Wait.

Have you ever heard God say, "Wait."? I bet you have. I have too. Have you ever been OK with waiting? Really? Truth-serum-honestly OK with it? Well, patience has never been my strong-suit. I am getting better about it as I get older...better, but not good. It's tough to wait.

Are you waiting right now? Why do you think that is His response? Have you thought about it? Have you tried reasoning it out? Perhaps He is simply wanting to see your response. Perhaps it isn't that what you want isn't ready or isn't right. Perhaps it's not that you aren't ready. Perhaps He wants to see your faith and patience illustrated.

There is something in my life I have been praying about for quite a while. I have been reaching roadblocks and speed bumps and potholes for some time. All of a sudden...there was nothing. No movement. No YES and no NO. Silence. Inactivity. God said "Wait." What do I do with that? If understood why I was waiting, wouldn't that be easier? But I didn't understand. I didn't understand the ceasing of all progress AND all hindrance. Perhaps THAT was the test. What will she do if nothing happens? How will she respond if everything regarding this prayer ceases? Will her faith be illustrated or will her lack of faith?

Well, I went to bed a few nights ago incredibly discouraged. I was tired, grumpy, frustrated, and disappointed about the whole thing. I was on the verge of giving up. Even on the verge of making counter-effective decisions. Rash decisions. Flight decisions (fight or flight). But I didn't. Instead, I fell asleep praying. I asked God to clear my head, to straighten my thinking, to help me understand and/or accept the silence of the situation, to help me remain steadfast instead of caving into defeat. I needed Him to intervene in my head, because my head was betraying my heart. My heart belongs to Him. My heart needed His strength to stand up against my head and its sometimes silly logic.

And guess what, I woke up the next morning renewed! The silence became irrelevant. I had peace. I felt serene again. I knew that I wasn't getting a NO, just a WAIT. I knew my prayer was in line with His will. I knew it would be wrong to do anything other than wait on Him no matter the reason. And only one day later my prayer was answered with a resounding YES! Perhaps in the silence that nearly made me panic...perhaps in those telling moments He was watching to see how deeply I trusted in Him and how dedicated I was to what I was praying about. The moment I stopped wrestling with it and gave it up to Him, He turned WAIT into YES.

I grinned ear to ear, laughing and shaking my head at myself for having had such a struggle in the first place. I know better. Always trust in Him...even in the dead silence.

Thank You God for the YES...AND for the WAIT. I understand what it was about...now. I'll remember next time around. Wink.

Optional?

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes AND is baptized will be saved, whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 1:16

Does this mean that those who are not baptized will not be condemned because it only states that those who do not believe will be condemned? Hmmm. Doubtful. My guess is, if you don't believe, you probably aren't going to be getting baptized in the first place..DUH. And if for some bizarre reason you do get baptized and yet don't believe, you'd still be condemned, right? Hmmm. So to be saved one must believe AND be baptized. Interesting.

"ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to believe everything I have commanded you." Matt 28:18-20

Does that sound optional either? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Most of you guys know how strongly I feel about this, I just am curious how any of that can be swept under the rug. I know it happens and I don't get it.

What do you guys think?

(I chose to only include scripture which came out of the mouth of Jesus, for time's sake...but there are MANY others in the Bible that support this stance. NOTE: the bold, caps, and italicizing emphasis are mine.)

Beauty...it's everywhere!

This picture was sent to me in an email today. Isn't it breathtaking? Sometimes, I see things like this or receive things via email or whatever and it snaps me out of the place where I was. I got this email as I was just taking a QUICK couple of minutes between laundry and getting lunch ready for the munchkin. I was in a "get it done" mode. Shuffling about, doing this, doing that...but missing out on the beauty of life. Not just the breathtaking beauty like this picture, but the beauty that goes on in my home and in my life every single day. It makes me sad how much of it that I must miss in my hurried state sometimes. But I know that it is God's gentle Spirit that thumps me on the head from time to time with things like this. He wants me to stop, slow down, and see what He puts in my life and into my world just because He loves me. His creation is an amazingly beautiful thing. His love for us is illustrated in so many ways. SLOW DOWN. Raise your head up from what your doing. See the beauty in this world. See the beauty in your home. See the beauty in the faces and souls of your family and friends. His love and promises surround you everyday. Don't miss them and fail to acknowledge them and thank Him for them. He is so good to us. Wake up from your slumber, raise your head up and see what He's done!

Legalists...Modern-Day Pharisees

Oh boy. I have had two things in my life bring me to this post. One source is my "homework" from my Growing Kids God's Way class that I am currently involved in AND a blog post by a cyber-friend of mine.

The issue is LEGALISM in Christianity! UGGGH. What an ugly topic. So many people use God's divine word to bind people up, to punish, to condemn, and to dole out hopelessness. I hate that. Have these people really read God's word or are they simply taking scripture out of context and/or removing God's heart from it?

The number one reason people do this, in my opinion, is to Bible thump others. This was the favorite past-time of the Pharisees. (Not a group of people I'd like to resemble!) You may want to take some time to research how Jesus responded to the Pharisees when they were trying to condemn someone for breaking a law/commandment. It is not pretty, actually. And in contrast, watch how Jesus dealt with such issues. STARK CONTRAST!

The second reason I believe people do this is because they do not know the heart of God. It always amazes me that the people who seem to be able to spout out scripture after scripture, in order to spiritually "beat up" someone else, don't have an inkling about the heart of the Father. I believe that the main reason that these people are even in the Word most of the time is to find more ammunition to bind others up, to "straighten them out", and (unintentionally) veil God's love for them.

The third reason I believe that people do this is because they don't understand that the condition of our heart is KEY to God--NOT how many rules, laws, commandments, and regulations we perfectly keep. That will not win anyone a spot in heaven. It won't. How can anyone read scripture and yet be so blind to what is really in there?!?! God KNEW we couldn't be perfect, He knew we'd fall short (every time)...He knew. He knew we could never do it on our own. He knew we needed a savior. THAT'S the heart of the Father. He's not the "Big Score Keeper in the Sky!"It amazes me that anyone could spend any time in His Word and not see His deeply loving heart for us.

TAKE NOTE: I do not subscribe to a God that I can create/manipulate to allow me to do the things I want to do either! Do not misinterpret me. God cannot be bended and manipulated for your own sinful desires. To try to do so is insulting to Him. Do not say to yourself, "I can do this thing or that thing that I know is wrong...and I know God, I know He loves me deeply and will forgive me anyway." Don't try to manipulate Him and insult Him that way. DANGEROUS!!! He knows your heart and your intent! He cannot be fooled. He can see through it all. He knows your heart intimately.

Get in the Word. See His heart. Understand His deep, deep love for you. Understand what His focus truly is: The Condition of Our Hearts. We cannot be perfect. We cannot go through life never messing up, never sinning, always doing the right and perfect things. We cannot. We strive for excellence in His sight, but we KNOW that the HEART---OUR HEARTS are what He sees and what He knows. Our hearts will reflect in our actions. Don't let modern-day legalistic pharisees spiritually beat you up! Trust in your Father, know He sent His Son to bridge the gap between you and God. KNOW THAT WAS ENOUGH! If you need a change of heart...do it today! If you know your heart is right with God, breathe a sigh of peace. God knows your heart.

Being Used

Reach up. Reach out. Reach in. That is something that my church uses to illustrate what we do within the local church. Each one is pretty self-explanatory. It is the reaching out to others that I want to drastically improve. I want to be more purposeful with my story. I want to do what it takes to reach others and be used by God. It is not enough to want to, to desire to. As I have said over and over, we must move ourselves to action.

I had lunch with a dear friend the other day. As I talked to him about this, he asked me something I wasn't expecting--had I shared this with my Home Team? I sheepishly said, "Well, not really. One or two of them know. " At that moment I knew I had to share this with everyone that is in my Christian circle of influence. I need to share this with all of you and with my small group (Home Team) from church. The reasons I need to do this are many: I need prayer. I need encouragement. I need to be held accountable. I need to be built up when I run into Satan's roadblocks and speed bumps. I am so thankful to my friend for reminding me of the valuable resource that I hadn't truly tapped into.

Here it is: I want to become VERY involved in my church. I eventually want to be a speaker. I want to lead groups. I want to share my story. I want God to use me to reach people who may not otherwise be reached, if I were to only think about it, instead of actively pursuing leadership roles. I want to be God's instrument. I want to keep searching, keep contacting people until someone sees God's fire within me and can help plug me in fittingly. I would love to do this, to begin a ministry within the church that I so dearly love. I believe in what they are doing for the lost in our community. I yearn to be an active and integral part of that. I do not want to look up years from now and realize I had a fire that Satan turned into smoldering dust. The thought of not living God's will for me breaks my heart!

I ask each of you to pray for me, to encourage me, to not let up on me, to help me as your Christian sister to step up to the challenge God has placed before me. It is as scary as it is exciting. I have a colorful past, a redemption story, and a new life that begs to be used to reach others as an illustration of what Christ can do within willing hearts. No matter who or where they are...I want to be used to reach them. Help me be God's instrument, His light, His hope. Help me fight to move forward in this endeavor! I want to be used.

Character of a Man