And the waters parted

Hope is truly the source of abundant life.  I feel like everything around me recently has been pointing to this truth.  Our world is desperate for hope.  The student in Dave's class whose mother attempted suicide is desperate for hope.  The couple at our church who continues to suffer through infertility and loss is desperate for hope.  Parents whose children have gone astray are desperate for hope.  The homeless, hungry, hurting, lost....you fill in the blank- they are all desperate for hope.  I believe that we all have points in our life where we need a God moment. We need the hope that God will show up and do something amazing. 
Moses needed a God moment as Pharaoh's army was closing in on the Israelites and they had no where to go, but into the sea.  Moses had hope that God was big enough, and the waters parted.  Joshua needed a God moment when he was leading the people into the promise land, and they had to cross the overflowing Jordan river with the arch of the covenant.  Joshua had hope that God would provide, and the river bed dried up. 
Although, I am convinced that sometimes it is not the result that saves, but simply the hope. 
There has to be hope that there is more than what this world can offer.  Proverbs 13:12  says "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."  I have seen a lot of heart sick people whose hope has been deferred because it has been placed anywhere besides in Christ.  The world has let them down, people have let them down, and now they have lost hope.  Hope in Christ, the living God, who is coming back for us, and has a place in eternity for us is a longing that will be fulfilled.  We can cling to that for life.  I ache to share that hope with the youth in my church who say "I have lost my way and don't know if I believe in God, my life is a mess."
Psalm 130:5 "I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope."  We can offer hope through God's word.  His word will never let us down.  His word is a safe place to trust our hope to.  I think what struck me the most is that I am here on Earth to be a God moment for people who are desperate for one.  Not me, as in what I have to offer, but the hope that is in me because I know Christ.  I have the opportunity to meet people who are desperate for hope everyday, and the salvation that I have in Christ should overflow and run into their barren lives.  Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  When I have my hope in the right place it will overflow and be used as a God moment in other people's lives.  That is huge.

Romans 8:23-25  ".... We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently."  My hope is in my adoption into the kingdom of God as one of his children.  I was given hope when I was saved.  I look forward to the day that Christ will return and take me to Heaven.  I can wait patiently because I know He will return. 
We are standing at the sea of life waiting for God to part the waters....Dave is getting ready to graduate, and to find a job in this economy the sea will have to part.  We are aching for a family, and in order for us to have children the sea will have to part.  I wonder if I am in the right place with my career, and in order to serve where I am meant to be with a joyful heart the sea will have to part.  The blessing is that even if the sea never opens I will never lose hope.  There are so many people out there who need a hope that cannot be lost.  How can we be their God moment?

when one door shuts

As many of you read a few blogs ago, we had some trouble with our nursery furniture and had to cancel our order.  I threw myself a large pity party, and then just a few days later received an email from a high school friend inviting me to look at the website her interior design firm gets nursery furniture from.  I found the most lovely crib and dresser that I immediately fell in love with.  To add to this unexpected blessing she offered me her friends and family discount!  So, when the door to get what I thought was the furniture of my dreams closed another door to get even better furniture opened!  God showed me who was in control and thank God it isn't me!  How often do I panic when a door closes, not trusting that God has an even better door waiting if I will simply be patient!  Here are the links to the new furniture:

http://www.youngamerica.com/product/343681/BTG220091/_/btg%26%23160%3B2200%26%23160%3B%3Cbr%3Epanelslat_crib/Collection/genamerica

http://www.youngamerica.com/product/343693/782000291/_/genamerica%26%23160%3B%3Cbr%3Edresser/Collection/genamerica

I am small in this world after all

The theme of the last few weeks has been humility. I was listening to a sermon in the car on the way to work about marriage and out of a marriage sermon came my first lesson this week in humility.  The pastor said that we often feel like we have the right to things in this world like marriage, and kids.  In reality we don't have the right to any blessings, but God does often choose to bless us.  It is the heart behind feeling entitled to certain things that bothered me.  The realization that sometimes my anger at God for not blessing us with a family comes directly from the heart of feeling like I have the right to be a mom.  I don't have the right to any good thing in this world because I am a sinner who has fallen desperately short of the glory of God.  Having said that, God is still good to provide salvation through his son and blessing in our lives. 
The list of blessings in my life poured through my head, not blessings I had a right to, but blessings God wanted to give me even though I don't deserve them.  I immediately turned off the sermon and began to repent of the sin of pride. Telling God that I don't have the right to any of His blessings, asking for forgiveness for demanding a family, and for the pride of feeling like I deserve one.  I realize that anything outside of salvation is amazingly more than I deserve.  I was able to see that if God decides to bless us with a family it will be more than I deserve, not something I have the right to, or something I have earned.  There was a lot of freedom in that.  There was freedom in confessing sin, and in changing my perspective.  It takes away impatience in the waiting, it takes away anger, and it replaces all of those sinful feelings with humility.  It is good to realize that I am so blessed, and so undeserving. 
Lesson number 2 came at small group. I got up to go to small group after working the night before and not having slept very much that day.  To say the least I was not very fun to be around on the way. Dave lovingly informed me that I was being "a pill", and I was.  I was so focused on being sleep deprived, and having too many chores that went undone that I didn't prepare my heart for small group at all.  I stumbled up the stairs into small group and turned on the happy face.  We had a special speaker at small group that night.  A missionary from Chile.  I spent the next 2 hours listening to the amazing ministry he and his family are involved in.  He told stories of the street kids he has seen come to know the Lord, the lives that have been changed for eternity, his great need for financial support, and prayer.  I could feel myself shrinking in my seat.  My ridiculous attitude over lack of sleep melted away.  My stress over the most mundane things in life looked sickening in the light of what life should truly be about.  The lives changed by the truth of the gospel was the center of this family's world.  Where had my true center gone?  Again, the need to repent and set my mind on things above smacked me in the face. 
I am such a small part of this world.  My concerns are so insignificant in the light of the great commission.  My "needs" mean nothing in the scheme of eternal things.  It is a huge world after all and I am such a small part.  It is good to truly see your place.  It is healthy to feel insignificant.  It is peaceful to repent and have God strip the attitude away.  It is good to see how small I am in this world after all.