God Sees Tomorrow Today

As we read through Exodus 25-31 we see that God gives intricate details on how to build the ark of the covenant. Every step is laid out before Moses as it should be built.  He gives him the plans for what the priest should wear down to the color of every thread. God goes on to give specifics on how His people should worship, and offer their sin offerings. He lays out plans for the temple where God will dwell. He tells them how they can purify themselves and be holy through the blood offering. God even tells Moses who He has gifted to do all the work.

As I read these chapters I am reminded that God clearly has a plan. Nothing is left to chance or guessing. He knows what is needed and even who will do it. As I read through these chapters I couldn’t help but think if God had all this planned out to the smallest detail then surely He has my life planned. Surely He has a plan for the lives of my children, and my grand children.

But, unlike the plans God gave Moses God has not told me every single detail of His plan for my life. He has not told me all the details of what life will look like for my children or grandchildren. The thing is I don’t need to know all the details. I think I do. I want to know how the story ends, but I am not the author of the story. For those of us who battle control issues this is hard.

Yet I am reminded of what I know to be truth. God is sovereign and before the foundations of the earth He knew me, He knew my children and all our days have been planned. (Psalm 139) God sees today what will be tomorrow and I need to rest in the knowledge that His plans and purposes are always good. Psalms 119:68 says that the Lord is good and does good. I need to rest in that instead of worrying about tomorrow.

This is what I know for sure deep down in my gut, God loves me, my children and the generations that come after me. I know He is not will that any should perish. (John 3:16) I know He rewards the faithful through out the generations. (Duet 7:9) I know that even in the midst of what may seem like impossibilities God has a plan filled with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) I know He will continue to work out for good what He has begun in the hearts of His children. (Phil 1:6) I know the Bible is filled with promises of God. Filled with promises that I can rest in even when I don’t see tomorrow.

I know God is sovereign. If I know He is sovereign, that He is in control and has a plan and a purpose then I can rest. I can rest and not worry or be anxious about the future generations of those I love. So much easier said than done but I am praying that God would continue to work in me to completely surrender to whatever His plans are. Today I may not be able to see whether or not my children or grandchildren will serve the Lord with their whole life but I can pray and trust in a God who will work out all the details and loves them more than I.

As I reflect on God’s detailed plans of the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple and the Priest robes I am encouraged that if He has a plan for these then He most definitely has a plan for His children. He will not leave anything undone. He will complete that which He started in me, in my children and my children’s children.

How about you? Are you trusting God with what you can not see or understand in the life of your future generations?

 

This blog is part of my 2015 journey through the word. Please click to find more in this series.

Did My Life Make a Difference in 2014?

It’s really hard to believe that 2014 is almost over. The years really do fly by, especially the older you get. But what has hit me even harder this particular year is just how fast my life has gone. Truly it is just a small blip on a radar screen. It causes me to stop and think about what I’ve accomplished, not just this year but for the past 50 plus years.

I’ve been asking myself questions like, “Have I made a difference in my little world of influence?” “Am I doing what God has called me to do?” “Has my life mattered?” And so many more questions that I know are not unique to my mind. Questions that cause me to pause, look back, and ask God to help me see truth. It would be easy to look at all the negative effects of my life, to look at the mistakes and failures. We seem to see them much easier than the good we’ve accomplished.

One way God answered that prayer was to arrange a lunch meeting with 3 women who have been apart of my life for a long time. Two of them I had in youth group about 20 years ago. God reminded me through them that I have made a difference. I have had an influence and continue to have influence in the lives of young women and young moms.

I suppose the doubts come in when my life doesn’t look like I think it should. Or how others SAY it should. My influence isn’t always a clos, long mentoring relationship or in-depth discipleship. But it is speaking truth into the hearts and lives of those that call me for advice, or who send a email with a cry for help. It’s living my life the best I know how, seeking God and living out the truth before others. Not perfectly, but honestly. It’s loving my family well. It’s speaking truth and writing truth regardless of whether or not I feel like I am making a difference.

Another place God showed me that I can make a difference is my blog. My written words. Granted, it’s not as popular as some. But I do have a lot of readers. I have readers from Ukraine, Russia, and China which are my highest countries behind the USA. I still find that SO amazing. In fact in the last few months Russia and Ukraine have been higher than my United States readers. I always wanted to be a missionary and maybe I am, but just not the way I thought I would be!

Maybe my tiny little blog does make a difference. Maybe it does touch hearts and make the reader pause and think. Perhaps as I share my struggles in the pursuit of holiness that others realize they are not so alone. Perhaps they see that no matter how hard life gets, no matter how alone we feel  that they can have joy in Christ Jesus. Maybe I have made a small difference in the lives of others in 2014.

As I close this year I thought I’d share my top 10 blog post of 2014. While there are other posts I may have thought were better these are the ones that were most read by my readers. And because they were the most read in 2014 I also have to assume that these are the words that God used to touch the lives of those I will never meet, or never know and yet we have been connected to by the power of words.

I really need to remember that the power of words can make a difference no matter how insignificant the writer may feel. I need to remember that when all else is stripped away I really only write for an audience of ONE and He shall choose how and when to use the words He gives.

TOP 10 BLOG POST OF 2014

10. They Are My Sisters

9. 3 Things I Wish I had Know as a Young Mom

8. Wanted: Christ Followers

7. If Only You Knew How Loved You Are

6. Thoughts of an Older Woman

5. Grumbling Anger and the Kingdom of Me 

4. Obey What You Know 

3. Grumbling, Complaining, and Discontentment 

2. Why We Need the Older Generation 

1. The Sin of Selfishness (this one also made the top five most clicked on since I began blogging!!)

Weeds of Insecurity

My insecurities showed up big time this weekend. I began to look around and it seemed there are those who are doing really important things. They are doing big, grand things for God.

I overheard a conversation where these words were spoken, “it’s the beautiful people, the educated, those with power and status, that get to do the big things.” I know it was their own insecurities, and maybe hurt, that spoke those words but still they found their way deep into my heart and began to take root. They took root in the soil of my own insecurities that tell me quite often that I am not enough.

I allowed the roots a place to grow deep and take hold of my heart for most the day. I wondered why those who were highly educated seemed to always be recognized, and esteemed for what they were doing. Does God really prefer the one with degrees over the one without? Seeds of renewed doubt grew. I questioned my purpose, my value. What do I have to offer? What can I do? It felt like yet another door slammed into my face because I have no degree. Once again I am not enough. I lack value to be used by the church, by those in power.

In the midst of this root growing to the point of almost strangling me to death I felt the warmth of truth begin to flow through my spirit. I knew my thoughts were being plagued with lies. Discouraging lies that threaten to render me useless. And as those lies fought for control, fought to be heard, the truth battled harder. The truth would not give up until it silenced the lies.

What is the truth? I am beloved of God and He has a purpose for me. Psalm 139 reminds me that before the foundations of the world He knew me. In my mother’s womb He formed me. I have a purpose. I am enough in God’s eyes. I have value and I am very much loved.

The truth is, regardless of my status in society, or my education I am called by God to be a light to a very dark world. I am called to obey, to sacrifice, to give my life as an offering to Him. For some that might mean big and grand things. It might mean being worldly famous and traveling to a foreign land. For others it might mean wiping a tear of a child who lost her mother.

This is the truth God impressed upon me in the midst of my insecurities. Each of His children are doing big, important work. Whether you are a doctor helping cure a disease in Africa, a counselor healing the wounded, a woman cooking a meal for the sick or one that feeds a homeless person as you walk to work God sees all. He does not value one over the other. In fact what God values most is a heart that is fully His, a heart that is abandoned to His will, what ever that will might be.

Finally, I was reminded that it does not matter what men think. God does not care about your qualifications or lack of them. He is the One who will qualify those He calls...those willing to do whatever He wills. So I need to go in confidence and DO what He has called me to do and stop looking at what others are doing for Him. What He calls them to do is none of my concern. But at the same time don’t let anyone tell me that I can't do what He has called ME to.

I came across this poem this morning and it just seemed to be a fitting reminder that we are all famous to someone, in our own way, using the gifts and abilities God has given us.

 

BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

 

Joining….