January 15, 2007

Double-Whammy

Yesterday, God surprised me. My class was about Christian love. I offered several definitions and space in my handouts for each person to write in a name of someone needing love. As we read Scripture and various illustrations, I asked them to think of ways they could love that person.

After the class we all went to the worship service. Our pastor originally intended to bring us something else but on Friday, God changed his mind. Instead, his
topic was Christian love. He offered several definitions, asked us to write in our handouts the name of someone needing love, read Scripture and gave various illustrations, then asked us to think of ways we could love that person.

Later I was thinking that someone in my class needed just a bit more. One lady told me that she was having trouble loving some people she works with, and had been praying for help and ideas. Another said, “I get it, finally.” A couple people from my class wondered if the pastor and I had collaborated, but of course we didn’t.

Often God uses a double-whammy to reinforce His ways into our hearts. This morning I get a second (or is it a tenth?) reminder from Him about my own questions and concerns. Various events had me thinking again about the future. What if my husband’s blood test results on Wednesday show another big jump in his white cell count? What if we must move into another residence that has minimum upkeep? What if . . . and my list goes all over the map.

So I asked this morning for words that I need to hear, and even though they are out of context (God can do that), these words are God’s answer to my questions. They are from Genesis 22. “And Abraham called the name of the place,
The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’”

He will take care of me. Stop stewing. The God who can put the same thoughts into the heads two vastly different people and cause them to be presented the same day to the same group (plus others), is quite able to take care of all sorts of details. Caring for me is not a big deal for God.

Again, He urges me to just trust Him; trust Him for this day, for Tuesday,
and Wednesday, for the rest of the week. Trust Him for what He has planned for our future, and for what He is doing in the lives of those on my heart and my prayer list. He proves over and over that He is an amazing God.

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Btw, our son taped the three PBS shows, “Walking the Bible” by Bruce Feiler, and yesterday invited us to watch with him. The host is a Jewish travel book writer whose responses to this experience are worth the three hours of watching it, never mind the incredible locations that this documentary series covers. While some of Feiler’s observations lack biblical accuracy, they are easy to ignore as
his spiritual understanding opens up and as he gives viewers a good look at some amazing places in the Bible. I had no idea the Sinai desert looks like it does! If you have opportunity, be sure to see this series.

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