Who Is Really In Charge?

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say, "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of the glory of our great God, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11-13 NIV

Have you ever thought, "I didn't think it would be like this?" I know I have.

Today my Bible lesson taught me something new, it's so much fun to learn something new especially when it hits you in the head like a two-by-four. There are times when I am like Sarah. I try to control the situation and not let God handle it.

A lot of times, I really think I have left it with God and then I end up doing what I think He's asking me to do anyway. Then somehow it turns out, maybe it wasn't God's plan it was mine.

Last summer we were setting up for Splash Day at our church. The problem was it was thundering, now how are we supposed to have a water day outside when there is lightning and thunder. We still had time for this to go away, but it was troubling trying to figure out what we should do.

I checked the radar and it looked like it was supposed to move past us quickly, and yet it lingered. I also checked my calendar for possible dates we could reschedule, but that didn't seem like a possibility. So we pressed on. This day was to be a community outreach day to help build the bond between our church and the community, so it was important!

I need to share that these community outreach days are very important to our church right now. We are under the radar to improve our church attendance and finances. The pressure for these events to be successful are pretty great.

"In the name of Jesus, I command the storm to go away," I shouted out over and over again to be answered with a rumble of thunder. My control wanted it to stop setting up and my control said to myself, "this is going to be a terrible turn out." My control even wanted to leave.

We stuck it out though and through God's control the storm went away during the time of the Splash Day. We had a record number of families show up, gave away all of the school supplies, and even connected with a couple of new families in the neighborhood.

So when I stepped out-of-the-way God's grace appeared and His blessings were shared with those around our community.

Each time I try to take over, I need to remember who is really in charge? Because I really didn't think it would be like this.

Waiting...It's So Hard

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NIV

Can you imagine having to wait? Some of us get frustrated if we have to be in line more than ten minutes. We go to the express lanes, get the Fast Passes at amusement parks, we zap our food in the microwave, we'll drive around town until we find a restaurant with less than a five minute wait...we don't like to wait.

It's amazing how the cell phone has changed us. Now when we have to wait we turn our focus to our cell phones, maybe something exciting happened on Facebook or Instagram and we wouldn't want to miss it. We even hand off our cell phones to our kids so they can play a game while waiting, or we get them their own phone. We don't want them to get impatient.

Last week while grocery shopping my waiting tolerance was being tested. When I go to check out I always look at each line and I try to get in the shortest line. There was a cashier without anyone in her line, so I headed her way. At about the same time a couple of ladies also noticed her and headed her way. I didn't try to rush in front of them because I had three times as many items in my cart as they did, I didn't want them to have to wait for me.

Turns out, I should have gone in front of them. Even though they didn't have many items their way of paying took forever! One of them had a Visa gift card. The cashier tried to use it and put in an amount and it seemed good until the friend realized the cashier didn't use the entire amount on the card. So the cashier tried to fix it, and for some reason this wasn't working. So she canceled everything and started again. Still no luck, the card wasn't processing. The Cashier Manager came over and he couldn't get it to work either. After several minutes another Manager came over, and finally the problem was resolved. The lady who had the gift card never registered it. Finally, fifteen minutes later it was my turn!

I could have put my stuff back in my cart and gone to another register or I could have rushed in front of them before they even had a chance, but instead I waited! A couple times we even had a conversation with each other, imagine that.

There are times when I have to wait on the Lord to answer my prayers. During these times I think and pray about what I am waiting for. Sometimes I even try to figure out if there is something I am supposed to be learning during the waiting. Should I change something I am doing? Then I continue to wait until I know if this is God saying "No, not now." Because sometimes He has better plans.

Waiting can be hard, but during the waiting we learn patience and how to be stronger. So next time you have to wait do so with joy and take a moment to be still and know God.

Hope Refreshed

By all this we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 2 Corinthians 7:13 NIV

There is this plant I keep near my front door, it's there because I haven't really figured out where to plant it yet. This plant is interesting. One day it looks full of life, leaves full and occasionally a flower. The next day though it looks like it's about dead, the leaves are dried up and the flowers have fallen off.

The crazy thing is once I give it a little water, refreshment; within a couple of hours the leaves are opening back up. It looks alive once again. It doesn't take much water either, just a cupful.

The last few weeks have been rather challenging ones for me. I have felt take advantage of and unworthy. I simply can't figure out why things are not happening. I am patiently waiting, but still nothing. Every once and awhile there is a glimmer of hope, but it's short lived when something else happens.

I have questioned if I am even supposed to keep doing what I've been doing. I believe I am following God's calling on my life, but right now I am getting little results. Then again maybe I am only supposed to minister to a few rather than a bunch.

A few times these past couple weeks as I have driven to church, I have had to fight back tears as I wonder why. I feel dried up.

My Tuesday night Bible study group though helps refresh me. Last night was another night where I felt dried up and was questioning things. The tears were ready to fall, but I fought back since I was driving to church. Somehow during the sharing, laughing, and diving into the Bible I got the "water" I needed. I came away feeling much better than when I arrived.

I am not planning on giving up on God's calling on my life. Even though there maybe days I feel dried up, I will continue to get refreshed and filled up with the living water. I know God has good plans for me.