We recently had a family friend who lost her job. When I was told the reason that she was given, I didn’t believe the accusation but I did remind her there are reasons for everything. I have had that on my mind a lot this week. I lost a job once, and at the time, I felt heartbroken. The thing is though, if I hadn’t lost that job, I wouldn’t have went to Effingham the next day to sign up for unemployment, I wouldn’t have decided to go to Walmart to see if my friend who worked there would like to go to lunch with me. I wouldn’t have had that friend tell me they were looking for help, I wouldn’t have filled out that application, I wouldn’t have had the job interview and I wouldn’t have went to work there. I know now all those things happened because God made Andrew, this guy from Oklahoma, just for me. On the same token, the night before Andrew was to move to Texas to a new store, the last minute decision was made that he really needed to go to Effingham, IL. Someplace he had never heard of, and quite frankly wasn’t overly fond of until he met me. God truly works in mysterious ways.
I don’t know if I was supposed to be doing something different at that time or not, I do know God had a plan though. Sometimes His plans just fall into place, other times; I believe he tries to nudge us into doing what He wants us to without the drastic measures. Andrew and I both feel like he should have left Walmart years before he did. He was unhappy but when I would say, “you need to look for something else”, his answer was, “but it is the only thing I’ve ever done”. Well, no, it wasn’t, It was the only thing he had ever been paid to do. When God forced the issue, Andrew turned that thing he really did love doing into what he is getting paid to do. We hated that it came about the way it did but looking back, had we taken the same road earlier, it would have been much easier.
I have a friend who is a pastor. Years ago, he felt God telling him to leave where he was at and start a new church. He argued with God because he was comfortable where he was. God finally put things in place to where my friend’s decision was made for him. He has admitted he would have saved himself a lot of heartache had he just answered, “Yes, Lord” when God started talking.
That is the root of this week’s devotional. We have all heard Jeremiah 29:11—For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Have you ever noticed if you only read that verse, you have not one but two open-ended quotes? Sometimes we have a habit of pulling one verse out of a passage and it changes the overall meaning. While I don’t believe that is the case here, I want to fill in the verses around this verse.
Back up and start at verse 10. This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you.” Declares the Lord, “ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, “
That takes you through part of verse 14, and it continues but I just wanted you to see the context as to what was going on. The Israelites were in captivity. Why? Because they stopped listening to God. I get so wrapped up in my OWN thoughts sometimes that I am guilty of this today. Sometimes I think God does things as a way to get my attention. I have a very bullheaded son. He gets it in his head he knows what I am thinking, and why I would make decisions I’ve made. Most of the time, he was wrong. And I have used the very phrase, “You aren’t listening to me!”. Sometimes with more force and bit louder than I really care to admit, but facts are facts. When I can’t get him to physically listen, I have been known to take an action that makes it easier for him to hear me. The action that worked best when Robert was younger? Standing him in the corner. I think some of the things that happen to us when we are trying to make God’s way fit into our plans are the Godly result of being stood in the corner. He finds a way to get our attention.
Let’s face it, if we would have just done as we were told the first time, we could have possibly prevented the bad stuff, or the “this hurts me more than it does you” times straight from God’s mouth.
So, this week, I’m hoping you concentrate on listening to what God is telling you. Is he telling you to move on? Is he telling you to step out in faith and do something that seems scary? Have you ever thought about the fact that at some point in time, what is now your comfort zone probably really wasn’t? Case in point, some people’s biggest fear is public speaking. It isn’t mine. I would love to say it never has been, but I very clearly remember the first night I held computer classes for work. The first person walked in, looked at me and said, “I’m so nervous, I think I’m going to throw up”, I replied that I was right there with her and I do remember how nervous I used to be. This week, a coworker put me on the spot to speak at a meeting we were having. I don’t know how many people were there, I would say at least 100. I told her I was going to support her from the back row but that wasn’t the way it ended up. Deal was, it truly wasn’t a big deal. Speaking in public has stopped being something outside of my comfort zone. And I know I have grown because of it.
Now, saying all of this, yesterday, I went to grab a sandwich at lunch. My van needed gas so I pulled into Casey’s. While I was pumping gas, I was approached by this girl with two pamphlets. She told me she just wanted to share information with me about God. I was shocked, took the pamphlets and said thank you so she would walk away. Yep, still in the process of being convicted over that one. So many things I should have said, and I didn’t. Between the fact that I didn’t even say, “I’m a Christian” and the fact that I keep thinking, “wow, what if more of us did that?”. Yep……having an issue. And yes, I am sure that was God telling me to do more and I just failed.
So, I personally am going to work on telling 3 strangers about Christ this week. I am going to also tell you, I may start quite small. I may leave a tract in a public bathroom, and it may end up in the trash, but then again, it might not. I may leave one on the table with a tip, I’ve always thought that was neat but never done it. Notice, I’m not starting with confronting someone at the gas station….baby steps. I have had people tell me that they love this blog, and love that I am doing it, but let’s face it, even though it is more than I was doing last year, it’s pretty easy to hide behind a computer screen.
The last two paragraphs were freebies, trying to get back on track of really listening to what God is telling us, I have picked Love and the Outcome's He is With Us because even though He may have to drag us kicking and screaming sometimes, the one thing we are sure of is He is right there with us all the way.
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