One Day the Rain Will Come

12 

Do not be far from me, my God; come quickly, God, to help me. Psalm 71:12

The ducks in the drainage ditches out front looked so pitiful. There they were five ducks all trying to squeeze into the tiniest puddle of water. The ditches themselves were sad looking with the bottom all cracked and parched, one would have thought it hadn't rained in years rather than just a few months.

There are times in my life when I feel dry and cracked. Some times it's in my marriage when my husband and I seem so busy we can't even take a few moments to sit down and talk. Sometimes it's at church when nothing seems to be going right. Other times it's in my prayer time with God.

During these times it feels like God is far from me and I just need a few drops of His love sprinkled my way. After what someone said last night, I felt discouraged and weary like everything I've done has been for nothing. I prayed and let God know how I felt, and how I know the message I received was not from Him. Still I felt bogged down my this.

I quickly reached out to those prayer warriors I have found over the last few months and each one responded to me with words of encouragement. One even took the time to text the prayer she was praying right to me. Boy, did I feel God raining down on me! Others responded quickly as well and a few even called.

So luckily for me, God did respond quickly! I also know that for this much weariness and discouragement to try and bring me down; God is about to move in a big way!

Our ducks in the ditches are much happier now, rainy season has begun. Our ditches are now overflowing. I know that God's love for me overflows even when I feel dry or discouraged.

Strength, Weariness, & Just Plain Busy

Even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV

Funny, it's hard to believe that youth ever grow tired or weary. The kids who are coming to Vacation Bible School this week are sure full of energy. It's hard to keep up with them after working all day!

I am sorry it has been awhile since I have written. Weariness has begun to wear me down. Every week I have good intentions to sit down and write, but some how my time gets full and once I sit on my couch it sucks me into slumber land.

Our church has been put on a plan to succeed or else. It seems that the older the church the more they want to close it down. The church where I attended as a little girl and where I accepted Christ was closed. Another small church's doors will be closing, and another two churches close to our church may close.

It seems in order to help God's kingdom grow, we have to put in more and more hours at the church. I love serving God and doing the things He asks of me, but some weeks grow tiresome. Especially, when I have put a lot of effort into doing something and the turn out is low.

I often wonder, "why are the bigger churches having more success?" I don't believe they are praying more or trusting in God more than we are. It also seems they have the same small number of people helping to make the programs work, so what is it? Why do these churches grow and the little ones fail?

Often, I have heard it's because the older churches don't want to change, "We've always done it this way." But I'm not so sure that is it. I mean we as a church are willing to change. We are making every effort too, we have put our trust in the Lord, and we are looking at what other churches do. So what is it that makes a difference?

Take this year and getting the word out about our VBS. We passed out 96 moon pies, put out flyers, and even mailed a letter to the local churches to let their children know about our VBS. At first, people wouldn't take the moon pies because it had religious propaganda or their child was allergic to the nuts or eggs. Uggh!

Then by the grace of God, the moon pies were passed out! We received a phone call from one of the letters and he was going to let his 200 children know! Praise God!

Our first night of VBS brought 9 kids. "Nine, really after all this only nine God?"

Sure I am grateful for the 9, but it was discouraging. The next night brought us four more and last night two more arrived!

We will strive on and know that God will work in these 15 children's lives. It just would have been awesome to have so many that our church would be busting at the seams!

I will keep on hoping in the Lord and allowing Him to renew my strength. I still believe His glory will shine even at our small church! We will all be soaring on eagle's wings!

Blessings

If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2 NIV

Have you ever waited for a blessing to arrive? You think, "surely things are going to get better, it just has too I'm doing everything He has asked."

Our church has been given the opportunity to restructure our programs. The process of praying and figuring out what God wants us to do, hasn't been easy. It seems like we are fighting a wall, a nice thick wall that is hard to break through.

We have begun some of these new ideas. God encouraged me to start planning my own Sunday school and Children's church curriculum which I did. He also wanted me to start letting the kids earn tickets and once a month they get to shop. I have done both of these things, maybe not wholeheartedly at first, but I am all on board now. I plan, I write, I research...but I am still waiting for the blessings.

I know without a doubt God has called me to minister to children. My problem is how can I minister to them if they don't come. Sure I teach the children in my day care, but it's not quite the same as teaching children at church. I know the blessings will come, it's just so hard waiting sometimes.

Another idea God gave us was to begin a new service geared toward the youth. We have begun this and I'll be the first one to admit I enjoy it a lot more than Sunday morning service. The music is more upbeat and loud, and I can feel free to move around and praise the Lord. Because of this second service we have been able to minister to twice as many people. Problem though is the last few weeks some of our regulars haven't been there, I just hope it's temporary.

God's blessings have shown up for this service with some people donating lights and a fog machine. Also some youth we've never seen before have attended! The neighbors across the street says he can sit on his front porch and hear the entire service, and joggers or walkers stop for a moment as they pass by our church and enjoy. Maybe one day they'll actually come inside. What a blessing!

Even though there have been some of God's blessings, we're still waiting for more. Our church isn't receiving the donations we need to receive without these it won't be long before the wall closes in and wins. But as one of the Toby Mac songs we did last night says, "move, keep walking soldier keep moving on; move, keep walking, until the morning comes; move, keep walking, soldier keep moving on; and lift your head, it ain't over yet, ain't over yet" 

We will continue to march around the wall until He says "Yell those praises now!" And we will watch as that big wall comes tumbling down. So I will keep being obedient to all God asks of me, and He will bring the blessings to keep His church alive!

Passion

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25 NIV

Almost daily on the news I hear what people are passionate about. Today it was staying up to see the football draft and what it meant for his team. Other times it's someone rescuing dogs from an unsafe situation. Or protesters trying to make known where their passion lies.

What are you passionate about? What can you barely control your temper about when what your passionate about is wronged?

I am passionate about serving God. I want to do everything I can to please Him. Maybe sometimes it seems I am over passionate, especially when I've spent 17 of the last 20 days at church. Some weeks are like that, especially around Easter and Christmas. But hey, I wouldn't have any other way.

I also have a passion for teaching children how much God loves them and He wants what is best for them and so do I. It would be so much easier though if these kids would just get the message the first time and then maybe I wouldn't have to repeat myself so much.

I have a passion for my family. I love when we get to spend time together and play crazy games. In fact, this week a received a call from one of my cousin's excited that she should be able to get to Florida more so we can spend time as a family. I can't wait!

My passion is for the Lord and doing all He asks of me. My hope is that each of us can claim this.

Entrance

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 19:24

On one of our vacations we took the kids to a Kid's Museum. The owner of this place had taken old airplanes, cars, ramps, skateboard parks,...and managed to put them all together in a maze. The place was overwhelming. They could climb and explore thousands of things.

But first we had to get in and I became a little intimidated when I saw to even get in the building I would have to climb up a steep ramp using a rope to pull myself up. I looked and looked for another entrance, but this seemed to be the only way. Somehow I made it up and we were able to get inside. I am kind of glad that this place isn't near us or I would be having to use this entrance a lot because I know it would end up one of our yearly field trip spots.

In this story Jesus' tells, a rich young man approaches Him and simply asks, "What good thing must I do to get eternal life?" This man figures he's probably done this good thing since he's so well off, or if he hasn't done it yet he certainly can since money talks.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Jesus tells him obey the commandments to which he finds out he has obeyed them. Then Jesus gives him the clincher, "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man goes away distraught because he was so wealthy, he didn't want to give any of it up.

The disciples wonder why he can't give away his stuff, and this is when Jesus explain, "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." Now we might be picturing a needle with a little tiny eye, and those of us who have threaded needles now how hard it is to get the thread in the needle. How in the world would a camel ever get through that?

Jesus is actually referring to an entrance into a city. Towns were built with walls around them and during the day, everyone used the gate to come in and out. At night though the gates were closed and if you wanted to enter the city you had to enter through the eye of the needle. For a camel to enter in, everything must be removed from it's back and it had to get down on it's belly and crawl through. I'm sure it must have been a sight, and I would probably just camp outside and wait for the city gate to open in the morning.

In order to enter heaven, we must give up what's holding us back. For the man in this story it was his wealth. For other people it's their pride and for others it could be resentment. There are many things that prevent us from a true relationship with Christ making the entrance hard to climb. Are you willing to take it off so you can enter into heaven? Or are you going to go away distraught because what you carry is of great wealth?

Choice

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 NIV


Funny thing about life it is full of choices. You wake up and you can choose to hit the snooze button or get out of bed. You get to choose what you will wear for the day and what you want for breakfast.

Throughout the day we can choose how we will react to different situations. We can choose which path to take to work. I usually choose to walk down the hall way and head to the kitchen. Then I can choose if I am in the mood to exercise, how long I want to exercise, and which work out video I want to watch.

When the kids misbehave I can choose how much I yell or which punishment they should get. When my husband has a bad attitude, I have a choice as to whether or not I have a bad attitude back. Sometimes I succeed in not reacting, but other times not so well. It really upsets me when he tells me, "stop talking." When I have something to say, he better not try to silence me that just gets me going. Sure I can choose to listen and obey, but it is hard when I need to speak my mind.

There is one choice each one of us gets to make from the time we are born. The Israelites heard this a lot, "choose today whom you will serve." Sometimes they got it right, other times they'd mess up. The good news is even when they messed up, they got the chance to choose again. No matter who we are, where we are born, or where we live we all get a choice. It's the same choice the Israelites had,"to choose today whom you will serve."

Will you serve the TV? Video games? Money? The latest fad? Or will you choose to serve the Lord? 

As for me and my household we will choose the Lord! It's one choice I don't regret.

Sacrifice

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV

Sacrifice, most of us parents knows what it means to sacrifice. We sacrifice new clothes, new shoes, or haircuts all for the benefit of our children. Sometimes we sacrifice eating a meal just to make sure our kids don't go to bed hungry. If our children need it, we are going to find a way to provide it.

Sometimes our time is sacrificed so we can spend time listening to a friend in need. We go out-of-our-way to help out in a time of crisis. We try to help them when they are being evicted. We lay our hands on them and pray for them when they're ill. We do whatever it takes to help make things right.

This past weekend I spent time remembering what one man did for each of us. Before he did this, there were all kinds of sacrifices required for all different types of sin. These sacrifices though did not clean us on the inside, they may have made a difference but it didn't really change anyone.

The ultimate sacrifice was done for each of us 2000 years ago, Christ did a one time good for eternity sacrifice. He was beaten with a whip that had blades on the end. It ripped His skin. They shoved a crown of thorns in His head causing more bleeding. He was spat upon, beaten even more, and made to carry His cross all the way to Golgotha.

There they pounded the nails in his hands and through his feet and then he was raised up and hung on a cross. People there still yelled at Him and told Him to "Save yourself Son of God." The thing was He could have stopped it all at any moment. He could have not gone through the pain and just walked away, who would have blamed Him.

But He didn't it, He went through all of this to take on every sin we could ever commit. He thought of me knowing one day I would screw up so bad with our finances that we could have lost it all. He thought of you and the wrong choices you have made. He thought of each one of us as He hung there that one Friday and asked God to forgive each of us because we no not what we do.

Then He died, He became the sacrifice so if we had a need He could provide it. Don't let His brokenness count for nothing. Accept His sacrifice, it makes an eternal difference.