But God

On this past Monday, I had a but God experience. If you're thinking, so what's a but God experience.  It's when something happens in a situation or circumstance that is normally impossible, out of the ordinary, highly unlikely in the natural scheme of things.  It's when God intervenes to alter the natural order of things.  It's when you experience what you absolutely know to be a miracle. It's mind boggling.  For me, it was all of the above and life-saving.

In the morning after the gym and breakfast and a two mile walk in the park, I was in the car on the way from downtown to get the car washed. Traveling south on 20th Street, I began to feel sleepy, very sleepy.  Let the window down, and confessed I'm awake and alert.  The next thing I heard was this loud crash, saw a concrete wall up close, and white airbags deployed, all in one split second. Oh my God, I've crashed into a wall. The impact knocked the car back into one lane of northbound traffic. Put the car in park, turned off the ignition, picked up my phone from the floor, grabbed my purse, and got out.  Heard a woman's voice asking if I were okay?  Strangely unshaken and questioning what just happened, I responded, yes I'm fine.  And I was.

What happened, I was thinking then just as you probably are now?  I went to sleep, foot on accelerator, car traveled across three lanes, two of them oncoming traffic, hit a concrete retaining wall, and was pushed back into one lane of oncoming traffic.  But God, I hit no other car, no other car hit me.  But God, the passenger side of the car hit the wall sustaining major damage from the impact.  But God, I sustained NO injuries. 

The following day God reminded me of how His Word never returns void or empty, and accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent.  I remembered my daily prayer confession of Psalm 91 for the past 15+ years.  I am especially mindful of the last three verses personalized to me, Psalm 91:14-16 -- I will rescue her, protect her, be with her in trouble, deliver her, satisfy her with long life, and show her my salvation.  But God, THANK YOU!!!

 

Pause

Pause, a button on recording equipment and an action taken by humans, means a temporary stop, break, time to reconsider, to linger, breather, interruption, lull. As we learn from Ecclesiastes 3:1, there is a time for everything. So if there is a right time for pause, there must be a wrong time.  If there is a right way or a right place to pause, there would also be a wrong way and a wrong place.  Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 8: 5b that the wise heart knows the proper time and procedure for every matter. 

Remember when Moses paused to cry out at the Red Sea and was asked by the Lord why he was crying out to him.  His command was to go forward, to move on (see Exodus 14:15). As with Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea, we sometimes find ourselves pausing, stopping, and taking a break at the wrong time.  Even when facing a formidable foe, a major obstacle or hurdle, or a mountain too high to climb, we are called to listen closely and carefully for the still small voice of the Lord telling us when to pause and when not to.

When the traffic signal changes to green for you, have you taken a pause which kept you from being broadsided by the driver speeding through a red signal?  Have you paused or hesitated before responding in a conversation, and that pause kept you from saying the wrong thing?  On the other hand, has a pause or too long a stop caused you to miss a God ordained opportunity?  Holy Spirit leads you to pray for another, and your pause, your wait keeps you from making the call?  A pause as simple as hitting the snooze button when the alarm goes off causes you to be late for work, miss a meeting, get caught up in the traffic rush, make your child late for an important test in first class, be late for church and miss a move of the Holy Spirit who showed up at the appointed time? 

Selah – pause, stop and think about it!  I pray for hearts of wisdom to know the proper time to pause and the proper time not to pause.

Lord Prepare Me

Lord prepare me.  For what, you may be thinking?  Consider this season when we remember Judas' betrayal of Jesus, the unjust trials that followed, Peter's denials, the 39 stripes, the cross and His crucifixion, His preparation for burial, and the resurrection.  What trial, what temptation, what difficulty, what are you now experiencing that you need to be delivered from?  Is there an area in your life that for all practical purposes is dying, if not already dead?  Have you been unjustly accused?  Is there one that you have poured your best into that is now denying or turning away from all that you have given?  Are you transitioning from a place of comfort to a place of the unknown?  Is there a dead relationship that needs to be resurrected? 

Are you ready to say and see what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that "the old has gone, the new has come" (see 2 Corinthians 5:17)? Is it time for your prayer to be Lord prepare me for the new that is coming?  At times when either I am entangled in a bunch of deadly emotions, have spoken foolishly or acted/reacted really stupidly, I've found myself praying repeatedly words written long ago by then King David.  They have become an integral part of my follow-up to Lord prepare me.  "Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

May Jesus' resurrection remind us all that the darkest hour is just before the dawning of a new day.  Because He lives, we can live an abundant life.  Because He forgave from the cross those who crucified Him, we have been enabled to forgive no matter what the situation or circumstance.  Lord prepare me for my new day and my fresh start, for an abundant life, to forgive others so that you can forgive me.  Lord prepare me to love others just as you have loved me.

Lord Have Mercy

As a child growing up in the home of my grandmother, I remember three words that she spoke when she heard of catastrophic events, untimely death, storm damage, sickness and disease, hospitalizations, wrecks and other accidents, arrests and jail or prison time, marital problems, church fights and splits, and the like.  Sometimes with her head down, body bowed over, her left hand rubbing her forehead, sometimes needing to sit down if the news came while she was standing, wiping her hands furiously on the apron she always wore at home, she muttered three words -- Lord have mercy.  I didn't realize she was praying. I just thought she was saying something.  I came to realize that she was at a loss for words, so she almost always said the same ones -- Lord have mercy.

I have now learned that the three words are an often prayed prayer in the Bible. David, the man after God's own heart (see Acts 13:22), prayed these three words probably more than any other person in the Bible. David wrote what we know as Psalm 51 when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed. The opening statement in that psalm is "have mercy on me, O God." Throughout the Psalms, David repeatedly speaks the three words -- Lord have mercy.

Oh, that we might be more like my grandmother and David.  When the issues of life are all around us and seem so overwhelming … when the news reports yell at us the atrocities that abound, not only in our neighborhoods but around the world … when as a nation, we defiantly shake our fists at God's laws and create our own to murder unborn babies and to affirm same sex marriage … when we neither know what to do or what to say or how to pray, these three words work all the time, every time -- Lord have mercy.

 

Expect the Unexpected (2)

Recently, I coordinated blood drive number 11 at church.  This one was on the heels of two blood drives a year for the previous five years.  In partnership with the American Red Cross, they would send staff for both an inside collection site and their mobile unit.  The drive day arrived -- beautiful, bright, sunshiny; started with more pre-sign-ups than ever before; tee shirts had been delivered early; Red Cross supply truck and workers arrived on schedule; volunteer workers arrived; everything was falling into place.  I expected to exceed our goal.

 One thing was missing, the mobile unit which was the second collection site.  This was unexpected to say the least ... a first time occurrence ... mechanical difficulties ... out of the ordinary ... unplanned for ... prayers for the unit to arrive went unanswered.  Why?  What to do?  Why this unexpected turn of events?  How to make the best of the situation?  Had I been expecting the plans to succeed my way or God's way? Would I trust God's ways when they were different from mine? Was my definition of success limiting or disregarding the Master Planner?  Did I really expect the unexpected?

 What happened?  Romans 8:28 happened.  A Red Cross staff team worked steadily and diligently to accommodate as many donors as possible.  While some prospects left, many waited patiently to become donors as committed.  Though we missed goal, the collected units were no less than had been previously collected on a couple occasions using two collection sites. 

Expect the unexpected.  Be ever mindful that God's promises never change.  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  (See Romans 8:28.)

 

Expect the Unexpected

As a part of a recent 21 day fast, I believed God for a number of things which generally included honoring Him by offering my body as a living sacrifice (see Romans 12:1) and by doing more of His commands presented in the fasting chapter (see Isaiah 58).  On this journey of believing and expecting God to move mightily, I received an unexpected blessing.  An avid coffee drinker of 3-4 cups per day, decaf if available, regular if not. It didn't really matter.  I thought I was okay in the liquids area since I only drank water, coffee and tea.  It was the food intake that I needed to pay much more attention to.

Well, guess what.  On the seventh day of the fast, my regular routine changed.  At work, I went into the refreshment center to get this first cup of coffee for the day.  I could smell it brewing, could feel the warmth trickling down my throat, could relish and savor the sweetness from the one Splenda packet.  What I so expected, I didn't get.  I got the most unexpected something, can't even think of a good word to describe it.  So, surprise has to do.  Surprisingly, I did not want the coffee, so much so that I didn't even make the cup.  What did I do?  I turned and walked away.  Didn't know what to think, so I didn't.  About the time that normal routine would have me go back to the refreshment center for a second cup, I did just that. Then the light came on -- my desire for coffee had been lifted.   The unexpected in the form of a wonderful blessing had happened.  God had moved on my behalf unexpectedly.  A decades old desire, that I neither asked for nor expected nor felt the need to be set free from, was taken away.

Thank you God for reminding me that I should more often expect from You the unexpected.  Thank you Father for helping me to remember my memory scripture from that fast period taken from Ephesians 3:20-21 -- Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Why Bother?

Why bother?  What's the use?  Is that for you a fairly common questioning thought?  When do your questions like these occur?  Why bother God?  Why bother Jesus?   Why bother to pray?  Why bother to read the Scriptures?  Why bother to seek the Holy Spirit? 

 Could it have been when the pain in your body was so severe ... discomfort so overwhelming ... loss so devastating ... grief so overbearing ... debt so immense ... relationship so out of harmony ... actions so foolish ... words so spiteful?  And you thought, why bother?  Why bother to pray?  Will anything make a difference?  Can I really get out of this place?  I can't fix this?  This is an impossible situation.  Why bother Jesus?

 When Jesus and three of his disciples were going with Jairus to heal his 12 year old daughter who was critically ill, some men came to inform Jairus that his daughter had died.  They raised the why bother question.  (See Mark 5:35.)  Just as Jesus ignored their why bother question, He's ready to ignore yours as well. Rest assured that Jesus wants to be bothered by you now!