Author: Proclaiming His Goodness

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7 NIV

Our culture has made a virtue of fighting for what we want, instead of submitting to God’s plan for us. In the typical American ‘land of freedom and opportunity’ mindset, the idea of letting somebody other than myself lead my life and fight my battles is incredibly counter-cultural and is looked upon as weak; but in reality, it takes a stronger person to submit to God than to rebel against Him. The world is in the shape it is in today because everybody wants to do things their own way. In the book of Judges, the Israelites got into trouble and were taken into captivity when ‘every man did as he saw fit.’ (Judges 2:25) When I submit to God, it doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing; but as I allow Him to take my pride, bitterness, and selfishness, He replaces it with humility, forgiveness, and love.

Submitting to God isn’t inhibiting; it’s freeing. In the eyes of the world, I’m giving up my rights and my freedoms; but really, I am giving up battles that will be lost if I try to fight them. Living to serve God is hard, because it goes against my sin nature, but as I submit to Him, the ultimate power source is in control of my life. My job is to step down from the throne of my heart (it really belongs to God, anyway), and listen for Him to tell me to move. As I submit to God and resist the devil, God will fight for me.

So instead of fighting for a place in the world, I have decided to fight to stay in God’s plan for me. There is nothing wrong with having plans for my life, but He has the perfect plan, and I want mine to line up with His.

At 5’ 4”, I am not short; I am vertically challenged.

But my height (or lack thereof) is not the only area I face this issue in.

I find that I am also vertically challenged in the sense that I have a hard time keeping my eyes on God. All too often, I end up frustrated and empty because my eyes are on the people and situations around me, when God is waiting for me to turn my eyes to Him so He can fill me with the peace and love only He can give. In a way, it’s like gravity; I can only fill a glass with water if it is standing vertically, not if it is lying horizontally. In the same way, God can only fill me up if my focus is on Him, not when my focus is on myself or the people and situations around me. I’m not saying God doesn’t use people to encourage and challenge each other; He does that all the time! But if I constantly look to be filled by other people and don’t take time to be filled by Him, I’m going to be empty. When I take time to sit in His presence and be still before Him, He will fill me to overflowing, and it will spill over onto those around me.

Being vertically focused is such a challenge to me that most days, it is a struggle to do much more than send up an occasional, ‘Help me please, God’ when I am in a bad situation. But as I get into His word and discover more about Him, the words on the pages of my Bible come alive in the shape of His character, and He shows me how He wants me to live and love the people around me. Then as I spend more time getting to know Him, it becomes an addiction of the very best kind as I realize that I cannot get enough of it.

Obviously, being vertically challenged is not a real medical condition, but I believe that it is a real Spiritual condition. It’s an epidemic that can only be stopped when we start being intentional about where we allow our focus to lie.

The latter part of Joshua 24:15 is one of those verses you see on plaques in homes; it says,

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”

That is a great passage that deserves to be displayed, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I read and paid attention to the entire verse. When I did, I realized that there is much more to it than I first thought. The verse is more than a proclamation; it points out that there is a choice for each of us to make. Joshua 24:15 says,

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

This is a situation where there is no fence to sit on; I am either on one side of the line or the other. All because I don’t set up and worship idols in my home doesn’t mean I don’t serve things or people above God.  How many times do I chase other people’s approval before seeking God’s? How often do I begin my day by thinking about what I have to accomplish instead of asking God how I can serve Him and best use the time He’s given me? Whenever I put people and things before my relationship with God, it is idolatry. When I put my relationship with Him first and commit to serve Him, things are in the right order. It all comes down to a choice; in this life, we serve either the gods of the land or the God who made the world.

So to me, Joshua 24:15 is more than a nice plaque hanging on a wall; it is a call to live my life in total service to God. Who or what are you serving?

At first glance, the major lesson for us to take away from the book of Jonah seems to be obedience. But why did Jonah run away in the first place? And, if the lesson really is obedience, why didn’t the story stop after Jonah finally obeyed God and fulfilled his mission?

I think it is because the underlying (and no less important) message is love. God does want obedience, but He wants us to love Him and others even more than that. Jonah’s problem was that he didn’t see or share God’s love for the world; all he could see was the Ninevites sin, not God’s love for them.

I make the same mistake all the time when I see a person or situation broken by sin, but I don’t love enough to let it burden my heart. It is easier to either let my heart grow cold and calloused to all the evil or grow bitter about it, instead of allowing myself to be stretched and grown by love. Loving like God does is painful and inconvenient, but it is the best way to point people to God.

But what does love do? As a woman, my tendency is to either worry about problems or try to solve them, but that’s not what love does. To love is to do more than feel people’s joy and pain; love takes the problems to God and becomes open to helping people when and how He leads. It is a difficult journey, but it is a journey well worth taking.

I don’t want to make the same mistake Jonah did. I don’t want to miss out on opportunities to point people to Christ because I don’t see them through His eyes. Loving big hurts big, but it rewards bigger; we may not see the results here on earth, but we will see them in Heaven.

Ludwig Van Beethoven once said, “Do not only practice your art, but force yourself into its secrets; for it and knowledge can raise men to the Divine”. I can only partially agree.

Yes, when we push into the secrets of the field God has gifted us in, we will be amazed at God’s creativity and be drawn closer to him; but an excess of knowledge is not needed for this to happen. In fact, we are told that the wisdom of man is foolishness to God; on the other hand, He makes the simple wise. Please don’t misunderstand, I am not saying that knowledge is a bad thing; it’s what you do with what you have. Depend on God wisdom, not the world.

God has given each of us abilities, and He wants us to use them. Find the place God has for you and pursue is for His glory; you cannot go wrong doing that. That is why I started this blog. I was (and still am) shaking in my boots, but I know that this is how God has gifted me, and hopefully, this is how He will use me. But before I came to terms with who I am, I had to realize who I am not. I am not an extravert, so I have a hard time communicating orally. That led to the realization that I can write, and that writing is my way of ‘speaking’. When I write, my job is to glorify God in the way I use words, and to seek His wisdom and His wonder as I work.

I would rather be myself (not particularly ‘smart’ or ‘successful’) and have God reveal His wisdom to me, than to ‘have it all together’  in the eyes of the world and be blind to the glory of God. I would much rather catch glimpses of God than climb any sort of social or corporate ladder.

The days I stop looking for God in my work are the days my heart grows cold and hard. Without Him, there is no meaning or purpose in life.

When I was little, I did not like summer thunderstorms at all, especially the storms that arrived right at my bedtime. But as I grew older, my fear changed to awe, and now my favorite place to be during a thunderstorm is the front porch of my family’s house. I love being able to watch a storm blow in on puffy gray clouds, then feel the wind on my face and smell the rain as it arrives. Then after the storm is over and the clouds recede, the air smells so clean and all the dust and dirt is washed away. The grass is greener than ever, and the vegetables (and weeds) in my vegetable garden have grown taller and look more healthy.

But what changed? Why can I now appreciate the same thing that was once a source of fear to me?

Because I now know that Someone is in control of the storms. The thunder booms just as loudly as it did before and lightning flashes just as brightly, but while storms affect me negatively, I know that they have their benefits. While there is usually cleanup to do after a storm, the vegetables in my garden will be healthier from the rain than from anything I could put on them. While some storms are more destructive than others, there is always some good that comes out of it, even if it is not seen immediately.  Sometimes, the wind and the rain beat down my plants, but they almost always come back stronger and healthier than before.

I have lived a life incredibly blessed by God with little loss and heartache, but a few years ago, I weathered what felt like a tornado with my family when my four-day-old brother died. During that time, I felt like everything was spinning, but I never once felt like anything was spinning out of control, because God carried me through that valley. I may never know for certain why God chose to take my brother Home, but I do know that because of what I went through, I have a deeper understanding of His love and a deeper relationship with Him because of it.

Maybe you’ve been through a few (or more) storms in the past, or maybe you’re in the middle of one now. Maybe you are lifting your hands in worship, or maybe you are throwing them up in despair. I don’t know your situation, but I do know that God loves you, and He wants to hold you close and carry you through the valley.

Even as an introvert, I love networking; not social networking, the kind of networking that builds communities.

I grew up on a small farm, and I’ve seen just how crucial it is for farmers to have a network. When machinery breaks down, when there isn’t enough manpower to get a job done, when you run into a problem and need another brain to pick, a group of people to give and take from is a beautiful thing.

But so much bigger and more beautiful than all of this is the Christian community. When a group of people have Christ and others as their focus, amazing things happen. I could not imagine going through life without other Christians there with me. I can be involved and not be held back my weaknesses, because it works like a puzzle. I can come as I am, put my God given gifts on the table, and watch amazing things happen as a plethora of abilities come together to make something beautiful happen.

But today, communities are being lost. We don’t put down our devices long enough to really see the people around us who are lost and in need help. What would happen if we got off our devices, looked around, and each of us helped just one person?

Scripture is full of examples of people coming alongside individuals who were struggling and helping them, or just being there. There will be times when you don’t need to say anything. Several years ago, I went through the most heartbreaking experience I’ve ever been through, and there were times when the gestures I appreciated the most came from people who simply offered a listening ear and a praying heart.

If nothing else, just reach out to somebody today. And, if somebody offers to help you out, let them. Sometimes, they need to do something for you just as much as you need something done for yourself.

God did not intend for you to do life alone, or even just with Him. Community is one of the tools He uses to grow us and draw us closer to Him. It’s a beautiful thing, and you’re missing out if you’re not involved in one.

There is absolutely nothing special about me, and definitely nothing that qualifies me to have a blog.

I have to be the world’s slowest learner.

I don’t have a college degree.

I have a stubborn streak a mile long.

I am introverted, so if you put me in a crowd, I will most likely either say nothing at all or all the wrong things – and all of that equals a whole lot of nothing.

I could go on and on listing all the reasons I am unqualified to be used by God, but I’ll stop right here.

I’m not ignoring my shortcomings or justifying my sin, but I know that He will use me because He has called me and He will equip me to serve Him. Everybody in the Bible had their issues, but God used them anyway. If He has chosen you to be as part of His family, He has called you into His service. I’m forever grateful that He doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies those whom He calls.

If I sound brave, like I can take on the world, I’m not. I’m scared to death because Satan is whispering his lies in my ear, telling me that I’m not good enough. There are people out there who have it more together than I do, and they have bigger and better things to say, right? How do I counter these fears?

Something I have come to realize is that everybody has a different perspective on life and something to offer that nobody else has the ability to. No, I am not Billy Graham or Charles Spurgeon, but I don’t need to be them or anybody else for God to use me, and neither do you. As long as we walk in the spirit and not in the flesh, God can and will use us.

So once I realized all this, did I start waking up every morning jumping out of bed with a smile on my face and not a worry in sight? Absolutely not! First, I am not a morning person, and second, I will always struggle with my issues. To be honest, the longer I live, the more problems I find with myself. Sound familiar? So I’m really just talking to myself here more than anything else. I will always have those days that are flat out ugly as the pot is stirred and my problems rise to the surface, but it is the knowledge that God will use me despite myself that keeps me going. He is faithful, but I need to be willing. He can only work with hearts willing to be molded and shaped into His image, and if I’m frozen in fear, He can’t mold me.

Today, I’m choosing to ask Him to soften and mold my heart. Will you join me?