"We must always be ready to be interrupted by God."
|Dietrich Bonhoeffer|
"How will I benefit you?" 1 Corinthians 14:6
What a thought! My daily interactions ought to (can!) be marked with this question. Do I ask this when I'm at breakfast with my friends? Do I ask it in the grocery store? God's work is not |bigger| than individuals. It is |all about| individuals becoming acquainted with Christ. Am I ready and willing to be interrupted for something bigger? For the person in front of me? For God's heart?
Friday, March 24, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
The Heart Process
Here are some thoughts I wrote down as I processed during Christmas break in considering where the Lord was leading me next. One of many beautiful things I have gleaned from the daily offering up of my hearts plans and considerations before God, is that often His greatest concern is our heart process - is us taking our all to Him. Not us getting a specific yes or no answer to a future plan. I love Him and His individual, caring heart:
I feel SO called - but to nowhere in particular.
Will I respond as I did when my idea of becoming a vet was taken away? Then, I settled on teaching as a goal because I racked my brain and couldn't think of anything else HUMANLY POSSIBLE that I would be capable of. Maybe I waited a few painful weeks for an answer about what God's next was after removing vet school. But somewhere along the way I must have assumed it was up to me - I have to do SOMETHING.
That's exactly the conclusion that Saul came to at the very beginning of his reign when he chose to sacrifice rather than wait for the man of God and the time of God. I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. It is an attitude that assumes God ISNT doing and ISNT saying. It is an attitude which assumes when God speaks a promise He is not the one fulfilling the word He has spoken - which from the very first verses of the Bible we know is not true.
My idea of this next year is gone. Will I panic again and say "I have to do SOMETHING."? If Ravencrest is just a something, I don't want to do it because it won't be valuable. God has an idea for what He wants to do with my life and the direction He wants to set it on. I don't want to take my life back into my own hands at this crucial intersection. God has stopped me in my tracks - removed one plan - and given me silence. Lord, this silence is an opportunity to pause and trust You. This silence, it's an opportunity to see Your word come through by Your creative work, not my manipulative reactions. In this pause, I have a choice between handing you all my plans and trusting You to work out Your glory, or assuming the responsibility myself to get what I perceive to be Your work done in the way I assume You want to do it. Only Ishmael's are born of this heart.
I don't want my life creating Ishmael's Lord. I don't want to respond reflexively. Ravencrest, as I examine the option, seems to provide a place for me to exercise and grow into more of my identity as I've seen You reveal it to me, and simultaneously lead others into being grown more into who You've made them. But if it's not where You have me now it's not where I want to be. Take me Lord, and take me somewhere - but nowhere without You. May I never take steps because I think You're taking too long. May I never respond out of unbelief
If you go to RC - will it make you more yourself?
Yes Lord, I believe it will.
If you go to RC - will it lead others in growing into more of themselves?
Lord, with Your blessing, I hope so.
Then it is a good place to go.
I feel SO called - but to nowhere in particular.
Will I respond as I did when my idea of becoming a vet was taken away? Then, I settled on teaching as a goal because I racked my brain and couldn't think of anything else HUMANLY POSSIBLE that I would be capable of. Maybe I waited a few painful weeks for an answer about what God's next was after removing vet school. But somewhere along the way I must have assumed it was up to me - I have to do SOMETHING.
That's exactly the conclusion that Saul came to at the very beginning of his reign when he chose to sacrifice rather than wait for the man of God and the time of God. I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. It is an attitude that assumes God ISNT doing and ISNT saying. It is an attitude which assumes when God speaks a promise He is not the one fulfilling the word He has spoken - which from the very first verses of the Bible we know is not true.
My idea of this next year is gone. Will I panic again and say "I have to do SOMETHING."? If Ravencrest is just a something, I don't want to do it because it won't be valuable. God has an idea for what He wants to do with my life and the direction He wants to set it on. I don't want to take my life back into my own hands at this crucial intersection. God has stopped me in my tracks - removed one plan - and given me silence. Lord, this silence is an opportunity to pause and trust You. This silence, it's an opportunity to see Your word come through by Your creative work, not my manipulative reactions. In this pause, I have a choice between handing you all my plans and trusting You to work out Your glory, or assuming the responsibility myself to get what I perceive to be Your work done in the way I assume You want to do it. Only Ishmael's are born of this heart.
I don't want my life creating Ishmael's Lord. I don't want to respond reflexively. Ravencrest, as I examine the option, seems to provide a place for me to exercise and grow into more of my identity as I've seen You reveal it to me, and simultaneously lead others into being grown more into who You've made them. But if it's not where You have me now it's not where I want to be. Take me Lord, and take me somewhere - but nowhere without You. May I never take steps because I think You're taking too long. May I never respond out of unbelief
If you go to RC - will it make you more yourself?
Yes Lord, I believe it will.
If you go to RC - will it lead others in growing into more of themselves?
Lord, with Your blessing, I hope so.
Then it is a good place to go.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Who am I?
My only role is to respond. It's not my job to make myself into a leader, an initiator, or any other type of er - it is just to follow Christ. There is wonderful freedom in this realization that I am not on a mission to build myself into the type of person Christ desires or designed me to be. Rather, as I respond genuinely to Him, He expressses Himself in me according to His design. He is the one in me to work and to will His good pleasure.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Shekinah Moments
Thank You Lord for the opportunity this moment to respond to You fully as I am intended to. I don't have to be someone else or enough for anyone else.
...
This being with you and reveling in being Yours, God, is the treasure so easy to miss if my eyes have the wrong focal point in my day. It's not the absence of my circumstances but the presence of You!
...
What a gift, Lord, to look up at the star drenched sky and mountain silhouettes and know I'm here because You've put me here, and I'll stay until You lead the way someplace else. What a gift that that calling is independent of how I feel day by day.
...
"My soul finds rest in God alone; He alone is my rock and my salvation, He is my fortress, I will never be shaken." Psalm 62:1-2
...
I love the confidence of that statement - He is my fortress, and the obvious and immediate declaration is: I will never be shaken. I am bold, Lord, for You are close! There is shekinah - there is glory - in these everyday moments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)