God Works in Mysterious Ways
We have all heard it said and applied to many different situations, "God works in mysterious ways". News flash they are mysterious to us, He knows what he is doing. A day or so ago, I compared God to the ultimate chess player. We all have free will; we can move wherever we choose. God knows all and sees all – he sees the whole board and every move we will make from right now till our last. So when I wrote a play in my teens called, “Make the Difference” and it went unused; God knew that tool would come to light once more. That is amazing and mysterious to me.
Let’s explore this further. Now as I am retyping this ancient artifact (it is after all over 20 years old and was typed on an actual typewriter) I am astounded. The last few days I have talked about Jesus and Christians not being wimps. I had completely forgotten about that being alluded to in the script. There is some discussion in the script about the armor of God, talked about that a bit this week too. I have been thinking about the impact of our youth at our church. God is doing amazing things with these young people. The script from years ago talks about young people leading the charge for change and taking a stand for Christ.
I do not know what the future holds for the script as I am retyping it. The conditions of the world have changed more than I could have imaged in twenty years, some updates are needed. I am sharing it and I am welcoming the assistance and feedback of others in ministry. (Something I would not have done in the flesh years ago.)
There is a popular song by Chris Tomlin called “Good Good Father”. We sing it in church and it is in regular rotation on KLOVE. I have a great earthly father. The kind of Daddy that gave good night kisses, attended orchestra concerts and tolerated all the antics of a creative, headstrong daughter. My Daddy always said I could do anything I put my mind too. I know my career choices scared my Dad more than once, Mom too, and trust me there are many, many things I never told them – just to protect them from worry and ulcers.
Here is the thing, my Daddy is a loving, patient, and Christian man. When I a messed up, I got an occasional “I told you so.” When I needed to be disciplined he did not spare the rod and spoil the child. There were also plenty of shoulder shrugs from both my parents with comments such as, “That’s just Sue.” Or “What can you do?”. (I won’t mention any eye rolling or yelling from my teen years because of my behavior, Mom and Dad…oops that slipped) I picture God doing the same thing. I picture my Heavenly Father tapping Jesus on the shoulder, laughing, pointing at me and saying, “See what I did there with Sue” every time I finally “get it”. Like me running from God for years and finally coming to my senses. He is happy, laughing celebrating that I finally accepted I had nothing to run from, but something to run too instead.
I used to be scared and embarrassed of my imaginings of how Jesus, of how God might be reacting to me. I always had a hang up with everything being so serious and stoic all the time. I AM NOT saying any of this to be disrespectful of God. I am not meaning to be irreverent. I am still on my soapbox about no turned on cell phones in the sanctuary, no running in church and men wearing hats in the sanctuary drives me a little nuts. Those are things that have been trained into me about what respect looks like. Taking a water bottle into the church service still feels a little unnatural to me, but I will take a sip because it feels less disrespectful than sneaking out to go to the water fountain. Those are physical and mental hang ups – not something that has been divinely commanded to me. Those are my judgements of me or my imagined judgements from others. THANK GOD, I am so getting over it. The closer I get to God, the less all that superfluous stuff crowds my vision.
My relationship with God brings me joy unspeakable. I’m not a blubbering idiot, there is stuff going on that needs my attention. Things I have to take action on, but I have faith. Through prayer and faith – I got this, God has got this. I am just nor worried any more. You, well most of you, do not really know me. I was a worrier – chronic worrier. I had a plan for everything. My motto was “hope for the best and plan for the worst”. The problem with that, is that you end up speaking the worst into existence…constantly. So now, I am praying for the best, planning for the best and when the worst happens, I will lean on God to help me through. I am speaking life over my life. I am not worried about anything. You know what else, God is going to bless my writing, he has already blessed me with boldness in my writing and before I know it I will be writing full time. I am not sure in what capacity; God knows – I do not have to worry about it. There are people praying for me in this endeavor. In fact, this very morning my pastor, Luke, prayed with me for anointing on my writing that it would be used for God’s purpose. In faith I believe that. I am speaking it in my life daily. I am taking action based on that belief. This is how much I am not going to worry about it. I have been passively looking for another job. I like what I do, but I am not passionate about it. It is a good job, but again – no passion for it. I am not looking for another job. My next job will be writing full time either independently or in some aspect of ministry. Let’s see what God is going to do. Could be next week, could be next year, but he is faithful.
God’s mysterious ways….this started off as a blog about me and my husband wanting to downsize and eventually live tiny. If we are moving God can steer us. His ways make me smile, the way God works makes me laugh. You cannot convince me now or ever that he does not have a sense of humor.
[caption id="attachment_930" align="aligncenter" width="442"]
Biological proof of God's sense of humor[/caption]
Post Script
One week in the books for the fast. I probably should not say that I am proud of my husband and I, but in truth, I am. This is the first time I have ever fasted and Spiritual results have been more than I could have imagined. There are conversations taking place about faith that have not occurred between my husband and I before. Part of that is that boldness that has sparked in me. What a week?! What blessings? I find myself wanting to tell people about it so they will do it and be blessed. It's like having the cure for disease X and wanting to give it away. It is exciting. We have had some out right funny moments, like the five minute wait and watch our food at the pool on Saturday (not quite 6 PM) or today I made our dinner in the crock pot. What was I thinking? Live and learn. It has been an amazing blessing to participate and to think...I almost didn't.
Let’s explore this further. Now as I am retyping this ancient artifact (it is after all over 20 years old and was typed on an actual typewriter) I am astounded. The last few days I have talked about Jesus and Christians not being wimps. I had completely forgotten about that being alluded to in the script. There is some discussion in the script about the armor of God, talked about that a bit this week too. I have been thinking about the impact of our youth at our church. God is doing amazing things with these young people. The script from years ago talks about young people leading the charge for change and taking a stand for Christ.
I do not know what the future holds for the script as I am retyping it. The conditions of the world have changed more than I could have imaged in twenty years, some updates are needed. I am sharing it and I am welcoming the assistance and feedback of others in ministry. (Something I would not have done in the flesh years ago.)
God has a sense of Humor
There is a popular song by Chris Tomlin called “Good Good Father”. We sing it in church and it is in regular rotation on KLOVE. I have a great earthly father. The kind of Daddy that gave good night kisses, attended orchestra concerts and tolerated all the antics of a creative, headstrong daughter. My Daddy always said I could do anything I put my mind too. I know my career choices scared my Dad more than once, Mom too, and trust me there are many, many things I never told them – just to protect them from worry and ulcers.
Here is the thing, my Daddy is a loving, patient, and Christian man. When I a messed up, I got an occasional “I told you so.” When I needed to be disciplined he did not spare the rod and spoil the child. There were also plenty of shoulder shrugs from both my parents with comments such as, “That’s just Sue.” Or “What can you do?”. (I won’t mention any eye rolling or yelling from my teen years because of my behavior, Mom and Dad…oops that slipped) I picture God doing the same thing. I picture my Heavenly Father tapping Jesus on the shoulder, laughing, pointing at me and saying, “See what I did there with Sue” every time I finally “get it”. Like me running from God for years and finally coming to my senses. He is happy, laughing celebrating that I finally accepted I had nothing to run from, but something to run too instead.
I used to be scared and embarrassed of my imaginings of how Jesus, of how God might be reacting to me. I always had a hang up with everything being so serious and stoic all the time. I AM NOT saying any of this to be disrespectful of God. I am not meaning to be irreverent. I am still on my soapbox about no turned on cell phones in the sanctuary, no running in church and men wearing hats in the sanctuary drives me a little nuts. Those are things that have been trained into me about what respect looks like. Taking a water bottle into the church service still feels a little unnatural to me, but I will take a sip because it feels less disrespectful than sneaking out to go to the water fountain. Those are physical and mental hang ups – not something that has been divinely commanded to me. Those are my judgements of me or my imagined judgements from others. THANK GOD, I am so getting over it. The closer I get to God, the less all that superfluous stuff crowds my vision.
My relationship with God brings me joy unspeakable. I’m not a blubbering idiot, there is stuff going on that needs my attention. Things I have to take action on, but I have faith. Through prayer and faith – I got this, God has got this. I am just nor worried any more. You, well most of you, do not really know me. I was a worrier – chronic worrier. I had a plan for everything. My motto was “hope for the best and plan for the worst”. The problem with that, is that you end up speaking the worst into existence…constantly. So now, I am praying for the best, planning for the best and when the worst happens, I will lean on God to help me through. I am speaking life over my life. I am not worried about anything. You know what else, God is going to bless my writing, he has already blessed me with boldness in my writing and before I know it I will be writing full time. I am not sure in what capacity; God knows – I do not have to worry about it. There are people praying for me in this endeavor. In fact, this very morning my pastor, Luke, prayed with me for anointing on my writing that it would be used for God’s purpose. In faith I believe that. I am speaking it in my life daily. I am taking action based on that belief. This is how much I am not going to worry about it. I have been passively looking for another job. I like what I do, but I am not passionate about it. It is a good job, but again – no passion for it. I am not looking for another job. My next job will be writing full time either independently or in some aspect of ministry. Let’s see what God is going to do. Could be next week, could be next year, but he is faithful.
God’s mysterious ways….this started off as a blog about me and my husband wanting to downsize and eventually live tiny. If we are moving God can steer us. His ways make me smile, the way God works makes me laugh. You cannot convince me now or ever that he does not have a sense of humor.
[caption id="attachment_930" align="aligncenter" width="442"]
Biological proof of God's sense of humor[/caption]Post Script
One week in the books for the fast. I probably should not say that I am proud of my husband and I, but in truth, I am. This is the first time I have ever fasted and Spiritual results have been more than I could have imagined. There are conversations taking place about faith that have not occurred between my husband and I before. Part of that is that boldness that has sparked in me. What a week?! What blessings? I find myself wanting to tell people about it so they will do it and be blessed. It's like having the cure for disease X and wanting to give it away. It is exciting. We have had some out right funny moments, like the five minute wait and watch our food at the pool on Saturday (not quite 6 PM) or today I made our dinner in the crock pot. What was I thinking? Live and learn. It has been an amazing blessing to participate and to think...I almost didn't.
Comments
Post a Comment