November 24 2015

November 24 2015 Greetings My Friend “But if you would tell us or show us…” I hear this refrain often as I read the Bible. I think this refrain in my day to day life too. I want to know that I know that I am giving my whole heart to God and I am following His directions for my life. I think I know but….. My journey of faith often is filled with questions and the answers are hard to discern. There are times I hear God say “just do it.” Do what? The Bible teaches me the ACTSS format all over the place but …..where are the exact words “Just do it?” The Psalms have lots of praises in them. They praise God after He has done a miracle and saved His people. When God took the Hebrews out of Egypt He put plagues on the Egyptians, 10 in all I think. He would turn the river blood red, sent gnats and other signs. The people repented, then decided that was not for real. God took the Hebrews through the Red Sea on dry ground and then swallowed up the Egyptians in the river. The next crisis came along and the people did not believe. God would rescue them only for them to forget again. My own spiritual journey has been filled with these kinds of moments. I believe, things go easy for a while and then the next problem arises and I have forgotten how God saved me before. The more I read my Bible I learn to “remember” all the times God has saved me in the past. The Psalms teach this too. God doesn’t want me to remember how bad I hurt but how I was saved. Proverbs teach me too. I learn to give, to be faithful first to God and then to my spouse. I see where I am rewarded when I live life as I am directed. I have peace in my heart. I learn to confess too. God is always saying throughout the Bible to “repent.” My parents taught me to say “I am sorry” when I was mean or stole something. With them I said it to get them to be quiet and leave me alone. I am not sure I repented because I felt bad for what I did. I admit I did the same thing with God. One day I saw how my act of rebellion truly hurt someone. I felt so bad and I wanted to not do it again. As I learned to truly see what my actions were doing I learned that I hurt God deeply when I rebelled doing that. When I asked God to forgive me after that I meant it and God started to show me how to not do it again. Oh….God did not want to beat me up because I was bad, He wanted me to understand and to live the way He created me/us. As I started to change my desires to align with God’s ways God kept teaching me new things. The Bible had Psalms, and stories where people thanked God for His provision. At first my thinking was “God already knows this so why do I need to tell Him?” One day it occurred to me it was not that God did not know but it was for my good. I learned in this marriage the more I focus on Junior’s good qualities I did not see his flaws or stay focused on them. God taught me to be thankful and the more I was thankful the more I saw all that I truly have. Service and supplication were my next lessons. I used to attempt to do everything I could think of to serve God. The more my health declined the more I found doing all kinds of activity wears me out more than anything. I started asking God where He wanted me to serve and I had a sense of satisfaction. God does not want me to wear myself out but to seek Him as to what He wants me to do. Along the way I learned to have a heart for people and I added them to my prayers. Today a friend lost her father and I ask God to bring His peace to the family. Another friend had his appendix taken out and I prayed for him. I have quit being absorbed solely about my life and its struggles and I learn to reach out for others. I learn to take the focus off me for awhile. In the the quiet I sometimes hear God teach me how to cope with my struggle. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet