Sledding

Are we doing what God wants us to do?  Are we where He wants us to be?  How do we know?  I thought I was doing what He wanted; Going to church, working in the church, being a compassionate person and trying to help others.  I could feel Him telling me this way or that way.  I could hear Him!  I feel like I am in the center of His will but it doesn’t seem like I am getting anywhere.  It’s like the saying 2 steps forward and 1 step back.  I don’t really feel like I am going backwards but it feels like I am just stagnant. Sitting here doing what He tells me but I am not going anywhere.  I can tell you, I don’t like this feeling.  Is this where we “wait upon the Lord”?  I want to see miracles!  I want to know and feel that I am making a difference in the world!  I want to feel the hand of God on my life.  He is working things out for me, but do you ever get frustrated at how long it’s taking?  I sure do!  I am ready now!  I want to get on with life.   It’s so easy to get lost in memories and before I know it I am sucked into “why?  What was the point?”  I have many ghosts in my house!  It’s a big scary lonely place.  Even when it’s full of people, it’s big and lonely!  Or maybe it’s just me that’s full of ghosts and lonely.  I have friends and I can call them night or day, and I do!  But the loneliness almost is unexplainable.  It goes all the way to the soul.  So I do what the Bible says.

Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV)

¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

My heart feels empty sometimes. Even knowing all I know about Jesus and His love for me, I still feel empty!  Sometimes!

 Apparently God is trying to teach me a lesson, yes another one!

James 1:2-3 (NIV)

Trials and Temptations

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance

He gives me this verse as a warning.  He is telling me to buckle up because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.  Things are coming my way; maybe not so pleasant things.  All different kinds of trials.  Sunday night as I read this verse I could just feel the Holy Spirit saying, “You know it’s coming, wait for it, wait for it!”  Then BAM!  So He does give me warning, which I have to say, in my life, I am beginning to expect the worse at every turn.  But I do learn valuable lessons through it.  And it only takes one time…lesson learned. 

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms

I am fortunate to have many friends, many spiritual friends that listen to God and the Holy Spirit.  They use their gifts and I am blessed by them. He tells me things through them as well.  So to all my friends, thank you!  Thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you.  And thank you for taking what God has given you and running with it.  Using it!  Sometimes it’s just one word that makes a difference.

James 1:22 (NIV)

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

We have to do more than listen, opening our ears, we must DO!  With our heart, our hands and feet!  And in doing the things the Bible says, we also get this warning.

James 1:19 (NIV)

Listening and Doing

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

With the warning on Sunday, that yes, many trials were coming my way, I have to say, I was prepared.  I prayed before I went to bed, when I got up, even during the night.  At work- all day!  So I was not surprised.  And I thanked God!  For the warning and the trial.  But how easy it would’ve been to not look at it as a lesson learned.  So easy to get angry and create a “hazardous” atmosphere.  So I listened and I did speak-I mean really?  Y’all know me!  But that anger thing, the old me would’ve become very angry but because I have Jesus and He lives in me I let Him war it out for me!  So today, this morning as I look out my window and see the fresh white snow falling all around, I am thankful!  Thankful for God’s grace and how it pours down on me just when I need it, just as the snow falls!  I am thankful for His hand in my life, and on my mouth, warning me of the many trials that are coming but also thankful that He has given His word, the Bible, to handle whatever comes my way.

In the Bible Paul encourages Timothy not to give up, second guess his calling, or let anyone look down on him because he is young. 

1 Timothy 4:12 (NIV)

¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

According to Paul, Timothy is God’s man for the job, and God will be with him no matter how difficult that job may get.  It’s the same way with us.  God has given each one of us a job.  We have to sometimes, “wait for it, wait for it-----then BAM!”  We are gonna say, Oh yeah, I get it.  And no matter what comes our way, He will go with us.  He has equipped us to do what He wants us to do, so do IT!  Don’t disappoint Him.  Step out on Faith.  Imagine a fresh field of snow blanketing the ground.  You head up the hill with sled in hand.  You reach the top and all you see for miles are hills and valleys-up and down-you get on your sled.  One foot over the sled and you sit, you are ready to push off and go down that first hill.  That’s just like faith.  We are ready to push off and go down that first hill.  There are going to be many ups and downs, but just like with the sled, you may have to get off and pull or push through an occasional valley and up the hill.  But the ride down, my friend, is what makes it all worth it!

Today as you watch the snow, if you are young enough, and crazy enough, get out and take your sled down a hill!  But just remember you will have to pull it back up just to do it all over again.

1 John 4:13-15 (NIV)

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

Luke 6:35 (ESV)

³⁵ But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.