So Thankful

I love this time of the week when I can sit down and express in words how thankful I am for the many, many blessings God has given to me. My mind is full of many things this week, so I thought I'd just list them out (I promise I won't list them all... it could get lengthy! After all, God is so very good!)

• Safe travels - I have traveled much, much more than usual this year with my job.  God has kept me safe each and every time.  Additionally, as I've watched many of my co-workers experience all sorts of travel delays, I have only had one and I believe it was only about a 45 minute delay.  Woo-hoo!  This one is particularly great when it's time to catch that plane home each week... the quicker the airline gets me home, the better! :)
• Great neighbors - tonight while I am again out of town, my husband had a work emergency that needed to handled outside of normal business hours.  One of our terrific neighbors watched both kids while he was gone, took them to their swimming lessons, and then on to McDonald's for dinner.
• Bible Studies with friends - this same neighbor invited me several weeks ago to join her and two other neighbors in a Bible Study that is led and hosted by a friend. It is a group of women (I think total is around 25) from around our community that last year started a summertime Bible Study.  I was unable to join the first couple of weeks as I was out of town one week and helping with VBS at our church last week.  I'll be able to join this next week and I am really looking forward to participating.
• Long weekends - I am so looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend.  A great time to relax and enjoy family and friends as we celebrate the freedoms we have in our country.

Last, but most certainly not the least (this clearly should be before my list instead of after!), I am so thankful for my God.  He strengthens me, protects me, comforts me, and always loves me regardless of the day, the situation, or the struggles.


What are you thankful for today? Join us in sharing our thanksgivings this week by visiting Lynn at "Spiritually Unequal Marriage".

Sleeping thru the Storm

"But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship's cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. The ship's captain approached him and said, "What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not die!" The sailors said to one another, "Come on, let's cast lots to find out whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us." So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out." Jonah 1:4-7

I've always wondered how Jonah could possibly sleep thru a storm of this magnitude.  The winds are howling and the boat is being tossed wildly to and fro.  The sailors are scared, tossing the ship's cargo overboard and calling out to their gods to save them.

Yet, thru it all, Jonah continues to sleep.  Maybe because the storm was nothing in comparison to the battle Jonah was fighting within? Perhaps sleep was Jonah's way of "turning off" the storm raging inside him as he tried to run as far from God as he could?

We'll never know for sure why Jonah was able to sleep, but it does serve as an analogy of how many Christians carelessly sleep each day.  Here's a few examples I found while reading more on this scripture at Enduring Word:

· Jonah slept where he hoped he would not be found -- the sleeping Christian tries to hide at church
· Jonah slept in a place where he couldn't help with the work to be done -- the sleeping Christian will stay away from the work of God
· Jonah slept during a prayer meeting up on the deck -- sleeping Christians don't like attending prayer meetings.
· Jonah slept with no idea of the problems around him -- sleeping Christians don’t know what is going on
· Jonah slept when he was in great danger -- sleeping Christians are in danger and don't even know it
· Jonah slept while the heathen needed him -- sleeping Christians sleep on while the world needs their message and testimony


I read thru these and find myself really trying to see if I fall into any of these areas.  I know I'm not as open and aware to the world around me.  I want to be... I really do.  It will be something to pray about in the days ahead.

Let's not be a sleeping Christian in a world that needs our Lord so very much!  Let's pray and seek God and allow Him to "wake us up" and lead us where we can share His undying love, His grace, His mercy, and His hope to the world we live in today.

Friendships from God

Living in Kansas City as a college student and young adult, God gave me the best group of friends. We all met at church and we hung out together, graduated together (well, not literally, as we went to different colleges), experienced our first "real" jobs together, grew in our Christian walk together, some of us got married, some even had children during that time. And some of us, including myself, moved to other parts of the country.  As we moved, we did so knowing we had the best group of friends that thought of us, prayed for us and supported us in our new journeys.

Over the years, we've not kept in touch well. Which, in my case, is almost shameful as one of these great friends lives only an hour or so away from me. We both admit to being quite poor at keeping in touch. :)

As I've grown older and experienced many life changes -- dating, marriage, children, jobs, etc -- I've learned that friendships sometimes are harder to make as we grow older. And, many times, are different.  In many cases, friends you have as a couple are different than friends when you are single and so on.  And, quite honestly, I've mourned that fact over the last couple of years. I have many friends, but none like those dear friends from my young adulthood.

A month or so ago, I was bemoaning this fact to my husband. He gently reminded me of all the friends I do have and how special each one is, but I wanted that "special" friendship.  In that moment, I wanted what I wanted and nothing he could say made me feel any better.

The next weekend I dug my cell phone out from where it is usually buried deep in my purse and found a message left by the friend I mentioned earlier that only lives about an hour away. Carla had left a message to let me know that another friend from this same group was coming to town in a few weeks and would I be around to be spend some time together? Would I be around??!! You bet... no matter what!

As they pulled into our driveway last Saturday, it was like there had been no time since we had last seen each other. I hadn't seen Carla in almost two years and Betty I hadn't seen in 12 years. It was if those years didn't exist.

As the three of us, along with my husband and children and Betty's newly adopted son, sat around and talked and laughed and shared and laughed some more, God gently reminded that I DID have special, dear friends. I already had the friendships that I had been asking God for over the last few years.  

What I needed to do was to BE a friend and keep in touch.  I live in a large metropolitan area where a one hour drive is nothing.  Why am I not spending more time with Carla that lives that distance from me?  Betty lives in another state, but in this age of technology how hard is it to pick up a phone, type an email, or send a text message?

So, this week, I am thankful for wonderful and dear friends that are with me where ever I go. They may not be physically nearby or a part of my daily life, but they are there and I need to protect those friendships, nurture them and not let them slip away.

I'm also thankful for such a sweet reminder from God that He has already answered my prayer and did so many years ago when I was first setting out on my own. He gave me a very, very special gift in this group of friends.  Friends that I found I am as close to today as we were when we first met over 20 years ago.



What are you thankful for today? Join us in sharing our thanksgivings this week by visiting Iris at "Grace Alone.... ".

Running Away

So, last week I just kind of jumped into this full force.  I asked myself, and you, some rather tough questions....

"Would we be willing to take God's word to our mightiest of enemies?"
"Would we follow God's calling no matter where it led?"
"Would we go no matter how scarry it may seem?"

I started here primarily because it's where I was as I began studying the first chapter of Jonah. I couldn't help but question myself as to whether or not I would follow in the same type of situation. Would I go to such an evil city and share God's word, or would I be so scared to follow that I would run in the complete opposite direction facing other fears along the way?


In the first three verses of the book of Jonah, we find God speaking to Jonah regarding the journey to Ninevah.

The Lord said to Jonah son of Amittai, "Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention." Instead, Jonah immediately headed off to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the Lord. He traveled to Joppa and found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3


A few interesting tidbits I found as I studied these verses.....

• In the Hebrew, God is literally commanding Jonah to "arise".  However, if we read in the King James translation of Jonah 1:3, we find that Jonah "rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."  That's right, Jonah did "rise up" as God commanded, but he rises up to then go DOWN to Joppa and DOWN into the boat.  The words paint a good picture of the situation, don't they?
• For an Israelite, Joppa represented the edge of the earth.  Additionally, many people of this time were fearful of the sea.  So, for Jonah to run to Joppa and then to also get on a boat showed the total deperation and desire to escape that was felt by Jonah.

As I read it struck me for the first time how completely desperate Jonah was to do ANYTHING if it meant he wouldn't wind up in Ninevah.  Oh, I realized he wanted nothing to do with Ninevah, but he faced some pretty big fears in where and how he chose to run, as well.  That was the part that I really hadn't thought about previously

I keep going over that in my mind.  So afraid to follow God as to be willing to face other fears. 

Fears that are completely unnecessary to face if I follow God. 

Fears that are completely unnecessary to face if I trust God and believe that he only has my best interests in mind.


If I truly believe the words of Jeremiah 29:11, do I turn the opposite direction and run as far away as I can get from God?

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

I can't tell you how often this has replayed in my mind over the last week or so.  We humans tend to not react completely rationally when we are scared.  Therefore, it is possible that I would run away from God and wind up facing fears that are alot bigger than where God is leading.
The one thing I keep coming back to over and over and over again, though, is this.....  if I believe all that I say I believe about God, and if I fully trust that He means what He says, then I will follow regardless. 

If I have a relationship with Him and keep Him as my priority, then I won't question and I won't risk falling prey to those very human tendencies to run away.  I will follow. 

Yes, I will probably be scared and there is a good chance that in the beginning I won't want any part of it.

But, if it is God leading, then He will show the way, he will carry the fears and the worries, and He will lead me to where I should go.  He will guide me and direct me and show me the joys to be had by making the journey.

Thankful

"How marvelous it is that God became a man and walked among us. Had He not chosen to do so, we might feel removed from a distant Creator. But ours is not a distant God. Ours is a God who understands -- far better than we ever could -- the essence of what it means to be human.

God understands our hopes, our fears, and our temptations. He understands what it means to be angry and what it costs to forgive. He knows the heart, the conscience, and the soul of every person who has ever lived, including you. And God has a plan of salvation that is intended for you. Accept it. Accept God's gift through the person of His Son Christ Jesus, and then rest assured: God walked among us that you might have eternal life; amazing though it may seem, He did it for you".


These are the words that greeted me a few mornings ago as I sat down for my morning devotional. The thought is one that I have had often over the last year or so... how blessed we are to have a God that doesn't just know how we feel, but has experienced and understands those same feelings.
It is so comforting to know that my God that I turn to in times of fear, in times of sorrow, and in times of happiness has experienced those same feelings. For that, I am thankful!!


What are you thankful for today? Join us in sharing our thanksgivings this week by visiting Iris at "Grace Alone.... ".