A Perfect Moment

Have you ever experienced a perfect moment? A moment when you couldn't decide if you needed to laugh or cry to express all of the emotions in your heart?

I spent this past weekend with a family that means the absolute world to me. They are some of my oldest and very dearest friends, people too precious for me to even say. It was heaven.

Yesterday we went out on the boat and there was a moment, as my Dad was crusing around the lake that I experienced this perfection. Asher lay blissfully asleep in my arms as Noble laughed through his "king of the world" trip at the front of the boat. I looked around and saw my dear friends, my hudband, my parents, and my beautiful children and I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

There are so many things in my day to day life in which I might be disappointed. I wish a hope or dream came to pass. I wish I were more patient. I wish Noble would make better choices sometimes. I wish I could be more content. I wish, I wish, I wish. But there, in the midst of my own disappointments or struggles, I was reminded of how incredibly blessed I am.

Surrounded by those who love me and who I love beyond description, sharing in each other's lives. It all came into focus. This is what really matters. Who am I there for? Who is there for me? At that moment, this is what I needed to remember, and God graciously provided the reminder.

What about you? Have you ever experienced a perfect moment? A moment in life when you received the very gift for which your heart longed? Comment! Share your perfect moment with me!

Escaping From Prison

Acts 16:25-30
²⁵But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. ²⁷And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." ²⁹Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?""

In the scripture above we read that the chains and walls that imprisoned Paul and Silas were broken when they worshiped God, and this is something I have often heard taught. We ought to praise God under all circumstances and in all places for He is more than able to come to our rescue. However, there is an interesting aside to this story that I have never specifically heard taught.

If the scene above had been written for a Hollywood movie then the chains would have broken, the walls come down, and Paul and Silas would have quickly and quietly snuck away to their smuggled freedom. They would no longer be confined but they would have remained fugitives.

However, Hollywood didn't write the story, God did. In His perfect version, Paul and Silas stayed, despite the opportunity for freedom, and a man and his entire household were saved through their testimony.

What can we learn from this? When I find myself in a prison situation, a season when I feel trapped with no way out. A scenario where I have been falsely accused and/or even convicted of crimes I did not commit. Or, like Paul and Silas, perhaps I am indeed guilty of that which they accuse me, but the action was not wrong. What do I do? Do I sit in my isolation and weep, "Why, God? Why?" Or do I choose to praise Him in the midst of my darkness?

Let's assume for the sake of continuing that I have made the better choice. I have praised God from the depth of my despair and He has heard my cries for help. The doors to my proverbial cell swing open and God whispers, "You are free to leave, my child, but if you choose to stay you will be a part of something amazing."

That is the great challenge. When I have been accused, and imprisoned. When evil people say hateful things against me. When the very deck of my life seems stacked against me God offers me freedom, but asks for my sacrifice. Then the question becomes, "How far will you follow me, My child?" I stand in my cell at the edge of my open door, ready to run when again His voice whispers, "How much of yourself are you willing to give for My sake?"

If I choose to make a run for it, He cannot be angry. After all, it is a freedom He, Himself granted. In fact, many of us would run out the doors glorifying God for His faithfulness. But if I am willing to be still and trust Him, might He use me to accomplish something even more miraculous? What might happen if I am willing to lay my own interests aside and wait for Him, despite my own discomfort?

In the story above, not only was the prison guard saved, along with every member of his household, but Paul and Silas were set free as truly free men, not fugitives who had miraculously broken their bonds. If I will only wait and listen for Him, might God do more for me than tear down a few walls? If I will take a chance based on my confidence in Him, if I will surrender to His will over my own fears and preferences, might He tear down those walls and then use me to begin to rebuild beyond my greatest expectation?

This is a valuable lesson for me, and I believe I am not so very different than anyone else. Too often I seek whatever will bring me comfort and make me happy, but my perception is off. I see such a small corner of the larger picture He is painting. Oh if I will only be content to wait for Him, what might He be able to do in and through me!

Trusting an Unfailing God

Genesis 25-30

Well, I am sorry to say this, but have you noticed that thus far in the book of Genesis the example that most of the women have given us is precisely what NOT to do? While Rachel was pregnant with Jacob and Esau God told her what there future would be like. "Two nations are warring within you and the younger will rule the older." In that revelation God didn't say a single thing like, "Now, Rachel, I'm gonna need your help on this one..." Did He? No, of course not.

But, like Sarah before her, and so many of us after her, she took matters into her own hands. In order to help God bring His will to pass Rachel betrayed one of her own sons and deceived her husband. I cannot even begin to imagine the long lasting impact her deception would have on her marriage, and would Esau ever speak to her again? Finally, she loses the one thing she most cared about. She has to send Jacob away to protect his life from the brother she helped, and even persuaded him to betray. She loses everything in her life that mattered in a single act of mistrust.

Reading about how prone to intervention these first women of the Bible were, Eve, Sarah, Rachel (even remember Lot's wife and daughters) it should scream out to us as a warning. GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING! If He has made you a promise, HE WILL BRING IT TO PASS. If He has told you something, HE WILL SEE IT THROUGH.

As we wait and wonder when He will act, let us remember the examples He intentionally left for us. Let us learn from their mistakes and let us not repeat them. Let us learn to trust God, His wisdom and His perfect timing. He always knows what He is doing and nothing ever takes Him by surprise.

This lesson was brought home very personally for me as Owen and I struggled with our few years of infertilty. There was no known reason why we couldn't conceive. This was sometimes an encouragement, it is always better that nothing be wrong, right? Other times it was a great frustration, for if nothing was wrong there was nothing for me to fix, and I find myself to be a great fixer...at least in my mind.

Owen and I had determined long before this struggle that we did not personally beieve in intervening to force conception. This conviction is not for everyone and I could never pass judgment on another couple as they face this incredible difficult choice. I only know what was right for us. For our situation we both believed that our only coioce was to trust God. In His time we believed that we would conceive.

A little over two years into our struggle God allowed me to discover my intolerance to gten. That discovery brought with it not only pregnancy, but the greatest quality of life change I could have imagined. It was not merely God's will for us to have a beautiful baby boy. It was also His will for me to be in perfect health, thriving as I carried and now raise that precious child. Had we intervened and tried to force our will we might have succeeded in creating a life, for God often allows our will to prevail, even when it is contrary to His, as evidenced by the reading which inspires this entry. But, although we might have succeeded in attaining the child we desired, I would continue to be ill, and who is to say that I would have been able to sustain the pregnancy? And though any child is precious, a child created at any other time would not have been this child. He or she would not have been my beautiful Noble boy. And what joy would I now be missing in my life if this sweet boy were not a part of it?

You see, there is so much more to our faith in God's purposes than merely our own life and choices. Whose life might be depending on my faith in God's promises? Whose life might be impacted by my forcing of my own will for my own purposes?

It is not merely for myself that I must trust my God. He is Master, Creator, Lord of all creation. He holds the future in His hands - not merely my future, but all future. I must trust Him. I must believe Him. He has never failed me.