Glorious Uncertainty

1 John 3:2a (NIV)

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.

Good morning Zebras,

Last night at Awana I was sad.  After fourteen years in this ministry I feel God is telling me step down.  I know it is the right thing to do but I feel like I have been “benched.”

This morning as I read My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers’ amazing devotional, God gave me a new perspective.

The entry is titled Gracious Uncertainty and it says in part:

To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow will bring.  This is generally expressed with a sight of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation.  We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God,

And I realized I had been looking at this all wrong. 

The fact that I am uncertain of the future is probably a good thing.  It means that I am releasing my hold on my life and giving it over to God.

After fourteen years of knowing exactly what I would be doing in September, starting up another Awana year, I now have to wait upon God to reveal something new.

Not many people like change.  We get comfortable in our routines and patterns and even if God has something better for us it is difficult to let go.  But we can’t get the new thing until we let go of the old.

I still have no idea what the future holds, none of us do, but we do know who holds the future.   And maybe that is even better.

1 Corinthians 2:9 says:

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”

So have a wonderful day little Zebras joyfully waiting on God to reveal the wonders He has in store for you.

Love,

Jill

One Thing

Luke 10:41–42 (ESV)

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Good morning Zebras,

I love you and I pray that you are all doing well.

I have really been struggling lately with trying to decide what God wants me to do and what others want me to do.  And honestly I would be willing to do it all, but I can tell God doesn’t want me to because He is not giving me peace about it.  So I continue to pray.

Yesterday God brought a line from a song to mind.  “I can’t do what ten people tell me to do.”  I didn’t know what song the line came from so I looked it up on the internet.

It is from Otis Redding’s (Sitting’ On) The Dock of the Bay and the entire stanza is:

Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes

And I felt God say: “That’s the problem with trying to do what everyone is telling you to do.  Nothing gets done because you are totally overwhelmed and since you don’t have any time left to spend with Me you don’t change. If you want to do something that is a joy to do and has eternal significance you need to do what I am telling you to.”

Jesus told the people to do one thing:  To love the Lord with all their heart, mind and strength and then to love others as themselves.

He didn’t tell them they needed to be on ten committees, belong to five Bile studies, and two small groups.  He just told them they needed to love.

I think we have accidentally made our faith too complicated, and in doing so we have lost the most important thing, which is Christ.

The world doesn’t need another program, they have plenty of programs.  What they need is love, and so do we.

Have a wonderful day little Zebras because God loves you just as you are.  Pass it on.

Love,

Jill

Giving Directions

1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Good morning Zebras,

Yesterday I ran to the gym for a quick workout.  I didn’t have much time before I needed to be somewhere but I figured I could squeeze in at least a little cardio.

As I was signing in, I overheard an older gentleman with a thick accent asking the staff for directions to “the 80 freeway.”  He wasn’t getting a very warm response because I think his age, accent and appearance made the young girls uncomfortable. They told him they didn’t know how to get there and were about to send him on his way.

So I stepped in.  First I verbally told him how to get there, but I could see he didn’t really understand me. Then I grabbed a piece of paper and drew him a quick map,  But I could tell by his questions that he was still confused and that there was a good chance he would walk out the door and get lost again. And I realized the only way to make sure he got there was to take him myself so I motioned for him to follow me.

As we drove out of the parking lot I thought about a time that I too had been lost.  I had rented a sand buggy on the Oregon Dunes and had taken my young daughter out for a ride.  I have a rather poor sense of direction and the dunes all look the same so it was probably inevitable that I would get lost.  And I did.  I was so scared because it felt like I was in the middle of nowhere with no hope of getting back.

When some sand buggies came over the far hill, I jumped and yelled until they saw me.

I was never so grateful to see and follow someone I didn’t even know.  I felt like they had been sent by God to rescue me and I still feel that way.

Yesterday, I felt like I was the angel and I realized helping the lost was what God has called me to do

We live in a world of lost people, people who don’t know Christ and Christians who don’t realize what they have. They think Christianity is a list of rules and regulations instead of a love relationship with the Creator of the world.  They think they have to do everything themselves, instead of realizing Christ has done it all and all we need to do is walk it out.  They think following Jesus is a burden not a joy.

And all of us who know the truth have the privilege of helping others find their way.

Love,

Jill

Knife or Staple Remover?

Psalm 139:13 (ESV)

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Good morning Zebras,

I am notorious for grabbing whatever is nearby and using it to accomplish my task, even if that is not what it is made for.  For example this morning I was using a paring knife to take staples out of the wall which is why I have a lot of knives with bent tips.

And I have ruined a few of my husband’s tools by using them incorrectly.  Once I used some delicate sentimental saw my husband had to hack the limbs off the Christmas tree.

This morning, with the knife, I was just too lazy to go find the right tool so I just grabbed whatever was handy. With the saw I figured a “saw is a saw is a saw” and even though it didn’t look like a regular saw it looked like it could cut wood.

In both cases I used the wrong tool to accomplish the task, making the task more difficult and ruining the tool.

Yesterday I was thinking about God as the Creator, and the implications of that one attribute alone are amazing. 

God’s creation testifies not only to His majesty but also to His imagination.  He didn’t need to make a galaxy for the Earth to sit in.  Nor did He have to make such a variety of plants and animals.  He could have made it anyway He wanted.

All the “laws of nature” we so diligently study were invented by God.  He defies our understanding and His creation certainly illustrates that.

But as the Creator, He also made us, each one of us individually, and that is what I was thinking about yesterday. 

Because God made me, He is the only one who really knows what He made me to do.  He is the only one who really knows what I can do well and what only I can “do.”  He’s the only one who knows whether I am a knife or whether I am a staple remover.

What God has been teaching me lately is that He doesn’t want to use a knife as a staple remover, but He can and He will if the “knife” refuses to wait and starts pulling out staples.

Love,

Jill

Snackin'

Psalm 119:15–16 (ESV)  

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Good morning Zebras,

Yesterday, I fixed scrambled eggs for my son for breakfast and I shared a little with my moodles (my small totally spoiled mutt-poodles.) Then I made chicken salad for him and his father for lunch and I shared a few pieces of chicken with them.  Finally, my daughter got up and I boiled an egg for her and gave the yolk to the dogs, all of this before their breakfast.

I have two moodles, and they are very different.  Joshua is a rather picky eater, who much prefers people food to dog food, and he never eats a lot at once. Abigail on the other hand loves food, all food, and will continue to eat until the food is gone.

So I wasn’t really surprised that Joshua didn’t eat anything when I finally put down his dog food or that Abigail not only ate her breakfast but Joshua’s too.

This morning I did it differently.  I didn’t give them any treats at all until after I had fed them breakfast.  Then I only gave them a few.

This gave me a perfect illustration for something I have been thinking about.

Lately I’ve noticed that we live with an avalanche of words.  I wondered if there has ever been a time in history where there were more words available to us than there now.

In addition to the old standbys of newspaper, books and magazines we have e-mail, blogs, e-books, texting, and Facebook, just to name a few.  Everywhere I look there are words vying for our attention.

It's easy to fill up on the reading of “snacks” and not have time to read the “good” stuff.

God’s people need to read God’s word.  Not just other people’s opinions about God’s word, but the word itself. God’s people need to read God’s view of the world, not just man’s view.

God’s word is the source of all the truth and power and reading it is essential for his people.

The irony of me writing about not reading other peoples’ writing has not escaped me, but I still think that’s God’s message for the day.

Love,

Jill

Thy Word is Truth

Galatians 6:3 (ESV)

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Good morning Zebras,

Yesterday I spent the day thinking about whether I am a sinner or a saint. I concluded that I am a saint who used to be a sinner until I was saved by God’s grace.

Now you may think that it doesn’t really matter, but I decided it does.

If I am a sinner, then I will behave like a sinner and if I am a saint I will behave like a saint.  If I know deep in my heart that I am a new creature then I am free to act differently.  If I believe that I am still a sinner then I will still be trapped in my sins.

So this morning I went to find the verse: As a man thinketh so he is, because it seemed to fit perfectly with what God was telling me. If you think you are a saint, you are a saint. If you think you are a sinner, you are a sinner.   But the funny thing is, I couldn’t find it.

I looked in all my concordances, but it wasn’t there. But I knew I had heard it so in desperation I looked on the web, and there it was. Not only is it a Bible verse, it is the title of a famous book that seems to have spawned the “power of positive thinking” movement and it gave the reference as Proverbs 23:7.

Proverbs 23:7 in the NIV says: for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

Now I was really puzzled, so I did a little research and found out that in King James it does say For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: but that is only half the verse and it was quoted out of context.

Proverbs 23:6-8 go together and they were written as an observation on what happens when someone eats with a miserly host. The entire passage reads: Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.  The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words.

It has nothing to do with changing your behavior by changing your thinking.  It is saying do not eat with people who pretend to be generous but in reality are miserly. No matter how they act, it is what is in their heart that counts.  WOW, big difference!

Biblically it doesn’t really matter what we think, it only matters if what we think is true.  And what is true is God’s Word which says we were sinners, but now, because of His grace we are saints with the power to live like saints.

Love,

Jill