Meant For Here And Now - Dinner #29

     Sometimes I find myself imagining where my family and I would be if we existed during a different time in history.  It’s amusing to picture my husband wearing a pair of overalls and plowing a field, for instance, or serving the king of England as a knight in shining armor. SMILE!  But then there are other graver possibilities to consider.  If we had been born earlier in history, would we even be alive at the age we’re at right now? In a different era, the inflamed appendix I had during my first year of teaching, might have ruptured, killing me at the age of 22.  In a different era, my Brooklyn could have lost so much weight in those first few months of her life, that she died in infancy.  Do we ever stop to think of God’s wonderful sovereignty in allowing us to be born into the world at PRECISELY the right moment?!  Do we praise Him for seeing all past, present, and future, and orchestrating every detail of history?

     Esther 4:14 asks the soul-searching question, “. . . and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” The truth of the matter is, God has placed each of us here in this world, in the year 2011, “for such a time as this”.  He makes no mistakes! In II Peter 3:8, we are reminded of an important fact about our God.  “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  In Revelation 1:8, God declares, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending . . .which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”  Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven . . . He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” God’s view of time is not the same as our own – He sees the entire picture from start to finish.  There are people He wants you to meet, hearts He wants you to touch, lives He wants you to minister to, for His glory!  You weren’t MEANT to live during World War I, the Pioneer days, or the War for Independence – You were meant for HERE AND NOW!  God MADE you for HERE AND NOW! 

     In John 17:4, the Lord Jesus declared, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” At the end of my life, will I be able to say the same? What are you doing with this time God has given to YOU?  Ephesians 5:16-17 reminds us to be “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”  Take hold of life!  He put you right where you are, in this time and place, for a special reason!

     Wouldn’t it be incredible to see the world around us as God sees it? To step into the grocery store and see everyone – the woman who will discover she has cancer next month, the man who lost his wife last year, the wife who is pregnant and doesn’t know it yet, etc. – all at the same time?!  COULD we ever know what was going on in each person’s heart and life? No, but God knows it every day! And just think! You could have the opportunity of being placed by God, right in the middle of all of them – right there in that particular grocery store, at that precise moment in history, “ . . . for such a time as this . . .” It happens to us every single second, without us even thinking about it!  Do we make our own decisions day by day? Of course we do! And, yet, our God is ultimately in control of it all, orchestrating every encounter and every circumstance.  Nothing ever happens to us by chance!  YOU are not here on this earth by chance!  You were meant for HERE AND NOW!

  

    

Sitting Still - Dinner #28

     During the past several weeks, we have been fighting to help our baby girl gain weight properly, and for a while there, anywhere from 8-13 hours of my day was spent somehow related to her food needs.  Whether I was nursing, pumping breastmilk, or giving her milk and formula in bottles, the majority of my life suddenly became just SITTING STILL.  At first, all I could see were the piles of dirty laundry, dishes, and dust piling up everywhere.  As someone who lives for crossing items off lists and getting things DONE, I felt very trapped to my living room couch.  I was lovingly trying to give my daughter what she needed, but at the same time, I was quite frustrated and discouraged.  Then God opened my eyes to Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God . . ."  These hours upon hours of my sitting on the couch, feeding the baby, were an opportunity from God to get to know Him more!  I wasn't having time TAKEN AWAY from me - I was being GIVEN time!  Time to read Christian magazine articles . . . Time to memorize Scripture and sing hymns . . . Time to pray and read God's Word . . . And then the Holy Spirit used a sermon my pastor preached about "Standing Still" and "Going Forward" to take the lesson to an even deeper level.  The sermon was from Exodus 14, where the Israelites are crossing the Red Sea.  Pastor Sexton shared that we cannot "go forward" and serve God properly until we've had a revival in our spirit from "being still". It reminded me yet again that feeding Brooklyn is my "being still" right now.  In much the same way, us waiting for my husband to complete his Master's classes before heading out on missionary deputation is "standing still".  Sometimes, we must "be still" before we can "go forward".  Then it hit me - This is just as much MY training time for the mission field as it is my husband's! 
     Psalm 77:6 declares, "I call to remembrance my song in the night . . ."  Someday, I want to look back on these days and recall a "song in the night"!  I want to be able to remember that though I was awake feeding my baby, I was praising God!  In Psalm 4:4, each of us are told to " . . . commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah."  God wants us to take the times of "being still" to grow in our relationship with Him!  "Sitting still" moments can be moments for just you and God.      
     Do I watch the news and a few TV shows throughout the day? Of course I do! I also eat meals, write reminders to myself, and make shopping lists while I'm "sitting still".  But God has been opening my eyes to the opportunity He has given me to know Him more through all of this - Brooklyn won't be drinking milk and formula forever!  This is my time for "sitting still" and growing with God, and I pray I won't miss out!