God's Plan

It just makes sense that the God who proclaimed that all He created is good, would waste nothing. 

He made all things for a purpose.

He allows all things for a purpose.

We experience all things for a purpose. 

When you think about it, sin and brokenness create circumstances that are not lovely; some are heinous, some painful, some practically intolerable. Did God make those things? I don't think so... but He allowed them to happen ... for a purpose. And He believes in YOU and desires for you to seek His purpose... to seek HIM... in the middle of it all and there you will find answers.... or maybe you will not find answers, but you will find Him.

Consider these possibilities...

When the kids are out of control, His plan may be to grow you into the parent that will teach them appropriate behavior. If they never disobeyed, you never grow as a parent.

When your spouse is not meeting your needs, His plan may be for you to learn better communication and perhaps look at things from a different perspective. That's what grows a marriage.

When your job situation is unbearable, His plan may be for you to lean on Him for the wisdom you need. He shapes us most in adversity.

When a loved one is suffering and your heart is breaking, His plan may be for you to learn His compassion and to let Him handle what is simply too big for you to manage. Trust Him!

When finances are a disaster, His plan may be for you to discover how little you need and how much you truly have. When He is all we have we often discover He is all we need.

When illness comes at the worst possible time, His plan may be for you to slow down and listen.

When friends fail you, His plan may be for you to seek a stronger relationship with Him. 

No matter how difficult life may seem today, know this... God isn't perplexed by it, but has already discovered the way around it, through it, over it or under it. When you are a follower of the God who IS LOVE you can be assured that He will make a way and you will be shaped by your circumstances in a manner that will help you through life, this side of heaven. He refuses to throw up His hands when your choices have landed you in a difficult spot. Instead, He will teach you with grace and you will come through it as you listen and grow and walk with your hand in His.

So, as many wise people have said, when you can't find your way through a difficult situation, simply do the next right thing and, according to the Apostle Paul, that is to be thankful for every circumstance. Even if it is unpleasant or downright intolerable! It is God's plan for you to be thankful because you know that He loves you and will never ever stop. Take a deep breath. Say a prayer of thanksgiving. God's got this!

To Share Or To Bury?

Thanksgiving is only a week away and I have been thinking about all the food to purchase and the baking to be done and almost all of the family together. I love it! We always have so much food and when we are finished eating there is still plenty to send home with everyone. I think it's a mom thing to want to feed people well.

And speaking of feeding....I have been in ministry for a lot of decades and one thing I have heard many times as a reason to remain or leave a church has to do with "being fed." If we are fed, we stay. If we are not being "fed," we leave and go elsewhere to find food. I totally get it. God would have to really work to convince me to stay at a church with dry, meaningless teaching... or where I didn't feel a connection with anyone... or where they didn't serve coffee (Kidding!). But, church becomes the Church when we all participate in the lives of others, rather than just pulling up to the table and stuffing our face with the richness of the Word.

In the sermon Sunday, Chris talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and how Jesus wasn't just speaking of gifts or resources as we may think, but also of experience and information and wisdom and life skills. All the things that we gain through the years as we walk with the Lord. Every week we come back to take in more and more, being fed the richest spiritual food around, but if that "meal" isn't strengthening us to serve, we are not building the Church. We are essentially burying our talents in order to keep them "safe."

If you are reading this and are part of a congregation that is feeding you and you aren't using that nourishment to serve others and grow God's Kingdom, how are you different from the servant who buried his talent and didn't grow it for the Master? Hoarding the Truth you have learned is exactly what the servant did with the one talent he was given.

If we bring it home, what are you doing under your own roof to put into practice the truths you are learning at church? When the pastor speaks about loving others, running to the messy places to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and you nod in agreement but then stay in your comfortable home, with your beautiful children without regard to where God could be using you every week, you bury your talent, because you have received a truth but do nothing with it. What are your children learning about being a follower of Jesus if you take His truth and hide it in your heart .... so deeply that it never turns into action? During times of tension between you and your spouse or kids, do your kids see you work through it with the love you acknowledged on Sunday? Or do their see rage and bitterness boiling?

Perhaps your children are grown and you feel pretty secure that you have served and "done your time" by teaching a class when they were young. If you feel comfortable coming to church to be fed and are not feeding others from your wisdom and knowledge and life experience gained through the years, then you are missing the point of being nourished from the Truth of Scripture. We are ALL called to be disciples that make disciples. And there is no retirement plan for that. How are you doing in that arena?

God isn't looking for Biblical scholars or people who live in spectacular, spotless homes that always smell of homemade bread and chocolate chip cookies. He is looking for people who have been fed to open their arms and their hearts and their calendars enough to allow Him to create a connection for you. There are so many people at church that come and never get connected and never even feel invited to the table because we get there first and don't set a place for them.

So, what are you doing with what you know? Are you learning how to follow Jesus? Are you teaching others what you know? What does He see when He looks at your investment of time, knowledge, wisdom, life experience? Is it at all important to you to invest that, rather than bury it? I can tell you one thing for sure...

It is important to Jesus.

Giving Love - Giving Life

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, have you thanked God for the beautiful sunrise this morning or the changing seasons that make Indiana a special - though unpredictable- place to live? Did you thank Him for the furnace that kicks on to keep you from suffering in the cold? Have you thanked Him for those in your tribe that make you laugh or tell you the truth that you need to hear? Have you thanked Him for the food in your fridge or the people around your table? Have you thanked Him for the person who is willing to go to work every day to provide for your needs or the job that helps you to have the things that most of the world would consider luxuries? Chances are, you have all those things for which to give thanks, which by the world's standard, makes you rich. So I am following the instructions of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6: 17-19 and teaching...

"...those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment."

This is your public service reminder that God is your provider, not your boss or your job or your bank account. God is the own who makes all things possible so that your needs can be met and He wants you to enjoy His provision for you.

This verse, however, doesn't just speak to me of His provision for our physical needs. There is more that God provides for our enjoyment. Our relationships would be high on that list. Our connection with the world outside of our comfort zone, perhaps across the globe. Perhaps just across town. There are suffering children who are in need of clean water to drink or a warm coat for the winter. Are you living in a way that allows you to help in some small way, or are you extended beyond your means so that you can't bless those in need?

 "Tell them to use their money to do good.

 They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need,

 always being ready to share with others. " 

So I am again taking the instruction of Paul and asking if you would be willing to give up Starbucks for a month or cable for a month or take your clothing budget for a month or remove unhealthy food from your shopping list so that you can give that money to someone in need? Maybe you can give without sacrificing any of those things. Great! But what if you couldn't? Would your heart join with the heart of God in caring for those you don't even know and loving enough to sacrifice for them and use your money to do good?

Let's bring that closer to home. What about when the people right under your roof are in need of things less tangible? They are fed and clothed and given more than anyone truly needs. But, what about their emotional needs? What about their need to know they are forgiven, loved, valued for their uniqueness? Perhaps that is the most pressing need in your family. Are you willing to break down the walls you have erected over time to protect yourself and truly give yourself - your whole self to loving generously? I know that you are afraid of being hurt or rejected, but sitting alone behind that wall is a self-inflicted loneliness that brings its own pain. 

My prayer for you and your family this holiday season is that you would be willing to be rich in love and generous to those who need that love, including yourself. Share your love. Share generously. Open yourself up to receive the love you have been rejecting because... according to the writer of most of the New Testament,

By doing this they will be storing up their treasure 

as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life."

Give love ~ Give life ~ Make a better future

When Your Tank Is Empty

There are times in every marriage when we feel that our emotional tank is empty. Kids, busy schedules, lack of time to connect, a partner that is completely unaware of your needs. All this and more play a part in draining our tanks. Yet, we are commanded to love each other. Honor others above ourselves (which most definitely includes our spouse) and treat others the way we want to be treated. How does one do that without any reserves? When the account is overdrawn? When there is so little left of you that giving more to anyone will cause you to vaporize and completely lose yourself?

Take a look at the story of the poor widow in Luke 21. It is a story of giving out of your emptiness, rather than out of your plenty. Jesus compares the large gifts from the rich that are meaningless because they didn't require a sacrifice, to the tiny, seemingly pointless giving of the widow who had virtually nothing of value to offer. But. She. Gave. Let's bring that story home for just a moment and allow Jesus to address you, regarding your emptiness...

"I tell you the truth. 

This poor widow has put in more than all the others. 

All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; 

but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." 

 (Luke 21:3-4)

I truly doesn't make sense, from a fiscal or mathematical or psychological viewpoint to give out of nothing and end up a winner. But, if Jesus says she is a winner, I'm going with that!  

May I just encourage you right now, if your tank is feeling sucked dry. You don't have to dive in and find that last drop of emotional energy and give it to the person you have pledged to love forever. You really don't have to find the will to give just a little bit more, knowing there will be nothing coming back to you. If your tank feels empty and there is nothing more for you to give, then you only have to give what you are receiving from the Spirit that lives within you. Don't continue to give what isn't in you, but give what is in Him. 

When we cannot give one more ounce of love on our own, we can call out to the Author and Creator of Love and ask Him for a refill that is bigger than our space can contain so it can spill out to our family, our partner, our co-workers, our neighbors, our parents. Don't hoard it because you are starving to be and to feel love. Give it away and you will discover a rich blessing for dropping the walls and loving generously. 

Will you trust God enough to ask for more of His love so you can continue to love well? You can trust Him because He never ever runs out and He is thrilled to see His children love with an everlasting love. If you want a double blessing in your  marriage, work diligently to be the one who loves the best...BUT never ever try to do that alone. You need the real love that comes from your relationship with God. Draw closer. Let Him fill you. Then let it spill out all over your little corner of the world. Like the poor widow, you will be blessed for your generosity.