I've been blown away at church the last two weekends by Craig's powerful messages, and I have to tell you, I've been going to this church a long time and I have never heard Craig so raw, so real, so anointed as he is during this series. His daughter has been going through health issues and it has tested and strengthened his faith so much.
Friends, the hardest times are brought to us to bring us closer to God. To bring us to our knees, asking, begging Him for guidance and intervention.
I was talking with a couple last night and he has stage 4 cancer. Bald and full of mischief, he led his wife through the decision making of his funeral. She did it through tears, and he did it with full out joy. He knows he's going to heaven and he is not afraid. He is sad he will miss his family, his grandkids, but he is full on celebration for the promise of heaven and the hope for new life. I asked him if I could pray for him and it was an honor to lay hands on him and pray over him and his wife.
Hallie shared with me her roommate's grandma died. Of course, she was devastated and so stressed with trying to go home and do all the things, with school just starting at WP. Hallie found out grandma was being cremated and counseled her that she could wait a week and go home then. Her roommate was amazed that Hal even knew about these things, and she's all, "Well my mom does funerals". (This coming from the kid that called the beautiful mausoleum at the cemetery, "A dead barn", and when she visited me at work after school one day, she came running in breathless to me and reported, "There's a dead lady in parlor A", then sweetly feeling so sorry for the lady in parlor b that had no flowers, I caught her moving a plant from parlor A to Parlor b, so "this lady would have some flowers"). Sigh. So sweet.
However, I digress. Hallie also found herself sharing Laynie's story with her roommate, from beginning to end, and called me after sharing it, pretty wrecked, because "Lacey went through some stuff, mom....and look how awesome it all turned out. When I start to get stressed this year ABOUT ANYTHING, I'm going to remember Laynie and understand that with God, It's all going to work out".
I've been reading a lot of Levi Lusko lately and in his book "Through the eyes of a Lion" he wrote.... "The fingerprints of God are often invisible until you look at them in the rearview mirror".
Man, that hit me where my mama lives. When you are in the storm (depression, job loss, health concerns, kid problems, financial pressure, single status, desperately wanting to get pregnant, addiction) God is there. Like I always say, God isn't the Good Ship Lollipop, sailing around giving you exactly what you ask for the exact minute you ask for it....He is there, guiding, watching, loving us and sometimes, blessings come so fast and hard it's beyond our understanding. And sometimes, you have to wait and wait and wait and wait. It's in that waiting, that your faith is tested. Some people stop and blame God, instead of leaning into Him for comfort and protection. I made so many mistakes and never ran to God. I was a walking hazard for so many years.
Then Laynie came along and through the most intense heartache of my life, I learned to rely on Him and let Him carry me, and my whole life is different now. I'm still pretty good at making bad choices, but the difference now is, living in God's pocket, I know INSTANTLY I made a wrong choice and ask for immediate forgiveness. No one is perfect, and hello, I screw up 70 times a day...but God still loves me. And that carries me on.
Gina is struggling in her new school. The classes are TOUGH and it's stretching her out of her comfort zone completely. She was sitting on her bed, overwhelmed, when I got home and I sat with her and unpacked the day with her..... "Mom, I know God wants me there, He opened the door for me to be there...but it so hard!" "All the best things in life are hard, kid. You have to work and work and work for the good things, and then you see something incredible happen for the hard work". We continued talking and got on the Physics subject. Now I had to tap out of homework help after the kids finished kindergarten, because math was beyond my level at that time. Gina started showing me her physics (which made me lightheaded, not going to lie) and I started thinking Man We Need Help. SOS. And I remembered that right ACROSS THE STREET is a genius level physics teacher that happens to love kids as much as I do... and I ran across the street and boom....Drew is going to tutor Gina when she needs help.
"The Fingerprints of God are often invisible until you look at them in the rearview mirror"
I can look back on all the hard times and see God in all of it. Through the friends that showed up with food, the thousands of prayers said on our behalf, the nurses that gave the extra love. God doesn't show up with a big BOOM of electricity (Well sometimes He does), but mostly He shows up in a thousand small ways.... the expensive car repair that you were stressing about ends up being half what you thought. A thoughtful kid at school shows love to your shy
God shows up.....do you see Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment