Tag: Following

Wake Up! What’s That I Hear?

01/17/2014Spiritual Walk, 15 Comments

AlarmClock2

1:15 a.m. – Outside the wind howls and the temperature is below freezing. Inside I am sleeping soundly in my warm and toasty bed.

1:17 a.m. – Brian awakens me, “Marcia! I think something’s going on in the basement! It sounds like the water softener might be acting up.”

PANIC! We spent hours on Saturday at Dan and Nikki’s bailing water out of their flooded basement.

PRAYER! Please, God, don’t let the basement be flooded.

1:18 a.m. – I hear it. It could be the water softener, but it doesn’t really sound like it. We need to investigate.

Neither of us moves. Silence.

1:19 a.m. – There it is again! Drat!

We get out of bed, dreading what the rest of the night might hold, and walk toward the basement. As I walk past the utility room, I hear the sound. It’s coming from the utility room! This time, it doesn’t stop. I walk toward the garage door, is it a car alarm?

I call to Brian and he walks into the utility room. We realize the noise is not coming from the garage, but from his briefcase which is sitting in its regular place by the garage door! What?!

The alarm on his new Blackberry is going off because it is set for 1:15 a.m.!

1:20ish a.m. – I am back in bed!

Being awakened in the middle of the night, out of a sound sleep, is usually not a good thing, but sometimes, unlike last night, it is the Lord who wakes us up:

“One night… Samuel was lying down… Then the Lord called Samuel.” –1 Samuel 3:2-4 NLT

Three times the Lord called Samuel, but Samuel had not yet learned to recognize the voice of God. The fourth time God called to him, Samuel responded:

“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” – 1 Samuel 2:10 NLT

When God calls you and me, it probably won’t be an audible voice (I’ve never heard an audible voice). And, it may not be in the middle of the night (although He has awakened me a few times for a much needed conversation). However like Samuel, when God calls, it’s important that we listen. If the God of the universe is calling, is there ever a reason not to listen?

“…the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” – John 10:3-5 NLT

If we belong to Jesus, we learn to recognize His voice. When we recognize His voice, we won’t be afraid when He calls us. If we’re not afraid, we’ll follow Him wherever He leads.

Has God called you? The first call is to salvation. If you’ve responded to that call you can expect more calls as God gives you opportunities to learn His voice.

Is God sounding an alarm to wake you up? Might God be calling you out of the warm bed of your comfort zone to follow Him? Will you turn the alarm off and go back to bed, or will you get up, listen and follow Him?

Loving and Leaving

01/07/2014Spiritual Walk, , , , 23 Comments

rachel and ralph 2

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” – Genesis 12:1 – NLT

When Abram/Abraham was 75 years old, God called him to leave all that was familiar and go. God didn’t give him directions; He basically said, “Follow me, I’ll show you where to go, and I’ll let you know when you get there.” Trust me, and walk with me.

Because Abraham loved and trusted God, he left the familiar, his family, his home, his job, everything! He left because God was more important than anything.

This is my Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ralph. On December 23, 1965, they left their families of origin and promised to walk with God through good times or bad, sickness or health, riches or poverty until death parted them. They walked with God as they started their own family and weathered the storms of life. They are continuing to walk with God as everything familiar fades into the rear view mirror and they become strangers.

You see, Uncle Ralph has Alzheimer’s, and Aunt Rachel is losing him a little bit each day. The familiar is gone. The unknown lies ahead.

No one said that following God would be easy, but no one expected the path to lead through Alzheimer’s. Because Aunt Rachel loves Uncle Ralph, and God, she walks where God leads.

People say, “God won’t give you more than you can handle!” Unfortunately, that isn’t true. God won’t allow temptations to overwhelm us, but he does allow difficulties that do.

The truth is that God does allow more heartache and hardship than we can bear. If he didn’t, we wouldn’t need to trust Him and we would assume that we could take care of everything the evil one throws at us. We would spend our days trudging through life trying to endure in our own strength.

Even the Apostle Paul was overwhelmed by difficulty…

“We do not want you to be uninformed …about the troubles we experienced… We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.”

But, Paul doesn’t stop there…

“But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead.” – 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT

It is not easy to follow God. It wasn’t easy for Abraham – his failures are recorded in the Bible! It’s not easy for Aunt Rachel. And it won’t be easy for you.

However, if God is calling you away from the familiar, you can be sure He is with you. He is all-powerful and he wants you to rely on Him. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And, you can rest assured that nothing is too difficult for God!

What is God calling you to leave behind as you begin a new year? What is He calling you toward? Do you love and trust him enough to follow Him wherever he leads, even if the path leads away from the familiar and into the unknown?

The Desire of Our Hearts at Christmas

12/10/2013Holidays, Spiritual Growth, , , , , 3 Comments

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We took our grandsons Christmas shopping on Saturday to buy presents for their mommy and daddy. When we got home, they wrapped the presents all by themselves. They picked out the paper and the ribbon. They cut, folded, taped, and tied.

Will there be a prettier, more perfectly selected gift under their tree? Nope!

When we asked what they wanted to get their parents, Jake said “My daddy loves building with me, so I’m going to get him a set of Legos.” And, Matty said, “I’m going to get Mommy a ‘Sully’, because she loves him!”

Clearly, they know the desires of their mommy’s and daddy’s hearts!

We all want to give the perfect gifts, so we ask ourselves: what are the desires of our loved one’s hearts? What will make them happy? What will meet their needs? We look for clues and even ask for specific lists so that we don’t fail in our mission.

God wants to give his people the perfect gift also! He wants to give us the desires of our hearts, and he promises that when we take delight in him, he will.

Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

So what does it mean to ‘delight in the Lord’?

Let’s back up for a moment. When we asked the boys what they wanted to give their parents for Christmas, we delighted in their answer. It made us smile.

As they worked so hard wrapping their packages without creased edges or perfect bows it was adorable. We delighted in watching them. It made us smile.

Delight is a choice. Delighting in someone is choosing to enjoy them, and accepting who they are and what they do without criticism. It makes us smile.

Can you delight in the Lord? Can you enjoy him? Can you accept who He is and what He does without criticism? Can you have joy even in difficult circumstances? The answer is “Yes, you can.” But do you choose to?

If you and I delight in the Lord, he says he will give us the desires of our heart. So, should we prepare our Christmas lists!? Or is there a greater desire of our hearts that we should be heeding?

Isaiah 26:8-9 “Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.”

There is no gift under our tree this year that will more fully meet the desire of our hearts than God himself. If we choose to delight in Him, then he will give the desire of our hearts; he will bring glory to His name, He will be with us in the night and in the morning. There is no greater gift than God himself! Is He the desire of your heart this Christmas?

(Not to worry, mommy and daddy, we steered them away from the toy aisle!)

The Pillow Fiasco

10/15/2013Spiritual Walk, The Furrowed Brow, , , 9 Comments

This afternoon I boxed up my most recent new pillow. It was supposed to be the perfect pillow. I’m returning it. It’s not perfect. This is the fourth pillow I’ve returned in four weeks. Tonight, I’ll be fighting my old pillow again.

Why is it so difficult to find a good pillow? I’m not that picky; I just want one that’s not too firm, not too soft, not squishy, and not crunchy. My current pillow started making crunching sounds a few weeks ago. Trust me, that is not good for sleeping through the night.

I just want to be comfortable. I want to sink my head down into the perfect pillow at the end of the day, and sleep all night without having to flip or squeeze the pillow into shape. Is that too much to ask?

When we stop to think about it, it’s amazing how often we use comfort to make decisions in life. We buy clothes based on comfort. We place our sofas where we’re most comfortable watching TV. We choose friends based on who we’re most comfortable to be around. We go to restaurants where we feel the most comfortable. We avoid people, things, places and situations where we feel uncomfortable.

This morning during my quiet time, I read in Luke 9:57-58, “Someone said to Jesus, ‘I will follow you no matter where you go.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.’”  I wonder if that person followed Jesus. Or did that sound too uncomfortable? Even today, we decide where, when, and how to serve the Lord Jesus based on our comfort.

Would you follow Jesus if you knew it meant being uncomfortable? The disciples did. They left everything. They didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, let alone where they would sleep at night, and I’m sure they didn’t carry along a pillow.

Are you willing to be uncomfortable to follow Jesus?

Would you give up a seat in the pew and serve in the nursery? What about the book club that meets at the same time as the Bible study you were invited to? Would you give up sleeping in on Saturday to attend a Leader’s Meeting? Are you willing to walk into a nursing home and spend time with an elderly or infirm stranger? And, how uncomfortable would it be to volunteer at hospice?

If God is calling you out of your comfort zone, isn’t it worth it? Isn’t it worth trusting him to overcome your fear, complacency, laziness, busyness, introverted personality, or whatever else it is that keeps you from serving him? Isn’t it worth allowing him to remove the idol of comfort in your life?

You may even have to give up some sleep, but it probably means you’ll sleep better when you do sleep, even if your pillow is crunchy.