Letting Go

Every morning as I peek out from under my covers to check if the sun is shining or not, I think about my God. I must admit I think about him a short time compared to the next person I think about...myself. Lately, well actually for quite a while, I've been reflecting on the 'art of letting go'. There are many ways to 'let go'. You can physically let go by not saying something critical or not going to check up on 'things'. I can let go emotionally my releasing my fears, anxieties, worries, anger, resentment and bitterness. I can let go mentally by replacing a good thought with a lingering bad thought. AND I can let go spiritually...trusting God's hand as he weaves the lives of those I love with His grace.

Today I chose to let go of bitterness, judgments, and a desire to be successful (meeting everyone else's approval with money and achievement). Tomorrow I will probably let go of it again. And the next day...until it is finally gone and I've formed new habits of trusting God more with my life, with the lives of my children and with our future. An inner freedom is a great desire of my heart. And then when you see me next time I hope I look like I'm flying!

Noah and a Six Year Old's Belief

I love reading Bible stories to my six year old. We are currently on our fourth Bible together...graduating to a more challenging text each time. It is so much fun for him to remember a story that we've read before or actually read a new story that was not introduced in an easier Bible.

Tonight we read about God's promises and Noah. I asked him, 'does God always keep His promises? Is what God speaks always true?' I asked myself about my willingness to wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled in my own life. Noah had to wait for forty days and nights until the rain stopped and then several more weeks until there was land to occupy. How many times did Noah almost lose his patience with God? Did he question God's promises of safety and provision for he and his family along the journey? Noah was human and yet oh so righteous.

I pray for patience and of course then God requires me to wait. It's difficult to wait when God gives you a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. The enemy comes along to tempt us into thinking the vision is not from God (doubt) or gets us thinking that God is taking too long and so we should 'help Him along' and make it happen ourselves (self-sufficiency). Just like Noah had to patiently build the ark - a vision God had given him that was not reality yet - God gives us visions that take time to take shape. Someday we'll be able to see a movie of our lives and all that was happening in the supernatural to make our visions, dreams and desires a reality to us.

Noah was human and there were probably moments of wavering and questioning. However, in the steady journey, Noah trusted God in the giving of the vision - the word that was spoken. Noah trusted God in the building of the vision - the precision and detail that was required. Noah trusted God in the valley where the vision was tested - his time of persecution from others and the character that God wanted him to attain. Noah also trusted God with and the final outcome - a place of glory and promises fulfilled.

In the simple words and a child's faith, tonight Davis ran his fingers over all the pages of his Bible and spoke, "Mom, ALL of this is TRUE."

Amen, dear boy. The promises of God are for you.

Where to Start?

It has been a year since I traveled to South Africa. Images of the poor and destitute still dance through my mind. However, more than that are the feelings that I continue to carry as it relates to the injustice of poverty, hopelessness of a godless people and the powerlessness of many woman.

Sometimes I cry to God in my heart for the nations and wonder where one begins with all this stuff that I've seen or experienced. I came home ready to go again and yet here I am in my Western world waiting on God for next opportunities that seem so far away and so BIG.

Where can I start today? This morning I choose to wake up in full surrender of all that God wants to do in my life. I will choose to trust that He has a plan for my life and my responsibility is that of abiding in the One who commands my destiny. I pray that a piece of God's plan for me is my 'ability' to GO in His perfect time, to a people group that He is preparing and that I in some small way will fulfill the Great Commission of influencing lives for the kingdom.