Shock & Awe

This post is dated just 2 years to the date where the Lord first allowed us to come to Florida. At this time 2 years ago we were hustling around packing for the vacation of a lifetime. We had amazing plans to visit Walt Disney World AND more importantly, meet my hubby's birth~daughter for our first face to face meeting. The kids were so excited to meet a sister they had only heard about from e-mail, pictures and phone calls. You can read a bit about that here. Without that pre-ordained plan to come spend time with her, we probably would have never visited Florida. What an amazing gift we have been given to have her on our lives. Who would have ever figured a simple visit of a lifetime would be the precursor to something way bigger?

As of February 4th, we are the owners of a home that we do not deserve. It is a huge blessing and I can't even comprehend why the Lord would so abundantly give us our hearts desires. Especially after the many temper tantrums I avoided blogging about when I knew I was going to have to sell our last home....... On the outside, I was trying to be excited about this new plan from the Lord. I didn't want to quench His plan by mourning our losses/counting the cost, OUT LOUD. However, in my heart of hearts, I didn't want to. I could only see the reality of giving up my family's fingerprints on that home. The time invested there making memories. I know we are not to hold on to earthy treasures, but I really didn't want to let that one go. Remember in the Old Testament where their mourning was filled with sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth? My dramatic pity party was quite similar to this with the exception that my mourning was all about something that is going to burn.

When I look at the blessing of this house the we just purchased, it is just an amazing testimony of the character of God. While I am so reactionary when He takes away a blessing that we didn't deserve in the first place, He remains the same. He still wants to bless my socks off regardless of if I deserve it. His amazing provisions are not based upon anything I can earn, but about resting in His grace. While this new home doesn't have my family's fingerprints on it quite yet, in some ways I hope it never does. At least not in the same manner my last one did. Effectively being able to use God's provision for HIS glory is all I should be satisfied with. Don't get me wrong, I want to make it inviting, pretty and LESS COLORFUL, but I never want it to take captive a special place in my heart. To make me second guess the fact that God always has our best interest at heart if He wanted us to give it up tomorrow. The difference between Earthly treasures and the things that God finds worth in are quite clear.

Proverbs 24:3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

Isaiah 33:5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

Matthew 6:19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Lord, continue to guard my heart so that what my heart treasures, are reflective of what you find worth in!

Going home again

I know I have been silent for a while and it has been due to a mixture of reasons. In July, I was finishing up school with the kids, getting yearly evaluations done, (state requirement for homeschoolers in Florida) and getting other things in place. I was also making preparations to come back to our family’s home city & state, to rest for a while.

We got to visit family members & close friends that we miss dearly. I have lived in that area since the age of 11 and the kids were all born there, so it is still considered ‘home’ to me. It was just the kids and I that got to go back and my hubby had to stay here in Florida and work since he didn’t have the vacation time available. Even the kids, when faced with the decision to do something fun like Disney World or come back and see family/friends, chose to come visit our former home. We planned to be away for the entire month of August to catch up with and spend quality time with the folks that have meant so much to us and are still a great encouragement. What an amazing blessing! It was so refreshing to see/hear the familiarity of cousins playing together, sharing family stories and old friends sharing their hearts about what the Lord is doing in their lives. It was very relaxing to be in our home church that holds fast to the boldness of the word. Where folks are encouraged to ask for prayer from the whole body, share praises of how God is working in their lives OR get answers from our pastor about where they are reading in the bible that isn’t making sense…….. It is one of the ways our very large church still gets that sense of community with one another as we share in each other’s questions, burdens and victories! Where if someone shares something they are going through, someone else who recently went through something similar can then come to them and share how God brought them through it.

One thing I have always admired about our pastor is his ability to keep it simple while challenging the more mature Christians to dig deeper and make sure he is right on. He is the first one to correct us when we think to highly of Him and gives all the glory to where it is due! You never even have to guess his sin areas as he is the first to point them out to show us he is no different than any of us. He is the first one to ask people to call him Steve rather than ‘pastor’. He says people get weird if you have to be called pastor and can’t be approached as a fellow believer. The title of a pastor is a grand responsibility but doesn’t make him better than anyone else who also loves Jesus and desires to be used by the Lord is less visible ways. Being humble enough to admit his failings puts everyone at ease knowing that no matter how much you grow as a Christian, there is always further growth to be attained! That we are all sinners saved by grace, no one more holy than anyone else! My hubby and I are so fortunate to have served under his leadership to get a great foundation in our own relationships with the Lord. (He would be pretty embarrassed to know I was blogging and telling the world about how awesome he is since not only is he pretty modest but he also knows that it is God that has accomplished these things through him. However this still doesn’t change the fact that I appreciate him so much that I think he may forgive me for expressing this appreciation? Maybe?) If you don’t have this kind of teaching at your home church, but want experience what I am ranting over, you can always listen to him at this site: http://www.calvary-tricities.org/studies.html and download his studies in MP3 format for free!

Anywho, back to our visit........... We were able to see my family and the many people we hold near and dear to us here in the Tri-cities. It wasn’t just blood family members that we looked so forward to visiting with, but many of our church friends that have adopted us and we consider to be family members. Many of these sweet folks were responsible for spiritually parenting me in my late teens and early to late 20’s. The days when I was ‘Too wise in my own eyes’ to listen to my parents. They were faithful to rebuke me when I needed it and show me the truth regardless of if I liked it at the time. In their wisdom, they knew that the truth was a far greater gift than making sure I felt good about what I heard.

I got to see some very special brothers in Christ, who came alongside a man that had no clue of his need for Jesus. However, once he was told of God’s great love for him by these faithful men, had a thirst for Him that was unquenchable! They put up with his un ending questions, hung out with him as he struggled to figure out what this new life in Christ meant, discipled him when he was faced with temptations. In doing so, they played a huge part in making him the man that I later married!

Saying goodbye to all the folks that we love so much was pretty painful and filled with tears for the kids and I. Cousins, adopted ones from church and related were really hard to let go of! However, it was a great reminder that no matter how many miles separate us from those wonderful people, the bonds that Jesus forms together will never be lost, regardless of time or distance! This was proven when relationships just picked up where they left off! For this reason, I am in AWE of how much we are so amazingly blessed by this fact!

There are many things about this place that are so near and dear to my heart, however, at the same time I know it is no longer my ‘home’. Don’t get me wrong, if God said we could move back, there would be NO hesitation! We would find our niches, re-join in all the places we were active and even find some new places to minister where God could stretch us. However, while I will never forget the people, the teaching we grew so fervently under and the standards through which God grew a body from 30 people to 3000, it was a chapter in our lives that is no longer what God has in store for us. While we are still uncertain of the reason why we continue to be in Florida I do know for a fact that we are suppose to be there. Comfort has never been a word used to describe this journey, however, God’s plans rarely have anything to do with our comfort. They mostly entail further purification and dying to self. While speaking with one of my friends back there I was trying to describe this strange place we find ourselves in. The best way I could describe what God was doing with us here was to tell her that this journey is basically much like a 1000 piece puzzle. Eventhough we only have maybe 10 pieces to the puzzle, there is still so much that God, in His divine wisdom, just has not revealed to us quite yet. So our task at hand is to be in His word, prayed up and seeking Him continually. If we are diligently doing this, we will be able to receive the next pieces of the puzzle to His will for us!
Instead of spilling the beans on what we do know and try filling in the blanks with possibilities of how these pieces fit into the grand plan, it is better just to remain silently steadfast in prayer to ask for direction. Some interesting things are on the horizon, that are both exciting, yet scary as we continue to seek the Lord and desire to be used by Him to accomplish His will and not our own. I thank the Lord every day that it is HIS burden to carry the WHY’s, WHEN’s and HOW’s, so that all we really need to do is rest in Him.

God is so good!

Our yard sale fundraiser was a huge success with some much un-needed stuff going away. It is amazing, the statement about one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. There were a couple things like this in our yard sale that you could just tell that God was in control because they are now someone else’s treasure. One of those things was some kitten food that we had from long ago. I think it was well over 2 years old. We put a price tag of 10 cents on it rather than let it go to the garbage. One young lady came to our yard sale and had a brand new kitten that she got from a previous yard sale. It was a perfect treasure to her, since she wasn’t expecting to take home a kitty!
We sold all of our big stuff quite well! Even got to sell John’s desk for the price we asked……. Something we never thought would go!!
Please continue to pray for our house to sell. We showed it the other day but it wasn’t a “no go’, so we continue to pack and ask the Lord for the people He wants to have our home! 10 days left for us here! God is so good and we are learning through the process that Romans 8:28 will be what we cling to until this process is completed!
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
After all He has been faithful in so many other areas in this process, I know He will continue to be faithful. Hugs to all!

Sweetness of the Lord's provision

We all know that the Lord provides for our needs and that while we may not always see how He will provide, He always comes through. Today He used an anonymous fellow brother or sister in the Lord to send us some financial help through the mail. THANK YOU to whoever you are that sent us some gas gift certificates & cash! We are so appreciative of your support and generosity! Big hugs!

2 weeks notice

It dawns on John that in order to be a responsible employee his 2 weeks notice to the county was due yesterday. He had been working on his resignation in anticipation that this dayt would come but it was quite another thing to actually turn it in! He has been waiting for the letter that Lee county said they sent him in the hopes of turing in his resignation with proof "in writing" when his start date at Lee county and proof that God has provided him with another job. To his frustration he hadn't recieved this proof yet so when he prayed about if he should submit his resignation based on faith alone God told him to read Jonah 3.

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey[a]in extent.

In response to this, out of obedience, he put in his resignation last night when he went into work. So far we still do not have the house sold and are searching for a rental in Florida. We are not sure how God will be putting this all together but are "putting one foot in front of the other" till God shows us different.

Things set in motion

Today we put a confirmation date in place to reserve a U~haul truck & trailer. The logistics of our move seem to be falling into place. We are going to go as a family taking the kids on this adventurous road trip. My Dad will accompany us along the journey to trade off driving with me. As we can tell, our departure date for scheduling the move will be on July the 24th.
As we begin to see people at church and at John's work we begin view events as "our last time" doing such and such.
John is reminiscent & sorrowful as he walks the halls at work contemplating the 13 years he has been there. After all it is the place where he has been both saved and unsaved. It was where he was first invited to church. It is a place where he too then went on to lead others to the Lord. It is the place where we first met each other (no I wasn't a former inmate). It is the place that has given him a sense of security and stability during the last decade of his life.
I drive around town reminiscent of what the Tri-cities used to look like when we moved here in 1985. What it will look like when we get the opportunity to come back and visit. As I was looking through some old photographs today God reminded me of the awesome things he did for our family when we moved here from California. He provided my dad with a good job, he provided us all with friends we could count on in a place where family was sparce & He just took care of all the details for us. As things begin to become more real and God's plan begins to unfold daily I am just so thankful that He has it all under control!

He was offered a job

Just wanted to let you all in on the latest news about Florida. We were expecting a call last week (June 16 thru 20th) or this week (June 23-27) telling us when John's start date would be there is Lee County. Yesterday June 26the we heard from them and got his start date so, today John let his current employer plan out his departure date!

He needs to be in Florida by August 1st to pick up his uniforms and make sure they fit properly. His start date for Academy is August 7th. This means, from my feeble understanding, that we all must be moved to Florida by August 1st ? So, please be praying that the Lord would work out the details in His timing.

This news, to me, comes as a kind of 'bitter but sweet'. The bitter part……. Until we got the news of our departure date, it was quite nice to live in ignorance, not knowing what God was doing but also reveling in the possibility that there really was no finality and that MAYBE God could still 'change his mind'? He He! I know kind of silly! Now that it is really happening it has given us the ability to grieve for what we will be leaving behind which has been a bit tough.

The sweet part is that it does mean that the Lord is working out the plan He has set before us and He is confirming it through our situations. I am sure there will be many more sweet things to follow as things continue to unfold.

Some things to be praying about:

~ Our house to sell, as we can't afford to move without this going through.

~ God would give us clarity on the logistics of the move; if we should do it ourselves or hire a company.

~ How to get down there; if God would want me and the kids to fly or drive with the caravan.

~ We would be content and not anxious with the idea of NOT having all the details in place but would be able to rest in the Lord to provide answers in His time!

Just to let you all know, these are ALL the details we have at present. If you are wondering what we are going to do if our house doesn't sell……… well I am not quite sure and will begin to cross that bridge when we come to it. There are many logistical questions I have laid at the Lord's feet so please if you could just do this with me I would really appreciate the extra prayers!

With much prayer, a plan unfolded

As many of you may have read in my last blog God had begun speaking to us about how content we were here in our home, our church and our lives…….. We knew coming back from our vacation God was going to ask us to move…….. We were just not really certain or receptive to where He wanted us to go until we got home and began seeking the Lord. It took me a long time to blog about our trip because one of the things I WAS SO GENUINLY GRATEFUL for was that we got to VISIT Florida but we didn’t have to live there. After all, if it is 80 degrees and 50% humidity in February, summer has got to be HORRIBLE for us who have for so long ENJOYED our DRY HEAT! I was all open to move and go where God wanted us to go until I heard the answer…….. Places I had in mind were anywhere out of the USA, Montana, Idaho, or some other rural northern hemisphere state where there are visibly 4 seasons……. Somewhere either so far that I couldn’t even fathom what an adventure God would have in store or moving so close that it wouldn’t feel like we had moved that far away at all. Ya know, so close I would still get to see the family a couple times a year and so on. It was when I began to blog how grateful I was to not live in the beautiful state of Florida, God began to change my heart. What this more had to do with was feeling like a ’fish out of water’ while there or that because of our income bracket we were not good enough to live in a place such as this. The people I thought were ’unreachable’ due to their worldly wealth & financial status were EXACTLY the people God wanted for us to reach out to! I would argue with the Lord and explain (as if I ever really explain anything to God) do you realize this would mean a huge cut in pay? DO you realize how long it has taken John to get to where he is at in his position at work? He is committing career suicide! Do you realize the cost of living is much higher there than it is here? How can we take a pay cut and do the higher cost of living? On and on went the list of endless reasons WHY the whole thing didn’t make sense, why we couldn’t/shouldn’t move to such a place! It was then that I had a bit of clarity. Remember back when you first became a Christian and you KNEW God spoke to you because it wasn’t something you could have dreamed up yourself and besides that it didn’t really make sense unless it WAS God? Remember the times where you were so broke that you HAD to depend on the Lord and PRAY HARD for His provision to come through because there was no plan B in the savings account? Light bulb moment! Then God gave me this scripture in Nehimiah 4. The first part goes like this:

1 But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?"3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, "Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall."

What I learned from this part is DON’T MOCK, COMPLAIN, MUTTER about WHAT THE LORD IS DOING! Don’t question and already decide that His way will lead to failure. DO NOT assume circumstances should be logical and if they don’t add up, God will give you clarity! Don’t think that a lack of logic can hinder from doing the Lord’s business! There is a reason why God is called the hound of heaven!
Here is the second part:
4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! 5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders. 6 So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, 8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. 9 Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night. 10 Then Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall." 11 And our adversaries said, "They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease." 12 So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, "From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us." 13 Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

I know it is long but it was meaningful……. God is merciful and although I was muttering and complaining about His plan he was going to forgive me and take care of us! Basically God was letting me know that while I didn’t need to know all the circumstances, HE was the one in charge of the details. This passage also came as a warning that was kinda scary. Following Him through this journey was not going to be easy. We were going to get attacked……. Not just attacked but that Satan was going to try to use every tool he had to divide our family and keep us from doing what the Lord wanted us to accomplish down there! It was quite descriptive here how heavily under fire these people were! Jesus commanded them to surround themselves with prayer and to be on guard with their swords by their sides. In this I was coming to grips that we needed to depend of God FAR MORE than we have in our comfy spot but to be completely covered in His spirit. Not being unified in our walks with the Lord, daily spending time in His word and filling ourselves with the Holy spirit constantly would lead us to falter in completing the task He has set before us. The Israelites had a plan and as long as the listened to the Lord HE would give them the man power to build the wall!
15 And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 16 So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. 17 Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. 18 Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, "The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us." 21 So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared. 22 At the same time I also said to the people, "Let each man and his servant stay at night in Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by night and a working party by day." 23 So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.
God had multiple tasks He wants for us to accomplish down there; each person in the family will have a task. While the work will be hard, tiresome and maybe even seemingly impossible at first if it is designed by God He will give it purpose and see it through to fit His purpose. As one of our dear friends said when we were laying out the details of this journey "Even if only one person gets saved as a result of this move, will it be worth it?"

Some other scriptures God has been giving to John are as follows:
Matthew 9: 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."
Exodus 3: Basically Moses is arguing with God about leading the Isrealites out of Egypt and telling God it would be impossible…… cue burning bush!

John 4: 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ’There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ’One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."

Acts 13-15…..

WE are not sure what our purpose will be down there besides that we are to be witnesses of Christ. You see, my God knows me too well! The moment HE begins to give me details I figure out way to MAKE IT happen rather than going with the flow and allowing GOD to do things through me! I tend to run a few steps ahead of the Lord when I have too much information so this lack of info makes me more reliant on Him and His will which is a VERY good thing. John has put in several applications down there. He would really like to go out on the road to be a cop….. This is something he has dreamed of doing for a long time now and each time he has asked God about it God has said no. So, if this is another no please pray that his heart can receive it. He knows that wherever God has for him to work, it will nothing more than a place of tent-making in an effort to lead people closer to the Lord and not for personal fulfillment/gain.
Timing…… well God has been telling us the time is NOW to put our house on the market so we are busy getting it prepared and we are excited to see what God will do. If it takes a perfect! while to sell at least I will get to enjoy all the hard work I put into painting! :o) We will not move down there until John has landed a job so until then if you could just be praying that God’s timing would be.

It all started with a simple vacation

Ok, I told you all I would blog what happened on our trip to Florida....... sorry it took me so long to get this far. The time spent relaxing and enjoying my family was amazing. Away from all obligations and responsibilities; just enjoying one another's company without the chaos was un-imaginably AWESOME! Being in temperatures consistently ABOVE 50 degrees in February was a welcome change as well. Swimming in the Ocean, collecting tons of shells, washing sand out of everyones britches, was loads of fun. There is just so much to tell so I will try to get it all in!
On to the important part....... the reunion went with John's daughter Sarah........ It was rather awkward and un-natural at first due to a bit of history that I will share. Many of you are not aware that when she met up with her birth mother it was a horrible, scary, manipulative, dangerous experience for Sarah and Matt (her fiancé, now husband). Sarah decided, after getting to know her BM, she desired a closer/deeper relationship with her. In an effort to accomplish this she accepted her BM invitation to come live with the BM and her family. While John and I were very surprised & scared about this decision we at least knew she wasn't 'leaving' her adoptive family to do this but was actually moving closer to them, since the BM and her adoptive parents live in the same town. She & Matt packed up her things and moved 4 hours away from Naples (where Matts family lives) to Gainesville. After some huge warning flags, deception and inconsistencies began rearing their ugly head, she and Matt moved out within 3 weeks. I will spare you the ugly details! We, at this time, lost contact with her since she was now at a loss of if we too were as unpredictable & crazy as her BM. She had to move several times within Gainesville in an effort to hide from her BM because her BM began to harass/stalk she & Matt. Finally after getting married they decided to move back to Naples where they knew they would be far enough away from the BM that she wouldn't bother them. We, unfortunately, heard all the scary details of what took place and it is by the grace of God and her adoptive parents wisdom, that kept them safe from harm.
SO meeting us she and Matt were understandably, a bit skeptical of what they would find. At first they were a bit reserved but after a day or 2 of hanging out she began to get more comfortable with us. I am sure the kids chatting her ear off and asking a bazillion questions put her at ease as well! Probably the biggest highlight of our trip for my kids was meeting their sister! Granted we spent a couple days at Disney world and a day at Seaworld but if you listen to what they talk about most, it is about their sister! We spent 4 days with Sarah. She came down to Orlando and met up with us at Seaworld and then we all drove back that evening to Naples. They pretty much spent all their waking hours with us. We saw all the sights and pretty beaches. On Sunday and Monday we took road trips where Sarah would jump into our car and we toured Miami/Hollywood. I think those are the times John and I will cherish most. When we were in the car it was like all the guards were off and they began to speak very frankly about their lives past and present. We got to hear about her childhood and how wonderful her adoptive parents are! This was such an amazing blessing to hear! She too got to hear about the timing of her birth, who John was back then and that he thanks God everyday that he didn't interfere with the adoption.
We visited the Calvary in Naples Florida. This was a very neat experience for several reasons! It was a small church body so this was neat & reminiscent of our intimate fellowship here in the Tri-cities, before we grew......... There probably only around 50 people there and we visited on the day when they had a special presentation. Potters field ministries from Troutdale, Montana was visiting and shared why, where & how God had molded and shaped their lives to get to the point on where they are now at in their ministry! If you have never seen them it is a very cool visual presentation of a potter at work with the clay. If you are a visual leraner your heart can't help but be moved! It was so neat to listen to all the work that the Lord had done in them in order for them to step out in their ministry! Some of their points that touched us the most I wanted to share with you all .
1. The clay never gets to tell the potter how to shape it or what to do. The clay is silent and pliable into whatever the Lord desires of it! Many times in our Christian walks we are still a freshly unmolded lump of clay. The reason this is so, is because we are so busy telling our Heavenly father how we should be shaped that there is no room to be molded. In doing this we stay stuck as that lump and our hearts can get hardened to the Lord's will for us. Since we are stuck we can't ever even begin to invision the finished product that God sees. HE doesn't look at us as we are right now, but instead he sees the amazingly beautiful finished product. The potter, in his minds eye, always knows what he will make before he begins to touch the clay. If we have our eyes on Jesus rather than ourselves or our situation, then we too begin to see glimpses of the finished product. Since we are no longer having our eyes on ourselves and they are focused on Jesus our hearts will not turn hard and brittle but will be ever molded & shaped into His image.
2. We are too comfortable/complacent! There are times in our lives that we get quite comfortable with where we are at. Comfortable with the friendships we have, comfortable with our worldly possessions, comfortable with our family size, comfortable with our home church, content in our job situations. Don't get me wrong, contentment is a great goal to strive for and it is what God calls us to on a daily basis. However, contentment in some ways, can also be a place of false security and complacency. For example, anyone who is not content with their job is more than willing for God to move them out of their discomfort/discontentment.......... In John and my life, despite our best efforts to acheive change, this has been the times when we are forced to stay right where we are at till God reaches our hearts and molds us into who He wants us to be in that situation. It is when we are content, that God can now challenge our walk and do a work in our heart by following His lead. Contentment can lead to a life that keeps us complacent in our walk with the Lord if we are relying our situation not changing. Nothing is really required in a life where our needs are clearly met. We do depend on God for the provision He gives to us, but when provision comes so easily and predictably I tend to rely on the predictability of that provision rather than the Lord who gave it to me! You see, there was no striving to trust that He would do so.
They talked a bit about Peter, when God called him out of the boat. His reaction was not to barder, argue or protest but to simply follow and let God take care of the rest. Again, the clay can't be shaped if it is telling God what to do or how to provide. A couple years ago, if John was called out of the boat (away fromt he jail) he would have signed his resignation papers the very same day. He was not content with his position there. Now that he is very content the Lord began to challenge him in this. What if I now told you to get out of the boat? Would you go WHEREVER I wanted to send you and not think twice about obeying me?
These 2 things really spoke to our hearts and so now we are praying about why they ministered so deeply! Please be praying for us as we are seeking the Lord for answers!!