Find refreshment for your heart, home and life
I recently heard the story of a child being sent to the principal’s office. They were so frightened about what would happen because they’d heard plenty of stories from others – things like paddlings or phone calls to parents due to bad behavior or breaking school Continue reading “The Worst Case Scenario”
Yesterday I had the joy of spending the day with my daughter, Whitney. She was accompanying her refereeing husband to a Lacrosse game and it was close enough to me that I decided to drive over and spend her waiting hours with her. It was a great day of mom and daughter shopping, having lunch, oh, and of course we watched the lacrosse game, too (well part of it!)!
On our way back to the school after our shopping excursion, I was dropping her off at the stadium where she would wait while Paul reffed one more game, and I would head back home. The traffic in this little town was backed waaaay up and Whitney commented to me,
“Maybe you could find an alternate route so you could miss this traffic and not have to sit and wait.”
I opted to stay my course and it wasn’t that bad after all! But her comment made me think about this post I was getting ready to write. Don’t we all eagerly look for ways to divert waiting?
At Chick-Fil-A we look for the shortest line.
We make doctor appointments at the times of day when the doctor will be less likely to be backed up.
We use the Scan and Go app at Sam’s club and the on-line pick-up at the grocery store.
We text so we don’t have to wait for someone to answer our call.
We slide into scheduled events right on time or shortly after so we don’t have to sit.
And yes, we take alternate routes so we don’t sit in traffic.
But when it comes to waiting for God to move in on a situation or end a trial, our hands are completely tied. There is nothing to do but wait.
Such was the case in our Two-year wait for our grandson’s adoption. Our daughter and son-in-law did all they could to help the process go through by fulfilling their responsibilities, but we could not hurry the process in any way at all. But praise the Lord, after two full years, the waiting is now over and those boys bear their parent’s name! The judge made it official and we could not be happier!!
I sat down after the adoption day and wrote out the things the Lord has taught me while we waited and watched our grandsons go through the adoption process. These were lessons I didn’t want to forget. While they’re fresh on my heart, I want to share them with you, too.
Now, I ask you, What are you waiting for right now? What answer, what provision, what completion, what need is staring YOU in the face as the adoption did us? Please read again these six points and remind yourself that if you have been adopted into God’s family, all these truths apply to you right now, too. Why not stop right now and ask God to help you to trust Him to bring about what is necessary, and to increase your faith as you, too, learn these precious lessons while you’re waiting.
The adopted daughter of the King,
I love the sunshine so much that the minute I wake up in the morning, the curtains in my bedroom get thrown wide open! I want the those sunbeams to stream in! Even on a cloudy day, just the light from the outside is a welcomed change from the darkness within my room.
But what do we do when there’s darkness in our hearts, via a relationship or a circumstance that we cannot change? It could be as trivial as frustrations, like when I was attempting to write this post and spent a good deal of time editing and rewriting. It was scheduled and ready for posting, but when I went to preview my writing, it was GONE! What? After a good couple of hours, it’s nowhere to be found?
I could not change this. So after stopping and giving this darkness (trouble) this to the Lord, I realized that there must be a reason for this “mistake.” Maybe it was just that I take time again to call on His Name. Doing so brought light (truth) to my heart – it was, indeed, like throwing open my bedroom curtains.
A lost blog post is trivial, but what about darkness and emptiness in a relationship? There’s a void and distance there that you would love to fill, but you cannot change the other person’s heart.
What about the grief felt when dealing with the consequences of sin – yours or someone whose life touches yours?
Or the sorrow of death or sickness?
We have to go back to the beginning –
Gen 1:2, 3 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
When there was NOTHING but emptiness and darkness, with only a word, God changed it all into beauty and fullness.
Light, sun, moon, trees, flowers, sky, birds, fish, animals and man and woman were added to the emptiness and it was no longer void – it was FULL.
Who but God could do that?!
No one.
He longs to do the same with our dark and empty circumstances! It all starts when we know that we need His Son as our Savior. He brings light from the darkness of sin and gives forgiveness and His presence for eternity.
His presence starts the moment we trust Him! Now all those “dark” situations turn to me towards my God who longs to bring light and life to all these matters! How?
Yes, even losing a post on a blog post can be used to transform me into His image. As I learn to call, to wait, to trust, to know He is sovereign, I can be more like Christ, if I allow Him to calm my troubled heart and look for Him to make beauty from my darkness.
What dark situation sleeps under your pillow and awakens you with a start? What “empty” circumstance is causing you to need His light and abundance? Thank God for that situation today, then call out to Him and wait for Him to transform it…and you!
I’ll never forget standing at my kitchen island with my grown, married daughter. Her first Thanksgiving with her in-laws was coming up and she wanted to make a good impression with the pie she was contributing to the autumn feast. She was sure about what the filling would be and how delicious it would turn out, but the crust? That had her panicking, so she had come to my house to get some help.
Now, here we were, standing side by side at the counter. We each had a bowl of flour, a due amount of Crisco and ice water to mix in, and a rolling pin beside, waiting for its time of duty.
Mom, why don’t you just make crust for me? It will turn out so much better!
No, I’m sure you can do this. Just watch while I do each step, then you do it.
Each step brought her closer to the desired result, and then after a little time, the crust had been rolled, picked up and placed into the pie pan. With another bit of effort, the side crust was duly pinched and crimped, resulting in a crust that looked worthy of a state fair competition! She was so proud. It was completed because she was willing to wait.
As I was cleaning up the cloud of flour left on counter and floor, my daughter began talking to me about the desire of her heart, and the difficulty of waiting. The wait was making her wonder if God was withholding from her because she had done something in the past, and this was her necessary punishment.
Have you ever wondered that? Has the question of God’s seeming delay to answer made you wonder if He was perhaps angry with you? We know He could do it, but when He doesn’t, wrong thoughts begin to creep in.
Pointing to the flour-covered rolling pin we had just used, I said,
You came over here because you wanted the finished product of a pie crust, and you came to me to make it for you. Instead, I had you come near and learn from me. After time, the result was your beautiful pie crust.
God is doing the same thing in your life, on a much higher plane. Instead of just handing over to you what you’re asking Him for, He’s pulling you near Himself so that you can learn from Him what you would never learn otherwise. In the right time, God will answer and provide, and you will be so thankful for the lessons you learned while you waited.
Friend, what are you waiting for today? Whether it’s huge or small, remind yourself of Truth. Just because it’s not happening right now, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you! He cannot act outside of His character, and He loves you as much as His own Son! There are lessons in waiting that will never be learned if God answered your request immediately. He is a good Father, and He is pulling you close to Himself to teach you and instruct you, to comfort and to prepare you for when the time is just right and He will answer.
The joy on my daughter’s face when she saw her finished pie crust is nothing compared to what I’m seeing God do in her life right now! I’m pretty sure if you asked her, she would tell you it was well worth the wait.
Maybe we should bronze that rolling pin. It taught a tremendous lesson to my over-anxious heart.
Keep trusting. Keep waiting.
Look friends! Look what is happening in the hole in my backyard!!! It might not look a whole lot different than when I posted about it here, but the point is that progress is being made!! I can see it! I can even hear it as the compressor goes over the sand and gravel. Oh, what a wonderful sight to my waiting eyes!
This project has taken far longer than I’d anticipated. It’s caused disappointment, frustration and even despair! At times I even believed it was impossible. I have gazed out my window so often and pictured what that finished patio was going to look like. I could see people sitting around the fire pit, laughing, talking enjoying the warmth of the fire while piling toasted marshmallows onto golden crackers. I could imagine it – but I couldn’t really see it, because it wasn’t a reality.
But now I see progress! Something is moving out there! There is tangible evidence that change is being made, and I can’t contain my excitement!
Can we make the connection with the trial that you’re facing right now or with the prayer request that seems impossible? Or the person that shows no interest whatsoever in coming to faith in Christ? At times all you see is an “ugly hole in your backyard!” Nothing is happening or changing! Let me encourage you to keep peering out the window with eyes of faith! There will be a Day when you will say, “But Now I see progress…”
Faith can wait.
Therefore I will look unto the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7
Keep waiting!
Yesterday I found myself waiting once again for a situation for which I have prayed much. I sighed. I cried. Then I ran…to the Lord. I poured out my heart to Him, and it felt good to give it all back to Him. I reminded myself to give thanks for this waiting. I remembered, too, that Isaiah 40:31 says that if we wait on the Lord we will have renewed strength. Praise the Lord. The last thing I did was go to my blog for other posts I’ve written and remember what the Lord has taught me while I waited on Him in the past. The following is an old post that was a good reminder for me. Let me share it…
I will never forget the anxious moments of waiting. I was a soon-to-be post college student seeking God’s will for my future. My name had been given to a pastor (Pastor Cunningham) who was looking for a secretary for the Christian school at his church, and I was waiting for my appointment with him where I would be interviewed for the position.
“Are you waiting to be interviewed by him?” the man asked, nodding toward the interview office.“Yes I am” I replied.“What is his name?” he asked.“Mr. Cunningham” was my answer. The man smiled and then said laughing, “Iam Mr. Cunningham! I assumed you were waiting for him since you kept looking toward that office!”
Lamentations 3:25 says,The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Yesterday I shared about my “Holding Pattern.” If you’ve felt the circular swing in your own life, I wonder what you do during those times? Frankly, I’ve had a hard time staying motivated to do the necessary things – like dust and vacuum! Oh, I’ve done it, but I’ve had to pick myself up by the seat of my own britches and do it out of sheer discipline, rather than the usual desire.
It’s easy to get a cynical or non-care kind of attitude when we feel like things are spinning, but the fact of the matter is, this day has significance. I can still impact the life of another person (starting with my husband and those that would enter my doors). There are things I can do that will have an impact for eternity. There are little things that must be done just for life to keep moving forward (clean underwear is always a good thing!). It’s the little stuff that needs our daily attention and must be cared for – even when we’re “bummed” or disappointed, or still waiting for things to work out that even helps the time to pass in a profitable way.
The advice that I have been giving ladies in recent months is what I’ve had to do myself –
Sounds very simplistic, but it helps the frantic wringing of the hands and the pacing. Stop and ask: What is the next right thing I could do right now? Pray and ask the Lord. Wait. Then do it. It might be a phone call you need to make to inquire about this situation you’re waiting on. It might be you just need to get in the kitchen and prepare supper or just go change the baby’s diaper! The blessing is that when you keep making the “next right choice,” soon you’ll find yourself staring into the face of the answer of the thing to which you’ve been waiting!
