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curlygirl428
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Name: L
Gender: Female
Interests: Jesus, dog agility, finding good hair product...
Expertise: Kids and dogs
Occupation: Elementary School Teacher
Industry: Creating life-long learners
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/25/2007
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| God IS good... right? I know that He is. Deep down in my knower, I know it.
My sister just sold her house which is awesome because they are moving into their new one next weekend and who wants two payments? Not to mention the fact that their insurance company wouldn't cover the unoccupied house, and now when we move them next weekend, we can move all of their stuff, not just some of their stuff and leave the old house 'staged'. And the woman who wants the house has a nine month old baby girl so the nursery that I painted with teddy bears and butterflies won't likely get painted over. (The room is really cute and neither my sister, my niece, nor I want to see it go!) I ask the question only because my sister's house selling is just another bitter sweet thing that's happening. It's the final thing in almost a year's worth of prayers for them about buying and selling a house, and the Lord has blessed them and answered their prayers. The house they've bought ended up in foreclosure (though they tried to buy it before that) and they got a great deal on it... to the point they already have equity in it; they just got the keys two weeks ago. Their current house has been on the market for less than a month, they got an offer on it today, and the buyer wants to close in two weeks. Suddenly, everything is wrapped up all nice and neat.
Another friend has recently gotten engaged to a guy that she met on the internet... on a free ten day trial. I mean, they didn't get engaged after ten days, they just exchanged information during those ten days. And now they'll be getting married just before my birthday. I'm excited for her, though I'll miss her terribly since she'll be moving 400 miles away. This is something she's prayed for and longed for years, and now suddenly, it's happening.
And in both of those situations, I see and know that the Lord has answered prayers. I know because I've been praying, and encouraging them, and hoping for them. I see that they are good things and that He is blessing them. What makes them bitter sweet is that I too have been asking the Lord for things... good things... things that His word says are good. And I've been praying a LONG time... years and years and years. And when He answers the prayers of others, I can rejoice with them, but at the same time, I wonder, "What about me? When is it my turn? Why won't You answer my prayer?" And I don't think I'm demanding in that, or angry really, but more just feeling rejected or forgotten. And I KNOW I'm not forgotten... just yesterday the Lord gave me a bright spot of rainbow in the black clouds -- a personal reminder that He knows exactly where I am and that He hasn't forgotten me. And the truth is I should be able to take complete comfort in that, but I struggle just because I'm flesh, and hope deferred makes the heart sick (Prov 13:12). I guess I just want my 'suddenly.'
And if He's not going to answer or provide that which I've been praying for for the last 15+ years, then my prayer is that He take the desire away because it hurts horribly to have that hope deferred for so very long.
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| I'm currently between churches. The one I was attending went through a split about a year ago, and I stuck around for awhile as things got back on their feet somewhat, but I also knew that I wouldn't be staying. I didn't really agree with either side in the matter at hand, but more importantly, I wasn't getting fed at all. During that time, a friend from out of state was sharing what was being taught at their church-- great stuff! So I subscribed to the podcast, and have been 'attending' church two time zones away. Unfortunately, I can't attend live, even vertually, so on Sunday mornings, I have been vertually attending the large church I was a member of for many years in a city not too far away where they have a live feed during service time.
Faraway Fellowship is currently doing a series on Genesis and the message that I have heard loud and clear from the first two teachings is "God is sovereign and in control. You were uniquely created by Him and for Him with a purpose. The sovereign creator and spirit is moving in your life." The series from Local Live for the past few weeks has been on faith and the message I've heard is, "The Lord knows the exact right time to manifest the answer to your prayers. What He is doing in you in the process is just as important as what He is doing for you. Trust His ability and timing." I find it amazing that two churches from different states on different topics can have take home messages that completely go hand in hand. Local Live taught from Mark 5... when Jesus started off on His way to heal Jairus' daughter, had the encounter with the woman with the issue of blood, and ended up raising Jairus' daughter from the dead. Jairus' faith was stretched in that he knew Jesus could heal his little girl, but not that He could raise her from the dead. The woman was physically healed, but in calling her out, Jesus also reinstated her position within the community as a clean.
There is more going on than just the physical manifestation of the answer to our prayers because the sovereign creator of the universe is moving in our life. He wants to do more than just what we are asking of Him, and His timing is perfect because He wrote our every day before any of them came to be. We just need to trust Him, and keep asking, no matter how many years have gone by.
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| There seemed to be a reoccurring theme found in the three books I read today. It's the last few days of my summer break and I need to get as much reading in as I can before I head back to school so I read part of my current novel, a book of short essays by an author a friend is reading, and the first two chapters of Ephesians. The reoccurring theme?
That there is a purpose for everything that happens in life. Big or small.
Truthfully, some things, we look for the purpose in, others we don't. It's when we're in the midst of a painful, confusing, difficult situation -- one that likely involves suffering at some level -- that we seek a purpose so that the experience can make sense at some level. Unfortunately, when we're in the middle of it all, we often don't see a purpose. In fact, it may be many years before we have some idea what a possible purpose may have been. In other situations, we don't look for the purpose because we don't care.
There are plenty of things in my own life that I can't seem to find a purpose for: a bankruptcy, car accident (pick one!), ending of the youth group... just to name a few. I just know that according to scripture, there is or was a purpose for each.
One purpose for every situation that is true for all Christians: things happen in life so that we would be conformed to the likeness of Christ.
Romans 8:28-30. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
Eph 1:11 "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will."
Eph 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand, that we should walk in them."
Some of that is hard to get my mind around. He knows the suffering, the pain, the confusion that we experience as a result of daily life. He not only knows, but He allows it. However, He is the Master Artist, the Creator, the One who spoke all things into being; we are His workmanship, His master piece, His work in progress. He uses all things -- sin, rebellion, failure, success, blessing, relationship, ministry, weather, animals, illness, death, birth, war, peace -- to draw us to Him and conform us to the image of Christ all while accomplishing the purpose that He has specifically for each of us to accomplish each day. Really, the only thing we have to do no matter what the situation is, is trust Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and be obedient to what He's calling us to do. Unfortunately, THAT is not as easy to DO as it is to write!
I think it's good to look for and ask the Lord to reveal what we've learned, how we've changed, and what it was He wanted to do in specific situations in our life. And because He loves us, I think He will eventually.
In the mean time, I will do my best to obediently live the life He's set before me today.
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| Earlier this week, in my daily devotional, it suggested that if I longed for the closeness that I once had with the Lord and yet don't have that any more, than I probably have stopped doing something like I used to and needed to get back on track. I get tired of hearing of all the things a Christian should be doing. We are not human DOINGS but human BEINGS. Doing the right thing is not what will get me anywhere; being in Christ and covered by Him is.
The first of the suggested areas of neglect was prayer. Now I will admit that I haven't been spending the time on my knees, petitioning the Lord for the specific things I would like to see Him accomplish in the manner I think He needs to accomplish them. That's because lately, every big thing I would like to see Him do, He basically says, "No." Even things that really appear like they'd be His will... things that line up with scripture. One of which I'm really struggling with -- though I am spiritually submitted to it being His will, it doesn't lessen the hurt that that specific prayer continues to go unanswered even after ten or more years of prayer. So lately, my prayer life hasn't been what it once was. However, I disagreed with the devotional for two reasons.
The first is that in every relationship, there are times of extreme closeness, and times of distance. Our relationship with the Lord is no different. While He is always with us, upholding us, holding on to us, protecting us, and loving us completely and perfectly, we aren't so perfect. There are times in our walk when it is just hard. It's hard to read the bible; it's hard to pray; it's hard to hear His voice. He allows those desert times just as much as the times by the springs. As much as I have not liked this desert time, I know that He is building my faith in it. Sometimes, I get tired or weary of the on-going daily struggles of life, and just want to sit and cry, "Lord, where are You? Do something?" Actually, that has been what my prayer has been of late, for everything that concerns me, for everything on my prayer list.
The second reason I disagreed with the devotional was the passages of scripture I felt led to read yesterday. Romans 8:24 - 39 and 1 Thes 5:16-17. (Those were the sections of the two passages that jumped out at me anyway.) In Romans, I learned that I need to keep expecting the Lord to come through -- I need to keep hoping (which builds faith). The Spirit helps us in our weakness. Which weakness?? We don't know what or how to pray as we ought to. Because of this, He intercedes on our behalf, in complete harmony with the will of God for our lives. And because of that, because I love God, because I have been called according to His purpose, because the Lord's will is what has been prayed for by the Spirit for me and my life, everything will work for good. (It's not dependant upon me, but Him!) Even if it seems impossible, even if it hurts incredibly, the end result will be good. The passage goes on to say, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Sometimes it seems like He's against us, but He's not. Then the passage of Romans ends by saying that nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God. That means that not even the enemy can separate us from the love of the Lord. Dispite my feelings of distance and separation, it's not reality -- I'm still being held tightly by His mighty right hand, and He won't let me fall, and won't be letting go of me.
But what of my lack of time on my knees? This passage showed me yesterday that even if my prayers are only, "Please Lord, do something. Your will be done. Please, help," about anything and everything that concerns me, because those thoughts are always bouncing up to Him, I am still fulfilling the admonition Paul gave us in 1 Thes 5:17 "Pray without ceasing." I've been humbly resigned to His will over mine, and haven't even been bothing to voice my will in most situations, which is ok because the Spirit intercedes for the Lord's perfect will.
However, I must admit, that I really pray the deep down heart's desires I have would either be taken from me or would be His will for me soon.
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