Hi Everyone
Life is a journey. From beginning to end…it is filled with the delights of discovery and the drudge of disasters. All of us experience good and bad during the course of our journeys. Most of my books look at the adventures of my life, in an attempt to discover the lessons…lessons that have helped me to grow. And growth…spiritual growth is the purpose of events both good and bad in our lives. God uses these times to change us…to make us into the Super people He has designed us to be!
Today I am going to continue the road to discovery of what it means to be “Super” according to God. We are told in the Bible that God created each of us for a special purpose that He designed for us before the earth was created (Eph2:10). In fact Ephesians 1 also tells us that as believers we were chosen before the creation of the world…that means chosen before we had a chance to do anything…nothing that would prove that we were worthy of being called Super. Well, that thought blows me away, since by nature I am an eager, beaver, over achiever- but apparently it is not the daily things that I do that make me Super in God’s eyes! That puts God firmly in control…not me…how humbling!
Over the next few blogs I am going to share one particular story with you…a crucial part of my journey, that really caused me to change my view of God.
This journey began with having to learn who God really is. What is your view of God? This is an important question to ask yourself because it will impact your reaction to events in your life. Do you view God as all -powerful, all- knowing, the designer, Holy and inerrant, but also all-interested in us as individuals…as Love itself? Or as your personal slave?
If your view of God is that He is in charge…He’s the boss, then when troubles come you will pray, believing that He is working out the situation for a good purpose…His purpose. (Romans 5:3-6, Romans 8:28-30))
The problems that God allows in our lives give us the opportunity to be patient, which develops strength of character. We need to learn to trust God…until our faith is strong.
Real Faith brings practical results…it brings Real Peace, because we know, really know that God is in charge of everything and is working out everything for a good purpose.
Our pathway to this type of Real Faith is our journey through life’s difficulties and trouble.
One of the pathways to this discovery for me, was having to move from Manitowaning to Massey…join me on the journey… I entitile this story, “I do it myself”, because that was the way I approached this journey…I was in charge of this change…little did I know, how wrong I was!
I do it Myself!
At the time of this story I lived on Maple Grove Farm in Manitowaning, on Manitoulin Island with my husband Bob and three children…RandiLynn-14, Joan-13, and Bill-9
It was a lovely farm, with lots of room for the kids and animals…where we had friends, and good fellowship but where there was very little work as a pharmacist. Unfortunately, I had to work…full time in order to keep the creditors away!! Over the years, Bob and I had accumulated quite a bit of debt, starting with student loans for university, then endless loans and mortgages accumulated from the necessity of moving for work 4 times following graduation! Anyway the bottom line was…we both had to work full time! But on Manitoulin…at that time, there was no full time work for me, only for Bob. We tried everything we could to make full time work out of part time positions, but they all involved lots of travel and no sure pay cheque.
So in the fall of 1996…we prayed! Prayed for work and for help with the debt, which we finally admitted was a problem! And God answered our prayer with a job offer! It was a great offer…great wage, full time managing a store, benefits, Monday – Friday work…no nights, no weekends! Perfect for the family! There was just one small problem…it was in Elliot Lake…200 km away!
We discussed the job with the family and prayed again, for clarity.
But this is where my problem really began…you see in my mind I felt that if God had given me this great job, then He was going to solve all the seemingly huge issues involved in taking this job and He would do it NOW! (because I wanted Him to…since I was in control)
NO ONE ELSE in the family wanted to move…but they grudgingly accepted the need for it and unhappily agreed!
I took the job!
I was elated, I was excited, I was expectant of a quick answer to my prayers…I was in for a BIG shock…because God does not work in our timing, but His!
My view of God was that He was…My personal Genie in the Lamp…I rubbed and poof…He performed!. This was the time in my life to learn a valuable lesson…that God sometimes says NO, in answer to my prayers!
Ponder that thought, then join me next time to find out how I responded to this new revelation. So long for now.
Lynn