Who Do You Think You Are?

Some of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible come from the book of Job. Yes, Job. I know - depressing book, God let's Satan take everything away from Job, including his kids, makes him sick with boils all over his entire body, and leaves him with a nagging wife and 3 friends who tell him just to curse God and die. I can see why most people choose to gloss over this book, it's not very uplifting (at first glance). But if you haven't read it, I encourage you to. But don't quit before the end, that's my favorite part.


Synopsis:


So after all these horrible things have happened to Job and he has a grand pity party(chapters 1-31), a young friend of his decides to speak up and begin to put things in perspective for him a but (chapter 32-37.) Then it happens - after many long chapters of silence, God speaks. It actually says "God speaks to Job out of a storm". For those of you who don't live in Texas, you may not be able to conjure up in your mind what that might look like, but I have lived through one of the worst Texas storms Ever - in a tent (and then the cab of my truck), so I have a pretty good grasp on what Job must have experienced that day. All I can say is WHOA!!!


Basically God says (this is the Jan Paraphrase), "Job, you sure seem to think you know it all. Now stand up and take it like a man while I tell you a few things and give you a little fresh perspective."


God proceeds to describe some of the things He has done like:

• telling the waves how far they can come
• telling the sun rise and sun set when to happen
• creating the storehouses for snow and hail
• telling each lightning bolt where to land
• creating all the star constellations and telling them when to appear
• creating great beasts of the land and sea who are subservient to no one but Him (including a dragon that I am pretty sure Disney ripped off for all his movies.)
• and walking on the bottom of the Ocean just because He can (one of my personal favorites. Sorry I just have this picture in my head of God talking a little stroll on the bottom of the Sea and hanging out with creatures we don't even know exists yet because they live so deep)

I mean it goes on for 5 chapters so you get the gist. But I really encourage you to read it yourself.

I think I just need to print out these chapters and tape them to my wall so that every time I find myself wanting to have a little pity party (which I was last night), I can gain a little perspective on my life and Who it is that is in control of it. I certainly don't want to get so far gone that I have to hear God speak to me out of a storm.

All that to say - He is God and I am not and I need to trust that as long as I lean on Him, He has my life in the palm of His hand and can take care of anything that would threaten to harm me. He'll do that for you to if you know Him. 

If you don't know Him and want to, send me a message and we'll talk. I'd love to introduce you to Him. He will change your life!

P.S. The story does have a happy ending. But you'll have to read It yourself to find to what happens. I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.

95.3%

If you follow my blog, you know that over the last months, I have been embarking on a journey that I have never been able to complete successfully in the past. I am reading through the bible in a year. Well, with about a week left in the year - I am happy to report that I am 95.3% complete (right on track according to my reading plan in YouVersion.) 

I can tell you that the ONLY reason I have bee able to complete this task (which at times was daunting) was that I had a accountability partner. Someone who was not only on this journey with me, but got an email once a week telling her how I did. Together we are finishing this race and together we will do it again next year. So, here is my challenge - if any of you want to get in on it with us, make a comment of send me a message via Facebook or email and I will put you on a list and send out instructions. It's gonna be great!

Today, my reading took me to 2 Timothy. A letter from Paul to Timothy that was written while Paul was in prison in Asia for preaching the gospel. Timothy was a young man and Paul continually encouraged and taught him in the faith of Jesus Christ. A true "mentor-mentee" relationship. In many ways that mentor legacy still lives on, many centuries after his death, as I learn and grow from reading his words in the bible. Here is what I learned from Paul today.

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21

When I read these verses I thought I knew what they meant, but just to make sure - I looked them up in some commentaries.  Here is the gist of them: In the church there are some people who are set apart to so special things, have special impact and special purposes (gold & silver). They are set apart from the crowd of people who call themselves Christians but have little to no impact for Christ in the world around them (wood & clay.) In my mind, I picture all those who look one way at church and totally different at work or at a restaurant or at home or where ever, the rest of the week. This passage says they are common.

I guess I always knew this principle, but it is the last past that really stuck out to me - "Those who cleanse themselves from the latter (being common, being like everyone else in their day to day lives) will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master (Christ) and prepared to do any good work."

I am not sure why this struck me so powerfully today. I think maybe it is because I am becoming more aware of the people around me that are quite possibly in the wood & clay category. It makes me so sad to see and yet it makes me examine myself all the more to make sure there are no places in my life that would put me into that category. I want to totally cleanse myself of those things so that when I am looked at by God, he sees me as gold & silver, set apart for a special purpose, made holy and useful to Him.

I hope that you too want to be gold & silver in the house of the Lord. I know that each and everyone of us has things in our lives that are wood & clay. Things that hold us back from being useful for Him.

My prayer is that as we close out 2010, enter 2011 and take that backward look at our lives, as we so often do this time of year - that God would show us all those things we need to "cleanse ourselves" of to be wholly useful to Him as we go forward in our faith. I pray that He would reveal to us the special purposes He has set us apart to do and that we would jump in with both feet, no matter how daunting the challenge. 

Refuse to be normal and common in 2011. If we are joining the likes of Paul and Timothy, being different is not all that bad!

An Ocean of Tears

I LOVE this picture, which is really funny because I have a fear of water, but looking at this picture I feel a sense of calm and peace. There are many other pictures of the ocean that are anything but calm and peaceful. (Deadliest Catch anyone?) I think it is the rough sea and what is IN the sea that I fear. I don't know what it holds and it makes me afraid. 

A few years ago, my husband and I were taken on a trip with his work to Mexico. It was a great trip! First one in our marriage that we didn't go with any kids YAY! They had all of our days planned out for us and one of the excursions they planned was on a large catamaran out into the ocean to go snorkeling.  GULP!!! I seriously almost didn't go. I was to afraid. But after taking some dramamine I boarded the boat, knowing that God had my days numbered and if I was supposed to die in this ocean and I didn't go, then He would have me miraculously dropped in the middle of said ocean to fulfill His will for my life. Melodramatic - maybe! But I was scared and it helped me to rationalize it that way. 

Anyway - I got on the boat and ended up having a really good day. The ocean was realatively calm and I even kind of fell in love with snorkeling (with the exception of scraping my legs up on a bunch of rocks and bleeding in to the water as I swam the 100 yards back to the boat fearing a shark attack! (No really - that part is true!) As much fear as I had of the unknown ocean, I conquered it and it felt really good. I would probably do it again.

Some ocean experiences don't end like that. I mean Titanic, Posiden Adventure, The Deep, JAWS. Ha! But seriously. I have heard stories of friend who have been on cruises that have hit rough sea and it was NOT fun. Not sure I ever want to go there. I am sure they didn't want to either, nor did they think that would be their experience when they set out on their adventure, but sometimes God has other things in store for us than what we have planned. 

I thought of the ocean today as I was reading in Psalm 56. Verse 8 says this:  

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

In my head, I tried to imagine a book that God keeps that has written down every time I (you, the whole world) tosses because we can't sleep due to life circumstances or are tossed to and fro by the "waves" we encounter.  I also pictured a bottle big enough to hold every tear drop that has ever fallen from the eyes of the human beings He created and loves so much. That bottle must be bigger than any ocean I have ever seen. Some of those tears were cried in the middle of the tempest and some were cried in a calm respite, but He knows every one of them. That thought kind of blew my mind!

In life, there are no guarantees of what is to come. Right now my life feels somewhere in the middle of the two pictures posted here, but that could change in an instant. As I am writing this I think of many in all sorts of places - friends who have recently lost a baby, a daughter who is wading through the stress of college, a woman who for the first time in a long time is at peace in her life, a couple who is homeless and through all that stress is still seeing God's provision for their precious family, a couple awaiting the arrival of their new daughter, a husband and father who feels imprisoned by his job and yet fights through it every day for the ones he cares about, the young mother who is overwhelmed, a precious 6 yr. old and her family fighting her cancer, and one who is grateful for a year cancer free. The list could go on...

No matter what the sea of your life looks like today, or tomorrow, or the next day, or the next take these words of David to heart in Psalm 56:9b -10:

This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. 

This was written during a horrible time for David as he and his men were being hunted by King Saul. Yet he knew that God saw him, held every tear that he cried, counted every tossing and David trusted. God is in control of your life if you have given it to Him. He sees you. He knows you. He loves you!

And next time you see the ocean (stormy or calm), remember God has it all in the palm of His hand.