The Puppeteer

Have you ever gotten excited about a possibility, shared about trusting God’s will to be done and then wait in anticipation as all the pieces fell into place? I have. I’ve actually been thinking about it a lot lately. But yesterday I realized  my “state of anticipation” was turning into a “state of anxiousness”. I want things to work out the way my mind has already settled on.

I realized with a bit of a start yesterday that I wasn’t actually living in faith. I was calling on God and seeking Him for His will, but I wasn’t living as if I really believed that His will is the best solution – especially if it’s different than what I want it to be.

As I waited for things to work out, I started being consumed by the “what ifs”. What if it doesn’t work out? What if nothing changes? What if I have to accept a situation I don’t like? What if I’m disappointed by the outcome?

It’s then the Lord spoke to my heart, “When you’re seeking My face, when you accept and do My will, there is no disappointment. I know what’s best and when you trust Me you must believe that I’m working things for the ultimate good.”

I think many Christians want to step out in faith but when they’re teetering on that limb, their sense of security gets threatened. The lack of solid, sturdy ground beneath them tempts them to take their eyes of Jesus and worry about all the details that will lead them back to that place of security and familiarity. Instead of living by faith, we live as if we believe the security we would create for ourselves is better than the security found in God. Really, it’s like we think we know best and we can do a better job of handling things.

As I pondered these things and felt conviction in my heart, I began to picture a Pinocchio style puppet show. We are like those puppets and the stage is like our lives. God is watching over us, wanting us to let Him be the puppeteer. When we pull against those strings, they become tangled and knotted and we fall down. When we submit to His leading and direction, we get to experience His grace played out in our lives.

So with a little nudging from the Lord, I have come to accept that His will may be different than  what I want it to be but it is still the best possible scenario. I just have to be willing to trust Him enough to get me there.

Making all things new

2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

After living so long in the daily grind of the Christian life, sometimes things seem to stop being new. Never is the knowledge that we are new creation, no longer a vessel enslaved to sin, lost but the luster of the new vessel seems to fade as it gets worn down by life’s hardships.

And today I stand amazed at God’s infinite goodness, because He is able to take that tarnished vessel and make it shine again. What I think is so neat in all of this is that God’s plan is so much higher and greater than our own. As a human, I tend to see my purpose in life with narrow vision. I get tripped up by setting my own boundaries in what God wants me to do and when. God, however, is outside all of those expectations.

Here I am, living a happy, middle class American life. I have a terrific home, a great family and a godly support system like none other. I believe in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection over sin in our lives, I believe God has created each of us for a purpose, and I believe He takes all things – including the most difficult ones – and works them to our good.

I know a lot of people who would say the very same thing. Yet I constantly encounter those who seem to think that the purpose God has for you in one season of life must remain the same for every season of life. It may not be said in so many words, but the resistance to change and the Lord’s leading (especially when it’s uncomfortable) is unmistakable.

I believe that God is able to work greater things in our lives than simply having a single-minded purpose. I praise the God who is able to take a life devoted to him and continually make it new. Whether it’s renewed devotion to Him or a new direction in life, He is the orchestrator.

The Redeemer by Sanctus Real speaks this message to my heart. I heard it for the first time on the radio this morning and was blessed. Here’s to accepting the change the Lord brings to life and trusting Him when He makes all things new.

A sense of community

I love my house. I love my neighbors. I love my neighborhood. I’ve always enjoyed being home, but the satisfaction I feel when I’m home with my husband, at our house on Lincoln Rd, is different than anything I’ve felt before. The other night it dawned on me why that is. It’s because of community.

It seems rare when people wrap their arms around their new neighbors and treat them as part of the family. That’s how it’s been for me and Mark. We are the “new kids on the block”, though we’ve now lived in our home for a year and a half. On one side of us is a family that runs the farm surrounding our land, on the other side is the daughter of the woman who owns the farm, and her family. Across the street is a horse barn.

Often when we’re out in the yard or walking around the fields – our neighbors are very generous in letting us roam as we please – we stop and talk for a half hour, an hour, or even two hours. And I look forward to it. I want to see my neighbors and talk to them. I want to hear all about the farming, the kids, the home renovations. I want to tag team our attack on the rotten box elder beetles that threaten to take over our homes.

Belonging is a terrific feeling. And my neighbors have made Mark and I feel like we belong. I thank God that he opened up this home to us. Community doesn’t just happen anymore.

It seems like community used to be more important years ago than it is today. In part, it is a reflection of different people groups, I guess. When I was younger and living near the Tug Hill Plateau, our church family looked after us. If my dad was gone for a week, gentlemen from the church would stop in to make sure we had enough wood for our wood burning stove, to see if there was anything we needed. Our neighbors, even though they weren’t right next door, cared enough to involve themselves with our lives, to look after us. And the favor was returned.

I wonder why more people don’t take the time to develop a community with the people around them. Are people’s lives so busy, so important, that they can’t be worried about what’s happening with someone else – good or bad? Sadly, this sense of community seems to be lacking even in churches and families.

So my glimpse of God today has come in the form of the community he has blessed me with. Once in a while we’re given a peak at life as it ought to be, not how it is. It’s when we see what ought to be that we see the reflection of God Himself, stamping his imprint on the world around us.

Someday, when I’m on the other side of the yard, welcoming the newly married couple next door, I hope I show them the same sense of community that my neighbors have taught me. I believe this brings glory to God and joy to our hearts.

A reflection of Jesus

Today's divine revelation came a bit unexpectedly. I've been thinking about what to write for a few days. A pathetic profession, I know. But there was something God wanted me to pay attention to so He hit me with a big one.

I was talking with my husband about conversations I had at work and was misunderstanding his opinion about it all. In my misunderstanding, I felt unsupported. I reacted in a way that was hurtful to him.  Thankfully, we sat down right then and there and talked through the misunderstanding on both sides. It was a hard way to get to a place of agreement. I hate knowing I've done something to hurt him.

Now, I realize that misunderstandings happen and it's better to deal with them right away then to let them fester. So in that respect we handled it well. The part that wasn't so good was the reflection of my heart toward my husband - I was too focused on myself.

You see, I am to treat my husband the same way Jesus treats God the Father. That is with love and respect, in all submission, and with a meek and gentle spirit. Just like Jesus taught us that He and the Father are One, so has He called me and my husband to be one. Just as Jesus was in submission to the Father's will, so must I be in submission to my husband. Just like Jesus honored the Father in thought, word and deed, so must I honor my husband. Just as Jesus put on a gentle spirit, so must I be a reflection of inner peace, contentment and meekness. In God's perfect design and order, He has created marriage and family to be a reflection of His nature. And in that order, the husband is the head of the wife.

I realized tonight that I was not behaving like Jesus at all. I was acting in direct opposition to the order He set in place. It took gazing on the face of God to realize the sinful attitude I was harboring in my heart.

Today served as a gentle reminder that it's too easy to take your eyes of God and put them on yourself. I was focused on what I thought my needs were and I totally missed something important. And now that I have apologized to my husband for my wrongful actions, I can appreciate the right relationship God wants us to have.

What an encouragement to know that as I honor God's design for my marriage He will bless it. And now I can go back to work and know I have my husband's support and we'll make the decisions together.

When you read through the Gospels, pay close attention to the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. What does it tell you about your marriage relationship?

Direction - I need a purpose

What I feared would happen has. I started a blog and haven’t committed to it. I think about it and the different things I could write about but nothing much has come from it. I now realize I was missing an important “ingredient” that will help me be successful. Direction.

I need a purpose for this blog and I’ve decided that the purpose will be to find God in the day-to-day. That’s not to say I don’t think he’s there and it will take great effort to find Him. I actually had the idea because there are days I feel so rushed to get from one task to the next that I never take the time to notice Him. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to make it a point to notice God in the day-to-day.

This morning I was particularly struck by my husband’s love for me. He’s not a romantic guy and he doesn’t have some ridiculous notion that I’ll break if he doesn’t serve me, but I know he loves me.

I can tell in the morning when it’s time to get up and he wants me to stay close to him. I can tell when he waits for me to get ready so I can tag along on a silly errand, just to be together. I can tell when he sticks up for what’s important to me. I can tell when he hugs me extra tight when he gets home from work. I can tell when I don’t have to ask him to wash the dishes, he does it automatically when he sees me working to clean up the kitchen.

It’s not difficult to see that my husband loves me because I’m tuned into him and he’s tuned into me.

That’s the way God wants to be with us. Think about it. The Almighty God, Creator of all things, Sovereign, Holy, Just, Merciful, and Good – wants intimacy with us despite our many imperfections. We must be crazy to think that anything else could be more important and a better use of our time.

I hope you’ll help me stay accountable to recognizing God’s involvement in my day-to-day and then sharing it with you all. And I hope it may encourage you to do the same.