Divine Irony

I've been preparing for a couple of weeks now for a sermon I'll be delivering to my home church on July 26. The way I prepare for such an undertaking is the same way I write a term paper or a poem or anything else! I read a lot. I pray a lot. I read and pray some more.

Sometimes I'll sit down, thinking I'm ready to write it all out but can't get that first sentence down. I know . . . all the advice I've ever read tells me to just start writing. But I know that it's fruitless until I have it--in total--ready to "spew out" of me like an uncorked hole in a dam.

I can tell the difference, too, when I don't wait on God. He continues to work in me, to give me insights and ideas and the words will come when He's ready for me to share them. It's a waiting game, of sorts. God takes me to a place and then bids me to wait. Wait . . . wait . . . Go! I wrote a series of blog posts at Crayon Chronicles some time ago about this concept, God's Ready, Set, Go!

Oh! The topic planned for the Sunday I'll be preaching is confession. I have often contended that God has a sense of humor. If you have followed my faith journey for any length of time, you will see the divine irony in my delivering such a message. My pastor told me that after reading my book he felt I would be an ideal person to deliver such a message. That is humbling indeed, as we have numerous seminary students, and candidates for ordination at our church.

So, this evening I may be writing this sermon. I was rarin' to go the other day and just couldn't get a block of time to do it. I believe God wanted to direct me to one more resource for this message. I say this because when I sat at my desk that day, I glanced over at my bookcase and Celebration of Discipline caught my eye. I chuckled to myself at the fact that the bookmark which has been in this book for at least a year was at the 1st page of the chapter on Confession.

How about you? Are you open to God's timing and direction in your life? It's not easy to stay in tune with that 'still small voice.' It can be drowned out by the relentless droning of the television and radio and cd players and traffic and work deadlines and family obligations and . . . . [add your own items to the list here].

God has a great deal to tell us, to reveal to us, to share with us. To hear him clearly and correctly we need to "Get Ready and Get Set." Then we need to "Go!" when He says go!


Blessings on your journey,
Mary

WORD-FILLED WEDNESDAY

I'm joining AmyDeane again this week for Word-filled Wednesday.
Stop by The 160 Acre Woods to see the words others have to share.

Blessings on your journey,
Mary

THANKFUL THURSDAY!

To sign up for Thankful Thursday, stop by Truth4TheJourney, where Sonya is hosting this meme. It's a wonderful way to focus on blessings and express gratitude to the God who is the source of all good things in our lives.

Here's my list:

1) I'm so very thankful for my Lord and Savior! I need Him every day, and on some days, it is my trust and faith in Him that is the only thing I can cling to!

2) I'm thankful for wonderful co-workers. I feel truly blessed to work with a group of counselors who are committed to their work and consider it a calling.

3) I'm grateful for the children and families who are being helped by the counselors at my company. It is so amazing to watch an individual or family move from crisis to wholeness.

4) My husband makes the list yet again this week! He is my best friend and I cannot imagine my life without him!

5) I'm thankful for good and caring friends who pray for me, rejoice with me and sustain me!

What are you thankful for today?

WORD-FILLED WEDNESDAY!

Head over to e-Lisa from Extravagant Grace to sign up for WFW this week!

Thanks for Listening, God!

"He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them" (Psalm 145:19 NIV).

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" (1 John 5:14 NIV).

I think it was past time to post something a bit less "whiny" here! Last week was one of those weeks for me! You know . . . I took on the weight of the world and didn't let go! I clung tightly to the illusion I fall into believing sometimes: that I'm in "this" by myself! I don't know why I do it, but I do. I am ever grateful -- beyond expression -- that God allows me to vent, whine, etc., and then welcomes me back into His loving arms when I'm 'over myself.'

The previous post may have been a little more honesty than you wanted me to share! I apologize if that is the case. However, it is a side of me that springs up sometimes and I really do believe that God wants us to be completely authentic--in our wisdom and strength as well as in our struggles and challenges. I've known people who never wanted to talk about what was good and right in their lives--but I've also met some who would never open up enough to share what wasn't going so well too.

Anyway, I think I'm over my little tantrum. I finished typing my God's Wonder Woman column that will be posted at Take Root and Write on Wednesday, July 1. That helped me get back on track. The theme this time is about rearranging our "to do" list! Pretty appropriate and timely for me. I hope it will be for others as well.

I would say I am ashamed of myself for being negative, but I guess I'm really not. Everything in my life is not perfect. God knows that. But I don't like to complain about my own circumstances. I am blessed beyond anything I ever dreamed. I am humbled and grateful by the ways God is opening up my life to Him and to His world.

I think the "woes of this world" felt especially burdensome to me lately because the vision God has given me for my life is HUGE!! And I get tired--a lot! I forgot to trust in God's wisdom. I wasn't willing to lean on His strength. I couldn't make myself rest in His power. I spent much of last night giving it all to God and this morning I'm committed to allowing Him to make the way He sees for my future--and my present.

How about you? Are you feeling burdened lately? So much is going on in the world and it's easy to internalize it all. If I don't catch myself right away, I can spiral into the mix of it all and lose my footing. That's when I find I need to go to scripture. The words there are timeless and divinely-inspired. God's word is what we need to drown out the noise of what's going on in the world.

"I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King." This is what the LORD says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:" (Isaiah 43:15-17 NIV)

"This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen" (Isaiah 44:2 NIV).

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Isaiah 46:4 NIV)

I pray you hear God's word above all else and that you trust Him, lean on Him and rest in Him as you go through your day today.

Hello, it's Me God! Just Need to Vent!

Thankful Thursday, Faith-filled Friday, Word-Filled Wednesday, Testimony Tuesday, Monday Manna. I've heard of all of these memes and more. I've participated regularly in some of them. There are some very good reasons I choose to participate in memes. As Christians we are meant to be in community and joining in a meme allows and affords me the opportunity to join with other in a common activity. It's fun, it's educational, it's a wonderful way to reach out to others and to be ministered to by others whom we may never meet on the earth in this lifetime.

Sometimes my husband even reminds me that I don't "have to" participate in a meme every week, if it's going to stress me out! At those times, I'm particularly thankful he is my husband, my best friend, and in many ways my mentor on all things regarding faith! (On the day-to-day, common sense, keep the wheels of civilization turning things I excel. It's on the real nitty-gritty aspects of faith that he far surpasses my ability and capacity.)

I'm one of those literalists when it comes to faith - and my husband generally agrees with me: if Jesus said it, He meant it - very literally and without need for expansion or deliberation! Feed the hungry means just that! Shelter the homeless, offer comfort to the brokenhearted, extend hope to the downtrodden . . . and on and on. He meant it both literally in very physical terms as well as in spiritual terms. We do diverge somewhat on the love and acceptance part, but that's for another post!

Love your neighbor. Worship the One True God. Trust and Obey. That's it -- everything else really falls in to place, don't you think?! Yes, I know that's very simplistic! I could talk with you for hours about this very topic and perhaps agree to disagree on where exactly one should draw that proverbial line in the sand. The bottom line, though isn't whether it's drawn nearer to one extreme or the other, but I think rather, that we even discuss it at all!

The past several days have found me shaking my head and asking - more than once - "What is wrong with people? Really, what is wrong?! No big tragedy or major misfortune has befallen me or anyone I love (for that I am truly grateful). It's just that sometimes the world seems so NOT what Jesus preached and I am challenged to live in it.

Sometimes I do feel like a stranger, a sojourner in a world that is oddly out of kilter with what I envision, imagine, hope for and strive for! Don't worry, I'm not "losing it"! (At least not any more than usual:-) I'm not about to hang it all up, throw up my hands and attempt to escape reality! Sometimes I just need to vent! Sometimes I need to talk myself back to where I need and want to be: squarely at the foot of the Cross! I long for heaven, but for now I'll take the shadow of that Cross where my Savior won me passage to heaven at the end of time.

So for today, I beg your forbearance as I bemoan my own lack of control -- knowing full well I'm not the one in control at all. I'll bewail the fickle circumstances of life that take us places we never imagined we would go and bring us back again stronger, surer and more in love with Jesus than when the journey began.

Today--this day--I thank God for His forbearance of my own failings and shortcomings and I am eternally grateful for His grace, extended to me on the Cross.

Blessings as you travel on your own journey of life.


"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling" (Exodus 13:21 NIV).

"he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (Psalm 23:3 NIV).

"guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long" (Psalm 25:5 NIV).

WORD-FILLED WEDNESDAY

I'm joining AmyDeane again this week for Word-filled Wednesday. Stop by The 160 Acre Woods to see the words others have to share.

Just 100 People

The Earth as just

100 people

---

If Earth's population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people -- with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining - what would this tiny, diverse village look like? That's exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found.

• 57 would be Asian
• 21 would be European
• 14 would be from the Western Hemisphere
• 8 would be African
• 52 would be female
• 48 would be male
• 70 would be nonwhite
• 30 would be white
• 70 would be non-Christian
• 30 would be Christian
• 89 would be heterosexual
• 11 would be homosexual
• 6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth, and all would be from the United States.
• 80 would live in substandard housing
• 70 would be unable to read
• 50 would suffer from malnutrition
• 1 would be near death
• 1 would be pregnant
• 1 would have a college education
• 1 would own a computer

The following is an anonymous interpretation:

Think of it this way. If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group.

And if you have a good house, food, can read and have a computer, you are among the very elite.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are fortunate, more than three billion people in the world can't.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on shoulder... you are blessed because you can offer healing touch.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.