REWIND: A Quick Thought On Boldness!

~What is boldness? It's daring to throw yourself out onto the promises of God. To believe that He has only good things in store for you, and refusing to accept anything less. It's forgeting about yourself, and your image, and your reputation, and YOU. It's facing rejection, not once, not twice, but daily. It's living on the edge; refusing to settle, back down, become complacent, or stop taking ground. Man, what a lifestyle.~

The above is something I posted several months ago. It's kind of funny, when I'm feeling down, or discouraged, I'll often go back and look at things that I've posted before! It's such a surprising encouragement - I love it.

At the end of last year, I was invited to go to Guatemala in February and visit my best friend. (This will be my first mission trip!) When I prayed about it, I felt like the Lord very clearly said, "Yes, go." So since early November, I've been preparing to leave.

Every step of the way, no matter how simple the step there have been OBSTACLES. And through out a pervasive sense of "rush, rush, rush, hurry, hurry, hurry...Sam! You're holding everyone up!!" Clearly, it's the enemy.

I'm finding it so hard not to indulge in severe discouragement. I keep reminding myself that God is watching over me, that He's directing my steps, but I think my "Word levels" are low. So I guess my suggestion to anyone who is facing difficulties right now: DO be faithful in spending some time in the Word every day! Reading encouraging scriptures recharges your batteries and keeps your heart in the place of rest that God has prepared for every believer! (Speaking of rest, I think I'm going to go do that right now....!)

I post this scripture a lot, but it's so TRUE!! Chew the cud with me:

Jeremiah 29 :11-13
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 upon 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.

Miriam: The Smart Older Sister

Do you ever think about the story of Moses from Miriam's viewpoint? I was thinking about that tonight and I realized something (aka God pointed something out to me); Miriam let her Mother put Moses in a basket in a river.

That's right. Think about that!! She actually let her Mother place her baby brother in a basket in the NILE. That just blows my mind.

I never thought about it like that before. Man, if that had been me, I would have fished my little brother out of the river and tried to make a run for it with him all by myself. I also would have been angry with my mother for committing what I would have viewed as infanticide! But if Miriam had taken Moses out of the river, it was very likely that he would have been killed. Someone would have caught her with him before she could get out of Egypt (duh, since they were slaves!) and Moses would have been toast.

But Miriam was bright enough to leave her brother where he was. She didn't abandon him, but she didn't take control of the situation.

I'm protective. I'm also loyal. I'm also a control freak. I hear a sweet motherly woman saying "Awww..." but the truth is that particular combination when it's not Spirit-led is pretty lethal.

Miriam stayed close by and available, but she didn't butt in until God nudged her to. Man! I could sure take some lessons for her. It's so hard to leave someone in what seems to be a dangerous situation when you're as nosy as I am. But that's why you have to be close to God. Because sometimes people have to reach a low point before they cry out to God on their own. Sometimes they have to drown a little before they reach out to God from their hearts. If you keep propping them up and propping them up, that baby will never grow beyond baby food. And I doubt that child will walk on it's own, much less swim!

God is always involved. I guess what I'm saying (and I seriously need to learn this RIGHT NOW) is wait until He tells you to do something before you intervene. Release your loved one to God. 'Cause what looks to be a dangerous situation may just be the boat ride to salvation!

1Cor. 1:19
For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

1Cor. 2:9&10
However, it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Leaps of Faith

For the last year, the Lord has been training me for my future. He's been gentle and calm with me, so I haven't had a hard time trusting Him. I've been able to see where He was going with each decision and change to my schedule. The only thing that has been growing and stretching is my idea of what I can do and what gifts I have. I've been able to see the conclusion of every step and pretty much knew where He was leading me.

Until now.

One day a couple weeks ago, I was in my bed and almost asleep when my Mom knocked on my door. It was pretty late and everyone knew I had work in the morning, so I was startled by the knocking on the door! But Mom had a cell phone in her hand and my Dad was on the other end and he had news for me. Evidently, one of the customers he was driving (my dad works at a limo company) worked for an assisted living facility and this place needed an extra hand in their restaurant.

Every other time I've tried to consider leaving Starbucks, I've always gotten a serious and firm "No." when I brought the idea to God. I was more than ready for another stop light, so it was shocking to feel like I was supposed to interview! Once I registered that, I still had an onslaught of "I don't know if I'm what they're looking for... Maybe I'll get freaked out by working around all those old folks...." Still, very persistent, was the impression I was supposed to go interview.

So I did. (There is WAAAAAAAAAAAY more to the story, a series of incidents that were obviously God-arranged, but I'm not going to tell all of that right now.) I interviewed on Monday, and I'm supposed to hear back from them tomorrow.

I'm just sitting here, thinking about my life for the past year and a quarter, and I'm realizing I have no idea what this next step is leading to. I have no idea if I'll get the job. Normally, I'd be freaking out, or at least very unsettled, but all is calm and quiet inside. I've been hearing the call of God to start leaping without looking and it's been very cool to begin practicing. I may not be able to see where I'm going to land, but that's fine. This is exactly the kind of trust I need to develop.

One more time:

Jeremiah 29 :11-13 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 upon 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.

God is good!

Another Look At Our Testimony

All right folksies, this is the last post about faith and trust. (Do I hear cheering?? O_O) I hope you all got something from it! If nothing else, it's helped me to be bolder about believing God for big things. Remember how I said that I have a history or subconscious database of expected behavior for my parents? That history of expected behavior helps me to lean on them when I need help. Well, I wanted to tell you that there is a history of expected behavior for us in our relationship with God! It's called our testimony!! Think back. How many times has the Lord saved you from something? That time a car almost hit you, or the time you didn't think you had enough money to pay a bill but it got paid somehow, or the time you needed help with school, or the time your car wouldn't start, or the time you got lost. What were the first words out of your mouth? "Oh Lord!" These are all things that you asked God for help with. Maybe you weren't even a Christian then, so you didn't have a reason to trust God, but you asked Him for help anyway. And He came through for you. Those memories and those experiences help us to get into the habit of relying on God. But if we just take those victories and forget about them, they don't really do us any good. As we share our testimony, not only does it encourage the people listening, but our own hearts get blessed! I can't tell you the number of times that I've been sharing something the Lord did for me with someone and it ministered to me! I'll be telling someone about a breakthrough, and hearing that story again encourages me in another area of my life. It makes me want to jump out and believe God for big things, just entrust my life to His hands fully! Dwelling on that act of God's mercy and love will help bond your heart to God's. Psalm 71:5&6 O Lord, you alone are my hope. I've trusted you, O LORD, from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother's womb you have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising you! So share the victories that God has given you, big or small. Someone out there needs to hear it, plus you'll be cheered by telling it!! God bless you all!! Sam

A Revelation About Faith And Trust

So cool, that last post had a lot of interesting thoughts and observations. But where was I going with all of that? What's the result? Where's the revelation? (Watch closely now, because this is going to hit you fast!)

Exercising your faith produces trust! Faith (mature faith) becomes trust!

Wham-O. Are you still there? I did warn you!! That's a pretty big claim to make without evidence, so I'd like to share a couple of stories with you. God has taken such good care of me. He always gives me favor with people, and He'll pay my way if I give Him even half a chance!

When I was in college, one semester the bill came and I didn't have the money to pay for the part that wasn't covered by loans. My Mom was handling all my financial stuff at the time, but with this bill, she did something different. She handed me the bill and she said, "I don't know what to do about this. You're going to have to deal with this." This was soon after I turned my life over to God, so I took the bill and went upstairs to my closet. In the dark, surrounded by hanging clothes, I started talking to God. "Dad, I don't have the solution for this. I don't have the money for it. There isn't anything that I can do."

"But You have the solution. I know You want me to finish school, so I'm going to believe that You'll pay this bill for me." Immediately, Phillipians 4:19 popped into my head.

Phillipians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Over the next couple weeks, I made up a confession and spent time in my closet just thanking God for taking care of me. The due date for the bill came and passed, and then the school contacted us. It turned out that they were going to increase the amount of my loan to cover the part I couldn't pay! Praise the Lord!

Now, I'm not saying, "Trust God for loans to pay all your bills temporarily" but at the time, that was where my faith was. I could believe God for that and, while I'm certain I was limiting Him and His goodness, it was still a break through for me! We all have to start somewhere, so don't feel badly if you start out believing God for something small.

When you decide to rely on God's provision for you, exercising your faith like that produces a history of expected behavior. It changes your mindset from "I have to take care of myself." to "God always provides for me!" In the beginning, it doesn't make logical sense to trust in a Being you've never seen for your welfare, but to your spirit (which is always in the presence of the Lord) it makes perfect sense! Eventually, you can train your mind to line up with your spirit. You can come to a place where you EXPECT God to take care of you. (This is that renewing your mind stuff we talked about earlier!)

Jeremiah 29:11&12
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

You'll grow to the point where, whatever the challenge, the first thing you'll want to do is talk to God. He will be your answer for every question. It will spring up out of your heart naturally, without your having to do anything particularly fancy or spiritual.

About a year ago (after the incident with the school bill), I had to go to the hospital for some testing. Because of some issues with our health insurance, it wasn't covered. My Mom didn't know what we were going to do about the bill, since we'd been having some financial difficulties. I had been spending time with God, reading my bible, and getting to know Him better, so I honestly wasn't very worried. In my heart, I just couldn't work up any concern. I don't remember my exact reply to her, but I do know I reminded her of the school bill and said the Lord would take care of it.

(Side note: When you are first learning to rely on God, some people are going to have a hard time when you say that God will take care of you. It can sound to them like you just don't want to deal with the issue. My advice is to be very nice, very respectful, and don't get mad. You don't have to force people to agree with you! God will bless you whether anyone agrees with you or not!)

Some time later, my Mom called the hospital to set up a payment plan. I wasn't around for the beginning of the phone call, but I wandered into the room as she was hanging up. Boy, was she excited!! "Sam, guess what!!! I just called the hospital and they said your bill has already been paid!" I started laughing and Mom grabbed my arm and gave me a little shake! "It gets better! I asked the lady if the health insurance had covered it after all, and she said NO!! She said that she can tell that the health insurance didn't pay for it, but the balance on that account is zero!!" God had supernaturally paid my medical bill!

If some of you are stuck in religion, you're going to have a hard time with what I'm about to say next. I never prayed about that bill! I never asked God to pay that bill for me!! The previous challenges that I'd faced had proved in my heart that God was my only source. The image of my Father was so clear in my heart that it didn't matter what came against me. That bedrock trust gave God the freedom to just keep the blessings flowing on my behalf!

Proverbs 3:5&6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

I'm going to close now. I tried so hard to keep this message short, but oh well. ^_^ There is one more chapter to this series, and I'll try to resist posting it for a couple days. I hope this is blessing you!!

Hugs,
Sam

The Difference Between Faith And Trust

Do you ever hear someone say a word and think you know how to spell it, but actually, you don't? You look at the CORRECT spelling and think it looks weird?? Happens to me all the time. *shakes head sadly* Worse, I'll think that I know something - that I understand it thoroughly and completely - when really, I've just memorized a fact. There isn't any depth of understanding, it's just a one-dimensional fact.

Earlier this week, I started thinking about trust. I know what faith is, but what is trust? I was tempted to get out my concordance and the dictionary and work it out logically, but instead I turned to God. (He'll teach you things if you ask Him. Sometimes, He'll use a song to talk to you, or another person, or sometimes, you'll just hear His words in your heart.)

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Proverbs 3:5&6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

These were the verses that automatically jumped to my mind. One has a song that I love attached to it. The other I accidentally memorized from a Kenneth Hagin tape! (He had a unique, memorable rhythmn to his speech.) Since I wanted to exercise that spot in my heart that is always connected to God, I decided not to look anything else up. I just stretched out on our couch and kept repeating these verses over and over, mulling and chewing on them, listening for the Lord. Eventually a train of thought started.

Proverbs 3:5&6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Trust is natural. It's not something we can force. I trust my parents because they took good care of me when I was growing up. When I needed food, they fed me. When I cried, they comforted me. When I almost fell off the couch, they caught me. All of this interaction has built a history or subconscious database that lets me know what to expect from my parents in any given situation. When I ask my dad for help, I don't have to think back on all the times that he's come through for me, but I could if I wanted to.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is a choice. Faith moves me to do something. It could be anything. I might make an internal decision, or give something away, or speak a confession, or go do something, but faith contains some sort of action. In the bible, the lady who had the issue of blood hoped to be healed by Jesus. So she (I could take this back even further, but I'm going to be nice. =P) decided to find Jesus, left her house, traveled to where Jesus was, pushed through the crowd, stretched out her hand, and touched the edge of His cloak.

Trust is natural, confident reliance on something. Faith is acting like you have a natural, confident reliance on something.

You still with me? Good! I've noticed that I try to cram a lot of information into one post and I'm thinking that for some people it's a hard slog! So, I'm going to make my posts shorter, but more often. I'll post more on this subject in the next day or so. Be blessed!

YWM And Talks About God

This past Wednesday, our church had our first young women's meeting! It was WONDERFUL!! (Check out Sarah's blog for a picture and her take on the evening.) We had about twelve young ladies attend and I think everyone came away with something to think about. God has been so good to all of us and I know He's going to take us waaaaay further than we could even imagine.

So! On with my post! I have a theory. Struggles and problems stem from a misunderstanding of who God is. (Wasn't that short and sweet?)

For every issue that I've dealt with in my life, I've been able to trace it back to a basic misunderstanding of God. When I realize that God is kind, that God is trustworthy, that He isn't angry with me, that He's full of joy, that He's GENTLE, He's full of patience, and most importantly He LOVES ME, it changes everything.

One of my biggest challenges is that I'm a pretty cerebral person. I love to logic things out. When I get into a mess, I tend to want to work it out for myself. Even when I say that I'm trusting God, it's more like, "Ok, I'm trusting God! So with the power of God flowing through me, I'm going to fix this!!" And then when I make it worse, I've found myself asking God why He failed me!!! >_<

Trusting God means that you have completely taken your hands off and surrendered the problem to God. Sometimes, He'll guide you through certain steps to get out of the muddle. Other times (and this is where I've been falling down!), He needs you to just leave the problem with Him.

If I had the full revelation of who God is, it would change my thought patterns. Instead of automatically jumping in to fix stuff on my own, I'd relax, lean back and watch God work. Instead of feeling condemned and stressed when I've done something stupid, I'd apologize and then feel free!

The good news is, the more you hang out with God (like praying or reading your bible, or something of that sort) the better you get to know Him. I've started hanging certain scriptures on my wall. Ones that are encouraging, or talk about a certain characteristic of God are especially good. I can think about those as I clean my room or get ready for work and it cements the image of that aspect of God in my heart. This is the whole "renewing your mind" thingie that pastors are always talking about! =)

I hope this helps. (I haven't arrived, but I've left and I'm not giving up!!)

Love ya,
Samantha

Enjoying The View From The Rock

So recently, I've been re-re-evaluating everything. As I sail through life, things pop up and the way I react to them affects my flow. I'm learning to just run to God with anything and everything. Feeling unsettled? "Father!!" Saw something funny? "Hey Dad, guess what!" Tempted to get ticked off at someone? "Hold me back Lord!!"

When I was younger, I clung to my older brother when anything really disturbed me. I expected him to make me feel better. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. But that wasn't really fair to him. I tried to make him my solid spot, and people get smushed when you stand on them.

As I develop a deeper relationship with God, I've found that every time I'm troubled inside, He has the answer. I can get my focus back on my Strong One and either everything changes, or everything shrinks back to the right size in my mind. Problems aren't huge anymore. My schedule isn't overloaded. I can see again the progress that God has made in my life.

From this I will not be shaken, my God is my rock and my strength. I will find rest in Him.

Ps. 100: 1 - 5
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Trusting God

Whichever way we go in life, we have to consult God for directions. Whatever we want to do, whatever result we want to see in our lives, God has the answers.

Have you ever found yourself somewhere and you have no idea how you got there? Not literally, but figuratively. Sometimes, because of pressure or fear, we take the easy road or a detour and suddenly, we wind up somewhere insane!

Example: I'm graduating college in a couple weeks. I'll have a degree in culinary arts, one that I worked very hard for. But the sad thing is, I'm not passionate about culinary and I know that I don't want to cook for the rest of my life.

Praise God, I know that God can use the skills I've obtained, plus, I know that I've grown a LOT in culinary school. It wasn't a complete waste of time. But what would have happened if I had trusted God in the first place and asked Him what He wanted me to do?

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Blessings,
Samantha