Faith – Page 4 – He Said What?!

What’s Ahead?

Here in Kansas over the past ten days we have had some extreme winter weather, as have many of you around the nation. We knew it was coming thanks to modern weather forecasting. We were able to prepare as best we could for sub-zero temperatures and even worse wind chills and snow. What a blessing it is to be able to look ahead and to be ready when the storm hits!

Some of you know that I have been reading and studying through the book of Numbers. This book isn’t exactly known for super passages full of encouragement, but I have discovered, with the help of Raymond Brown’s book The Message of Numbers, that there are indeed many blessings and promises in this often-neglected book.

I finished Numbers yesterday. The last verse was amazing, and I wanted to share it with you today.

“These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.” (Numbers 36:13)

I believe I know what you’re thinking. Nothing in that verse reaches out and grabs you, does it?

But don’t be so quick to assume that this is just another dry verse from a rather dry book.

All throughout the book of Numbers, God had given His people commands to obey in order to survive the trip through the desert – but more importantly, in order to live victorious lives. Their lives would only be successful if they obeyed God. It was a lesson they learned over and over as they left Egypt and entered the desert.

Obedience brought victory and blessing.

Disobedience brought defeat and curses.

Now at the end of this book, after taking care of matters concerning land distribution and inheritances, there stood the nation of Israel on the east side of Canaan.

They stood in the plains of Moab, and what was ahead?

God had confirmed his commandments “…by the Jordan opposite Jericho.”

God had given them so many victories over their desert wanderings…so many lessons learned…so many providences.

Then He confirmed all His final commands to His people whom he loved when there, just ahead, were two HUGE difficulties.

The Jordan River, in flood stage and impassable.

Jericho, a well-fortified city that far outweighed any hope of defeat by a nation that had no real army.

God had given Israel the land upon which they now stood, but up ahead were seemingly impossible situations.

What was the key to victory?

Obedience. God’s presence was with them and His power was theirs if they but simply obeyed Him.

The Jordan River parted. Jericho fell. The stories are so fascinating in the book of Joshua. But the key, always, was for Israel to obey God.

“How could anybody possibly convey this huge contingent of nomadic people across that fast-flowing river, and how could an untrained army capture a well-fortified city like Jericho? The secret was in total obedience. Neither barrier was to be overcome by intellectual skills, geographical proficiency, crowd manipulation, army intelligence or military strategy. Two doctrinal factors prompted their obedience: God’s presence and God’s power.” (Raymond Brown)

What is ahead of you today?

Have you been walking in life, doing the best you can to obey God and live right?

But are you now looking ahead to a forecast that is anything but encouraging?

What huge thing in your life is looming ahead, causing you to lose sleep and to feel fear?

Whether our issues are national in scope, or personal in nature, each of us has plenty to keep us anxiously glancing at what is ahead on our horizons.

Please know that God’s presence and His power are fully yours if you know Him, and if you are obeying Him step by step, day by day.

God has not brought you to an impassable river to watch you drown.

And He has not brought you to a strongly walled city to watch you die.

You may be standing near…or in…some very tough situations. But like Israel as they stared at Jordan and Jericho, listen to what God says to you:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Look in God’s eyes as you listen to Him, not over His shoulder at your Jordan and Jericho that are looming large.

Be strong in God’s strength and rest in His presence.

Let God do the fighting and trust Him for the finish!

Don’t You Remember?

One of the many side effects of Aaron’s seizures and even of some of his seizure meds is memory loss. It makes me sad to see it sometimes.

Gary and I took Aaron out to eat the other day. While eating, I got a text saying that his day group would be re-opening on Monday. I was sharing with Aaron the names of some of his friends that he would get to see again. At the mention of one of his friends, Aaron’s face was blank.

I was surprised because just last week Aaron had facetimed with her. Yet his forgetfulness was genuine just a short time later.

As I get older (and older and older 😊), I find myself often saying, “Remember when…?” Gary and I do this at times, remembering events and situations of the past, sometimes with joy and at other times with regret.

There is an incident recorded in the book of Numbers…the book I am now studying…that has impacted me this week and which I want to, well, remember.

The children of Israel had traveled for a year in the wilderness. In chapter 11, we find them complaining about their lack of good food. They remembered all the variety of foods in Egypt, forgetting their horrible life they lived there as they ate that food.

They begged for meat, so God told Moses that He would give them meat. Then Moses seemed to have memory loss as he questioned just how on earth God would be able to supply so much meat for so many people.

Are you kidding me?!

Moses had seen miracle after miracle, and he dared wonder how God could manage to find meat in the desert?

Actually, Moses asked God how he…Moses…was to get the meat. Moses left God out of the picture.

Moses was run down, discouraged, tired, burdened.

Pretty much like we feel today.

Here we are, on the first day of a new year, trying to summon hope in the middle of our burdens.

2021 must be better than 2020, right?!

It HAS to be!!

We can’t handle anymore stress in our world and in our homes!

But I think that deep down we all know that we are entering this new year staring ahead at huge problems that still loom large.

That’s why God’s answer to Moses is a HUGE promise to each of us who know and follow God.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.’ (Numbers 11:23)

Another version of what God said was this: “Is the Lord’s arm too short?”

That phrase brought to mind the fact that Pharaoh was said to be the possessor of a strong arm. Yet God defeated Pharaoh with His much stronger arm.

Remember, Israel?

Remember all the plagues and the miracles?

Remember the exodus from Egypt?

Remember the parting of the Red Sea?

How could they forget?!

Yet I am no different. How can I so often forget what God has done and what He has promised, to ME?

I have been challenged by others to have a word for this year. And so my word is:

REMEMBER

Primarily, to remember just who God is and that His arm is strong and is long enough to carry me and help me and protect me.

To REMEMBER God’s past answers to prayer.

To REMEMBER His promises to me in His Word.

To REMEMBER Who He is, and how He never changes.

God’s arm is never shortened, and His power is never limited.

So may I…and all of us…remember.

This new year here in our neck of the woods has begun beautifully.

May I allow God’s beauty to permeate my heart every day in the uncertain times ahead as I…

REMEMBER!

Hovering God

A good word for this year, and especially for the upcoming days of uncertainty for believers politically. This is from the book I am reading as I study the book of Numbers. God appeared to Israel as He hovered over the tent of meeting as a cloud by day and fire by night. When the cloud or fire moved, they moved. It required a great deal of trust, especially when God didn’t move for long periods. Like Israel, we want to see God move and when it appears He isn’t, then it’s easy to become discouraged and to lose hope.

“There were days when they could see that they were making progress, but at other times they may have been puzzled because nothing was happening. Why the tiresome delay? For most of us, at some time or another, life has its bewildering waiting times. The evidence of God’s continuing care appears limited, even absent. The Puritans spoke about ‘the soul’s winter times’, when everything appears cold, bleak, and barren. We wish God would speak to us more clearly about why we are going through such dark days, when it is hard to hold on. BUT WAITING TIMES ARE NOT WASTED TIMES. When the guidance we look for is just not there, we must calmly renew our confidence in God; ‘such a resolution can never go to hell with thee’, said Thomas Goodwin. There is some wise purpose in life’s bleak experiences. GOD IS STILL PRESENT. ‘Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.’ In the desolate years of late-seventeenth-century persecution, John Flavel urged his contemporaries to ‘exercise the faith of adherence when you have lost the faith of evidence.’ (Raymond Brown)

God knows what He is doing…and if our road ahead is hard, God still knows what He is doing.

In our personal lives…in our lives in God’s kingdom…in our family lives – we must trust God and obey Him and leave all the rest up to Him. I believe hard days are ahead for Christians. But I would by far rather be following God today than to follow any other person or cause.

Thank you, God, for reminding us at this time of year that You are Immanuel…GOD WITH US. We really have nothing to fear.

Sunrise…Sunset

I love early mornings at my desk in the room facing west on our upper level. I have taken scores of sky pictures from the windows in this room.

It is dark on the mornings I sit there with my Bible open. But always the sun eventually rises, later this time of year.

Yesterday the view outside those windows matched my heart.

Heavy.

The sky laden with clouds.

Aaron had a seizure a couple hours earlier. His seizures have been more frequent lately and I wonder why. Will this mean an increase in one of his seizure drugs and then all that goes along with that?

Our son 10 hours away tested positive for COVID this week. When it went to his chest, I wanted to be near him in the way that only a mother understands. Then he got the call that he was furloughed from his job.

And he can’t join us for Thanksgiving.

We plan to travel to our daughter’s for Thanksgiving. Should we go? The virus, you know.

Heavy.

Even the partial early Christmas decorating I’ve done this week doesn’t create the needed cheer in my heart.

But I read Psalm 24:1-2:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains; the world and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”

The sun DID rise, obscured by clouds though it was.

God has an order to this world He created. He’s promised that to us.

“While the earth remains,

Seedtime and harvest,

And cold and heat,

And summer and winter,

And day and night,

Shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)

God also has an order to my life.

I am not a pawn to random chance or karma, but I am under the steadfast and certain predictability of the God Who created this world, and all that is in it.

I prefer this sunrise:

And this sunset:

But I trust the God Who holds this world together (Colossians 1:17).

Whatever the news, national or personal, I am certain that God is in charge.

I don’t know or even understand His plan.

But I’m not to trust the plan.

I’m to trust the Planner.

So I will…through heavy clouds or blue skies.

Sunrise and sunset will not cease. And neither will the loving control and care of the God behind it all.

Looking Back

Twelve years ago, our daughter was getting ready to graduate from college with a health sciences degree. She wasn’t sure of what she should do after graduation, so a friend who had already walked that path told her to get her EMT license and work in an emergency room in order to gain some experience and some insight into the medical field. She got her EMT license during her senior year of college.

Shortly before our daughter’s graduation, my friend and I were at Sam’s Club shopping for a big church dinner. We were standing at the cooler choosing heads of lettuce when another shopper joined us. This other shopper was a caterer, and soon the three of us were talking away. We found out as we chatted that she had a grandson with autism. I told her about our Aaron, and off we went sharing some similar concerns. I had noticed that this woman was wearing a work shirt from one of our large local hospitals, and embroidered on the front were the words, “ER Services.”

I told her how my daughter sure would love to work at that ER and that she planned to apply soon. This woman took out some paper as she asked me what Andrea’s name was. She then gave me a phone number for Andrea to call as well as the woman’s name that Andrea should speak to. When Andrea was able to call some time later, this woman said, “Oh yes, Andrea. I have your file here on my desk.” Andrea was so surprised! “What file?” she thought. Seems the woman I had met talked to this person and they started a file before even talking to Andrea. It was amazing! Andrea interviewed and got the job right away.

As time went on and several years passed, Andrea had gained much experience at that job as well as two others before being accepted into grad school. She was finally sure that molecular biology/genetics was where she wanted to focus. But it was easy to wonder if all the time and energy devoted to the ER and a doctor’s office was a waste. But since that time, she has seen over and over that her clinical experience gave her advantages and opened doors that she never realized would happen.

As believers and followers of Christ, we know that if we are walking in obedience to the Lord then nothing is a waste. We know in our head that “ALL things work together for good.” But sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of that promise when the steps we’re taking are uncertain and even painful. What we know in our head often doesn’t reach our hearts very easily.

I liken it to looking ahead as we walk but seeing no clear path. It reminds me of our walkway in our back yard. In one direction there is no path.

But when I look behind me, I see how the bricks were carefully laid to make a clear walkway.

We put one foot in front of the other as we launch out into the unknown. Really, each new day is unknown to us. We have no idea what will happen to us in any given day. What is important is to walk in obedience to God as we trust Him to open and shut doors.

As the days and the years pass by, we too can look behind us and see how all things fit together in our life to make a beautiful pattern. Each piece fits just where God meant it to fit.

But sometimes the beauty comes as a result of great pain. God’s purposes are often more fully accomplished through suffering.

In Acts 23, the Apostle Paul was arrested for preaching the gospel. Through a series of events he was transferred from Jerusalem to Caesarea, and from there to Rome. All along the journey, Paul was able to preach the gospel to the highest levels of government. A normal missionary journey would probably not have opened those doors, but Paul’s suffering and imprisonment did provide the opening for sharing the gospel in ways unthought of and unplanned by Paul.

D.L. Bock writes about how this incident in Paul’s life was rooted in God’s providence. But he adds that providence does not always mean physical rescue. “It is one of the mysteries of providence that many times we cannot see why things are happening as they are. Yet God is surely at work in ways that we could not have planned for ourselves.”

May each of us, as we find ourselves at the end of our known and seen path…as we get ready to walk into the uncharted areas of life…fully trust that God knows best.

If we could push ajar the gates of life,

And stand within, and all God’s working see,

We might interpret all this doubt and strife,

And for each mystery could find a key.

But not today. Then be content poor heart;

God’s plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold.

We must not tear the close-shut leaves, apart –

Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.

And when, through patient toil, we reach the land

Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest,

There we shall truly know and understand,

And there shall gladly say, ‘Our God knows best.’ (Anon.)

When is the Time to Trust?

A couple mornings ago I felt compelled to open my very old copy of the classic devotional book, Streams in the Desert. This book was a gift from my home church when I graduated from high school way back in 1973. But even though my graduation date makes the book old…of which I am all too aware more and more each day…the actual writings of Mrs. Charles Cowman were first published in 1925. Her writing style may be old school, but the deep truths contained therein are timeless.

I was touched deeply by what I read that morning about faith and trust. I jotted a few notes, tucked the truths away in my mind, and was soon about my busy day. Aaron was staying home that day and we had fun plans!

Our plans were to meet some friends at All Star Sports for a morning of games. My friend Joyce and I had decided to get our two sons together. It would be the first time that Johannes and Aaron would be with each other for an outing, and we both wondered how it would go.

How it went was great! I mean, there wasn’t tons of interaction between them, but the ice was broken, and plans were made for more time together. Sweet Johannes held his hand out and with a prompt from me, Aaron shook his hand without squeezing it too hard, and Joyce and I laughed and were happy. The boys had a good time and that’s what mattered!

Aaron and I then went to eat some lunch and to drop off donations at Goodwill before heading home. Soon after we got home, Aaron took a nap. I had the monitor nearby, listening as I always do when he sleeps. I really didn’t expect to hear a seizure, so I was surprised when I suddenly heard that unmistakable sound coming across the table where I sat.

It was a hard seizure, lasting close to 3 minutes. And exactly one hour later, to the minute, he had another one. It wasn’t as long as the first one but was still 2 minutes long. Thankfully, he was done then and had no more the rest of the day.

It’s so surprising, even now after all these years, how quickly Aaron can go from being out and about, happy and fine, to having a seizure. I don’t try to figure them out like I used to do, but I still find myself wondering why.

Even the next day on the way home from his day group, his speech was somewhat slurred, and he was very tired. He fell asleep on the way home instead of his usual non-stop talking. Was it the residual effects of yesterday’s seizure, I wondered? Is his sodium low again? Will he have another seizure when he gets home and takes a nap?

So, even though this is Aaron’s life and our life, it’s still disconcerting. Worrying. Unsettling.

My mind was drawn back to the devotional I read earlier that morning. I went back to it and was, as I always am, so amazed at how God has for me just what I need when I most need it.

Mrs. Cowman’s words were based on the story of Paul’s shipwreck in Acts 27. The south wind blew gently as the sailor’s pulled anchor. Paul had warned them not to take this trip, but they didn’t listen. And that south wind was such a hopeful sign to them that they were right, and Paul was wrong.

But soon a terrible storm hit. For days the ship was violently tossed on the waves. During that horrible storm, with no sun or stars for days…with everything thrown off the ship that could possibly be tossed overboard…verse 20 says that all hope of being saved was abandoned.

But an angel of God stood before Paul to assure him there would be no loss of life. Paul stood bravely before those battered and terrified seasoned sailors, and confidently said, “So take heart, men, FOR I HAVE FAITH IN GOD!!”

I thought about our life with Aaron…the ups and downs in so many areas…and the fear concerning his seizures. How that day had been so much fun and so without fear, and then out of the blue came two hard seizures. It was easy for fear to replace our fun.

My need to trust God is always there, right at the surface, even underneath all the normal and the fun and the hopeful.

But ACTUALLY trusting God is a must when suddenly the normal and the fun and the hopeful is yanked away.

That level of trust is a conscious decision that I must make.

That level of trust isn’t based on circumstances or on feelings but is rooted in God Himself…in Who I know Him to be.

This year for all of us has seen the rug pulled out in so many areas of our lives. Things were going along pretty well for most of us. Then…BAM!!

COVID…jobs…riots…anger…fear…disagreement.

I want to leave you with the hope that God is not taken aback or surprised by any of this. He has a purpose and a plan.

Can you say, with Paul, that you have faith in God?

I want to leave you with a wonderful poem shared by Mrs. Cowman that I read that morning. I hope it will mean as much to you as it did…and does…to me.

When is the time to trust?

Is it when all is calm,

When waves the victor’s palm,

And life is one glad Psalm

Of joy and praise?

Nay! But the time to trust

Is when the waves beat high,

When storm clouds fill the sky,

And prayer is one long cry,

O help and save!

When is the time to trust?

Is it when friends are true?

Is it when comforts woo,

And in all we say and do

We meet but praise?

Nay! But the time to trust

Is when we stand alone,

And summer birds have flown,

And every prop is gone,

All else but God.

What is the time to trust?

Is it some future day,

When you have tried your way,

And learned to trust and pray

By bitter woe?

Nay! But the time to trust

Is in this moment’s need,

Poor, broken, bruised reed!

Poor, troubled soul, make speed

To trust thy God.

What is the time to trust?

Is it when hopes beat high,

When sunshine gilds the sky,

And joy and ecstasy

Fill all the heart?

Nay! But the time to trust

Is when our joy is fled,

When sorrow bows the head,

And all is cold and dead,

All else but God.

No Wallowing!

I am NOT where I thought I would be this week!

I am NOT where I planned, carefully planned, to be this week!

But I do believe that most of us are in the same boat and could say the same thing. How many plans have been totally disrupted due to all this virus mess and stay-at-home orders?

Trust me, I know that there are some very heart-breaking situations in people’s lives right now – far worse than anything I’m going through.

So, where was I supposed to be this week? Texas. I was to be in Texas this week.

My husband and I were going to the Houston area this week. Our daughter and her husband, Kyle and Andrea, live there. And our son, Andrew, who lives near Indianapolis, was to be there as well. Andrew works for an NHRA drag race team. They have a big national race in Houston every April.

Gary had bought our tickets. I had lined up caregivers for Aaron, who doesn’t attend these events with us. He loves his own version of a vacation, which is to stay in his comfort zone of home and of eating out every night, loving the undivided attention from caregivers…and calling us multiple times every day, just because he always has something to tell us.

On Facebook this week, the memories from this time last year have been popping up on my page. As if I need any help with memories of our fun time we should be having!

We should be doing this:

Enjoying time together:

And watching Andrew work:

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I was talking to my friend, Joyce, about it a couple weeks ago. I told her it’s sad not to be going on our trip to see our kids. How it’s OK to acknowledge that sadness, but that I can’t stop and wallow in it. We laughed as we thought about that and laughed even more when Joyce mentioned being like a pig wallowing in the mud.

In the park where Aaron and I like to walk, Swanson Park, there is still a depressed area in the prairie grass where buffalo wallowed in the 1800’s. In fact, there is a plaque there for us to read about it. And it’s simply called a “buffalo wallow.” I had to inwardly smile as he and I stood there looking at it once again the other day.

Then nearby, a short distance from the trail, is this muddy area.

As we looked at it, I could imagine buffalo and wild pigs wallowing in the mud there. I could see them with my mind’s eye rolling and relaxing in the goopy mud, in no hurry to move on.

Much like I am tempted to do as I think with regret about where I thought I would be this week.

Oh, I have reason to wallow. Our kids live far from us and we see them so seldom. In fact, for many reasons, we haven’t seen Andrea and Kyle since last July. Their jobs, Andrew’s travels, Gary still working, the difficulty of finding caregivers for Aaron…all make it very hard for us to up and travel as we would so desire to do.

I could most definitely stop and wallow in my misery. And with each roll in the mud, I could find plenty of reasons to condone and excuse my wallowing!

But there’s this verse that makes me stop my wallowing and listen to God instead.

“God is my allotted portion and my cup; You take charge of my lot.” (Psalm 16:5)

Simply put, this means that God takes care of my circumstances. Things around me may become shaky, but I can be unshaken as I stand firm IN my circumstances.

Why? Because I believe in God’s direction and providence in my life. I love the note on this verse in my ESV Bible: We can have “…contentment with the arrangements of one’s life, seeing them as providentially ordered.”

What a difference it makes to know and to trust God! To know without a doubt that my interrupted plans are because of His plans for me that are far better than I can know or imagine.

Isn’t that what trust is all about anyway?

So, I acknowledge my sadness as I look at what might have been.

Then I move on. I don’t jump in the mud and relish it.

“I have set the Lord continually before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)

And I will not wallow!

Where Is He?

I pulled into our military post gas station years ago in Germany, got out of the car, and began the familiar routine of filling up with gas. But suddenly, I don’t know from where, a fire started on the ground nearby. All I could think about was my little Andrew in his car seat inside our car. Thankfully, no gas had started coming out of my nozzle yet. I quickly placed it back in its holder, jumped in the car, and high tailed it out of there as fast as I could!

Andrew knew that something had upset me. His eyes were big as he asked me what was wrong. I told him about the fire that I had seen and that I wanted us to be safe. But most importantly, I told him, God was with us and had kept us safe.

I wanted to stress that fact to Andrew, so little and so curious about why I had been scared. So, I repeated that truth several times to him on our short drive to our apartment.

“Andrew,” I said, “God was with us and He kept us safe.”

Finally, as I lifted him out of his car seat in our apartment parking lot and held his hand as we walked to our door, I said it once more.

“God was with us, Andrew, and He kept us safe.”

“Yeah,” Andrew agreed. “But where was He? I didn’t see Him!”

We smile at Andrew’s innocent question, but honestly, most of us have felt that way at times.

I just finished reading and studying through the book of John. The end of the book is wrenching. There was Jesus and His disciples, enjoying a quiet Passover meal one night. And the next night, Jesus was dead. The betrayal, the arrest, the farce of a trial, the brutal torture, and the horrible crucifixion. It happened so quickly! The disciples were unprepared for this turn…so lost…so scared…so alone.

How quickly their world had turned upside down!

“Now what?!” I’m sure they said to one another. “What do we do now? Are we next?”

Of course, we know the rest of the story. Knowing the rest, though, sometimes makes me gloss over just how frightening and uncertain their futures must have been to them.

But then came Sunday! There stood Jesus in their midst, very much alive and whole and healed!

And what did He say to them?

“Peace be with you.”

Peace.

The word means quietness…rest…and to be at one again.

Today, we may have the question that my little Andrew did.

“Where is God? I don’t see Him!”

Sometimes we don’t see him as we look at this upside-down world. Literally overnight, with news of a strange new virus, people were in a mass panic. Store shelves emptied…major events canceled…jobs lost…quarantines.

SO much uncertainty!!

“Things are so strange,” everyone is saying. “So weird and scary.”

Indeed, it is a strange and scary time.

But oh, what a time it is to trust our God, those of us who know Him! What a time to see Him in His Word and in our hearts, speaking His words of peace and calmness!

The quietness and rest that God speaks of always brings me to my mother’s favorite verse:

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

To “be still” actually means to quit striving.

Quit pushing and pulling and struggling and hurrying and worrying and panicking!

Just relax. Just rest. Just breathe deep and let God’s refreshing presence fill your soul and your mind.

And know…KNOW…that He is God.

God is in charge of viruses and shortages and disrupted lives and lost jobs and unexpected decisions.

God has a purpose. He has a plan. He is not surprised.

And if you don’t see Him, then just be still…be quiet…open your Bible…and let Him talk to you.

Then you talk to Him, too, and see what happens.

God wants to be your Savior. He wants to be your Father. He will meet your needs.

His peace be with you, dear ones, during this stressful time. May we shine bright in this dark time.

And may each of us be able to say, “I DID see Him!!”

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Heading Into the Fog

I set out on Monday morning for the last day of the Bible study that I have been taking this winter. It was a very foggy morning. As I turned down 151^st street, near my home, this is what I saw ahead.

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Later, as I sat with several other precious women around a table in a beautiful conference room, we shared with each other what we feel that God is laying on our hearts as our divine burden. It was a sweet time as we bared our hearts to each other, many times with tears, of what God has impressed upon us to be or to do. A common element among us was the fact that we have a burden…..perhaps a calling…..but we don’t know where it will lead.

“I don’t know what God will do with this.”

“I don’t know how God will use this.”

“I don’t know where to begin.”

Make no mistake about it, when God calls a person to a task, He will lead the way. But He doesn’t often, if at all, open every door all at once. Our job is to obey, step by step and day by day. Just obey.

To obey when the way ahead is murky and uncertain.

Like Abraham…..called from Ur of the Chaldeas, of all places. Called because he was faithful to God. Not called because He was so amazing or gifted, but called because he was a man of faithful obedience to God. “You found his heart faithful before you,” Nehemiah said of Abraham.

So there we have our first directive. Be faithful in obedience to God.

That’s a big step in the right direction.

Finding God’s will for your life isn’t some huge, mysterious undertaking. It’s not getting up every day hoping that you do something that will somehow reveal God’s will for you.

“Finding” God’s will is simply doing God’s will for you, which means faithful obedience to the directives given to us in His Word, day by day.

So that’s what Abraham did, too. He set out to follow God from Ur to…..he had no idea where. He just knew that God said, “Come.” And so he did. He went with God, not knowing where.

Humanly speaking, that’s pretty scary stuff. We want to know where we’re going…..how we’re getting there….how long it will take…..will I be taken care of……what happens after I get there.

We set out on the path of obedience and we watch God open doors….shut doors….redirect…..

And sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s pure joy and peace. Sometimes it’s fearful and full of questions. But in the end we can be just like Abraham, who by the way wasn’t perfect and had tons of failures along this journey that God led him. Nehemiah also said, speaking of God calling Abraham, “And You have fulfilled Your promise, for You are righteous.”

God didn’t fulfill His promise to Abraham because of anything worthy that Abraham had done. God fulfilled His promise because HE is faithful to do what He has promised.

Often, God’s calling in our lives is to endure very hard trials. It’s not to be something or do something that will command great respect and attention. Instead, God may want me to endure suffering that will point me and hopefully others to Christ.

Whatever God wants me to do doesn’t depend on me at all, except for my obedience. I don’t need to feel worthy enough or important enough or smart enough or capable enough. God will be all those things for me.

As I head into the fog of the unknown, in obedience, I will begin to see some things clearly. One step at a time the way will be made known. And one day my view will be the same as my view on that road near my home later that afternoon.

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“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” (Proverbs 4:18)

My Faith Looks Up to Thee

While life’s dark maze I tread,

And griefs around me spread,

Be Thou my guide.

Bid darkness turn to day,

Wipe sorrow’s tears away,

Nor let me ever stray,

From Thee aside.

Hanging Off – Or On?

Aaron has a way of repeating what we say but changing just one word or even just one letter, and so making us laugh or pause in thought. He has a uniquely Aaron way of expressing himself.

That is, after all, the reason I started this blog and the reason I named it He Said What?!

For instance, yesterday we had some rough weather move through our neck of these Kansas woods. Aaron was concerned, asking about the storms and wondering if he should turn off his computer.

I’ve often shown him the radar and pointed out some storms headed in our direction. I sometimes refer to them as a clump of storms coming our way.

So, as he followed me around the house and fretted over his computer being hit by lightning, he said, “Mom! Is that lump of storms going to hit us?!”

Two words, so similar, yet somehow the difference was enough to make me laugh.

Aaron has become a fan of the television show Chicago Fire. In December the fall finale had the typical…and very unrealistic…cliffhanger. Aaron has talked and talked and talked and talked about those canisters in that basement, surrounded by fire, and whether they would blow up or not!!!

I told him that this was a cliffhanger. Aaron, who is very literal, saw no cliff in that fall finale. He also saw no one hanging from a cliff in that basement.

I therefore…and not for the first time…explained that a cliffhanger is when the show’s producers leave you hanging on after the last show of the season in order to make you come back and watch the first show of the new season.

Hanging ON.

But here is Aaron’s take:

“MOM!! I can’t wait till January 8^th!!

Then he waits for me to ask why he can’t wait till January 8^th.

“Because that’s when Chicago Fire comes back on!!”

Then he waits for me to show excitement. I am a good actress.

“Remember how they left us hanging OFF??!!”

Then I laugh. He thinks my laughter is an expression of my excitement over Chicago Fire resuming.

But my laughter is really about the way he changed my original phrase.

Are we hanging ON…or hanging OFF?

His change-up of that one little word has had me pondering over the past few days.

Hanging OFF a cliff is a scary situation, to put it mildly.

Hanging ON, to me, conveys hope.

In life, when I am hanging off a cliff of fear or dread or disappointment…or any number of other scenarios…I must remind myself to hang ON.

I hang ON to God and to the hope that He gives me.

How often our life with Aaron changes! We can so quickly go from enjoying life:

To the suddenness of seizures:

The above picture was right after Aaron’s third seizure on Christmas Eve, just as we were getting ready to play Christmas Bingo as we Skyped with Kyle and Andrea from Houston.

It’s a stretch for Aaron to want to play games. My first heart reaction was to wonder why. Why must he have a seizure when he was actually willing to sit with us and play a game?

Sometimes his seizures keep him from participating in something that he really wanted to do. That makes me sad for him. Disappointed.

He did arouse enough to play Bingo, but I played his card because he was uncoordinated and shaky…and grouchy, which is typical when he plays Bingo.

Every day…every situation…can be a cliffhanger with Aaron. Will we have seizures to manage? Behaviors to handle?

I do feel like I’m sometimes hanging off a cliff, holding on for dear life, afraid of what’s next and afraid of falling…of failing.

But then I must remind myself that I’m not alone. I know and trust God.

And I hold ON to Him.

I don’t understand everything.

I don’t even like everything.

But I love God, and I know He loves me.

So whatever cliff it is, I do know that I’m not just hanging off.

I reach up and I hang ON to God.

He lifts me up and He rescues me…not from the situation, necessarily…but from the danger of despair and hopelessness that can so easily overwhelm me.

After all, look at what God says about Himself in Psalm 91:15:

“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.”

May I remember, every day and in every cliffhanger, that I don’t need to just hang off.

I can hang ON…to the God Who rescues me.

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