early on a Saturday morning to try to get some groceries first thing before the stores got crowded.  I arrived, only to find out that they didn’t even open until 9:00 and it was barely 8.  So, since it was Saturday, I figured I’d go try to find a yard sale to explore.  I had a whopping three or four dollars in my purse!

It took a few minutes for me to get my bearings, as I was still relatively new to the neighborhood.  Eventually, I chased a yard sale sign to a church in a warehouse-looking building.  I had no trouble spending the entirety of the little cash I had!

Something very exciting happened that day, besides adding another pair of shoes to my wardrobe.  I was invited to church!  The significance of that simple invitation restored for me the tiniest bit of hope.  You see, in the 3-4 months we’d been in Florida, no one had invited us to church.  There were churches everywhere, but we’d not gotten a single invitation.

We struggled through another nine months or so in St. Petersburg.  It never really got any easier.  The neighbors never accepted us at the trailer park.  I learned to navigate public transportation, the cute little car a distant dream.  And we got connected in that little church from the yard sale.  Then, Jeff had an opportunity to accept a promotion at work if we would relocate to North Carolina, and we were gone.

Fast forward, 7 ½ years.  Mostly hard years.  Seven more locations.  A lot of changes.

And here we are, full circle.  Back in the Tampa Bay area.  Back in a house with wheels attached.  Back in an old people’s trailer park (technically, this one is considered an “RV resort for active seniors,” but the view is all too familiar).

Today's view

When I realized where we were going to be moving, I may have had a little meltdown. (And I may or may not be having another one as I sit here putting this all into words!)  But I have a hope from the Lord.  It was not some great word, or tangible confirmation.  But there was a gentle whisper. 

“It will be different.” 

In this season that feels all too familiar in many ways, the Lord has reminded me that it is different.  That is (at least partially) what I believe He wants to teach me in this season.

We’re not so isolated this time.  Our friends live in their RV right across the street from us.  And the other neighbors have been reasonably friendly in the three days we’ve been here.  It probably helps that we don’t have a big dog and a teenager living at home, and that we’re technically not far off from qualifying as “active seniors” (which I refuse to think about for very long!).

That car that I dreamed of buying those 7 ½ years ago is the car I now drive.  It’s a different color than I was dreaming of years ago, but I feel so blessed when I get to drive it.  It serves as a tangible reminder that my God cares even about my silly dreams.  He reminds me that His timing is so very different from mine!

May 2019

We went back to our church Sunday.  I barely recognized it!  That little church where we met with maybe 100-150 people on a good day when we last lived in the area now holds two services each Sunday with over 800 people in attendance!  I barely recognized the place!  I was in awe at the work the Lord has done in that no-longer-little church over these past 7 ½ years!

And there was that gentle whisper again.  “What I have done in that church, I am able to do in your life.  I want to grow you, and bless you, and expand your reach.” 

It was not a tangible, spoken word – just an understanding spoken into my heart.  It’s a call to worry less and trust more.  A call to focus and do the work that is in my heart to do, and to dream bigger as I do the work.  The same God Who did not stop with just filling up a little church sanctuary, but Who tore down walls and turned the church on end to reach more people in Pinellas County, Florida is the same God who brought me back to the hard place to remind me that He does all things well – in His time.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.     Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV

I don’t really know what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to happen, or how long it will take.  But I serve a God who does know.  He’s good.  And I can trust Him.  So really, that is all I need to know.

…Just a thought…