Only Ten Things.

From Romans 4 -- (The Message) --

^4-5If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

I read this just now and was reassured.  Believe me, I need to be reassured right now.  Here is why:

Around about late February/early March, Hunk O Man and I had decided it was time to put our house on the market. We'd spend Spring Break, the first week of April, doing the odd and end things to get it ready.  Then, April 12 we'd put it on the market.

So Rhonda called and said "I know it's not ready yet, but I have this couple who'd like to look at your house.  Do you think I could show it to them?"  This was the second week of March, a full month prior to the time we had planned to put it on the market.  Rhonda is not a pushy kind of gal; she is sweet and accommodating.  But we thought hey, why not?  So we cleaned it up and I staged it, and the couple saw the house.

And they loved it.

On March 22, we had a signed contract and a closing date of April 25.  But -- we had a lot to do.  I only had about 10 things to do.  The list went something like this:

1.  Re-screen the back porch.

2.  Write two research papers.

3.  Read "A Streetcar Named Desire" and write an essay on it.

4.  Paint the dining room.

5.  Write six more essays for final exams.

6.  Make two prom dresses.  Don't use a pattern, just design one as you go and copy the other from an existing dress.  Drive the 1.5 hours to Raleigh about 3 times for fabric and patterns and notions and more fabric.

7.  Pack up the entire house.

8.  Prime and paint the kitchen cabinets.  

9.  Put a door on the closet in Bug's room, paint Babydoll's room, touch up the peeling paint in the laundry room, paint all the wainscoting that ran (quite literally) everywhere in the house.

10.  Try not to lose my mind.

And you know what?  I prayed a lot, worked hard, and God made it all happen.  It all got done and everyone's mind, including mine, came out intact and functioning normally.  The job was clearly too big for us, and God got it done.  

So with such a fresh example in my head, why am I freaking out now?

Because the house we live in now is my favourite house of all the houses in which I've ever lived.  I LOVE this house.  But -- this house is on the market also.  It has been for over 2 years.  We agreed to an open, month-to-month lease because we thought we'd probably find another house.  

We had a showing on Wednesday (my birthday, no less!).  The a/c was broken and it was probably 90 degrees and 90% humidity in the house.  I picked it up but didn't really "clean" it -- too hot to run the sweeper!  I can stage a house and make it fabulous, and I didn't do that.

But -- the people loved the house.  And yesterday, I had to go back to God and ask "Really?  You would make me move 6 weeks after I moved into the house I absolutely love and you would do it on my birthday?  Really?"

Now let's just hang on a minute here, Jen.  Am I talking to the same God who enabled me to accomplish that list of the 10 things?  What is the matter with me?  What makes me think He would put me in such a position?

I hang my head as I realise this:  I had to get past the freaking out part before I could step into the trust.  I wish it were one easy motion.  But I am a horrible sinner and it is not one easy motion.  Of all those I could trust the most -- the One who has never failed me -- I seem to trust Him the least.  I know God, really know Him.  I know better than to not trust Him.

So He reassured me today with Romans 4.  Because He loves me, and doesn't want to give me too much, and He wants me to remember that He never will give me too much.  If I have to move again, there will be another list of 10 impossible things and He will get them accomplished, not me.  Or even just one impossible thing -- that I don't lose my mind and have to be sent to the nut house -- and God will still keep me sane.  

¹⁶This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure gift. 


When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do.


The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God, set us right with God.


Promise, after promise, after promise.  I am thanking God today.

xoxox

Here! I Got You This! Open It! Open It!

God has been doing some amazing things in our lives here lately. We were going to work on our house this week, and put it on the market this coming Monday, April 12. Instead, God brought us buyers about a month ago, and instead we're painting and packing. We saw a house last July that we loved and wanted to rent -- but weren't ready to sell ours. So that house was rented to someone else. But, those people have since moved, and the rental house is available again.

So not only did He sell our house for us, He gave us a bigger, nicer, cheaper place to live.

Oh, the abundance of God! I cannot tell you enough about the way He choose to bless me. I suppose I recognise this because I love to give gifts. At Christmas or birthdays, I spend a lot of time thinking about the person to whom I'm giving -- things they've said, ways they are. I often even pray about it. Then an amazing idea will pop into my head, and I'll either do it or wrap it up, and then the best part comes -- I get to watch them receive it. It gives me such joy to do that! No wonder God loves it so much!

We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.

John 1:16-18

xoxoxox

The Simple Things

These things make me appreciate God today:

From Psalm 86:17 --

But you, O God, are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love, and you never, ever quit . . . as you, God, gently and powerfully put me back on my feet.

North Carolina in a riot of colour in the spring -- from my yard, no less!

And this, on my kitchen window sill (with very little sunlight) confirms to me

that there indeed IS a God!

xoxox

Acts 10

I just read this, and there were a couple of things that really struck me.

First of all, Mr. Regular Guy Cornelius. Here's how he is described:

There was a man named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, captain of the Italian Guard stationed there. He was a thoroughly good man. He had led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God, was always helping people in need, and had the habit of prayer.

Just a regular guy, right? He was Italian, so I'll be he was even good looking. A good-looking Italian soldier. Relatively godly. Prays a lot and does good deeds. Leads his family in a godly way.

Well, he gets a visit from an angel.

Now I know a lot of godly people. But they don't get visits from angels. Obviously there was a purpose to this angel's visit, having to do with Peter.

But you know, WHOA! A visit from an angel, folks!

I'm thinking here that I want to be that kind of godly. I'd like a visit from an angel. Can you imagine? A person appears at your door, you invite them in, they fill the room with light . . .

Next amazing thing from this chapter. Peter is lost in thought and prayer and meditation -- and the Spirit speaks to him to tell him there are people at the door:

Peter, lost in thought, didn't hear them, so the Spirit whispered to him, "Three men are knocking at the door looking for you. Get down there and go with them. Don't ask any questions. I sent them to get you."

OK, I'm pretty close to the Spirit of God -- I talk to him all the time. But I don't think He's ever whispered to me that there are people at my door and I need to pay attention. I have never audibly heard the voice of God say "Hey Jen, go to the door." Or "Hey Jen, you should answer the phone, it's from Me."

Again, can you imagine? Being so close to God that He takes the time to whisper AUDIBLY to you?

I cannot get over how these things amaze me. These aren't just stories, they're actual history. Strange stuff happens all the time in our universe, in our lives. But this stuff, straight from God -- WOW! How cool would it be to live in a way that would enable stuff like that to happen now? As in 2009 now?

Lord, please fix our eyes on Your marvelous face. Change us. Speak to us. Lead us. Whisper to us to pay attention. Drop in on us from time to time and fill the room with light. Give us that kind of faith. Because of Jesus, Amen.

xoxox