I bet that you are wondering about the title of my blog today? Well as you might guess, it has something to do with my Goat Tails books. Above is a picture of Scruffy having trouble again, as he so frequently did in Scruffy Finds His Way and in SuperScruff. In this picture, Scruffy has just landed right smack into the middle of Pudgy Pig’s mudhole, where he gets pretty stuck. Poor Scruffy, he’s always up to mischief, which usually turns out badly for him, even when he’s trying his best to do something good. I think that many of us are like that too. And sometimes seemingly bad things happen to us or around us that we do not instigate…unwanted and unwarranted…downright unfair.
How are supposed to deal with these events in life? Well, as usual the Bible has some suggestions. It tells us in Romans 8:28 – that ALL things work for good; the good, the bad and the ugly, for those who LOVE the Lord. Now what’s that supposed to mean? It means that even when apparently bad things happen that God has full knowledge (though he doesn’t make them happen) and has a plan to use these events for our good…for KINGDOM goals.
Nothing slips by God. He is always at work and is always aware. Let me give you an example. I was reading this morning in the book of Esther – chapter 4 about the pivotal time in Esther’s life. A time where one decision on her part could mean her death and the death of her kinspeople – the Jews. Esther was the Queen and she had the opportunity to save her people from annihilation, but perhaps at the cost of her life. A huge decision and a frightening one. Esther 4:14 it says, ” …and who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Well, Esther prayed and fasted, with her friends, then made the decision to act and her people were saved.
This story and many others teach us that God gifts each one of us for a specific purpose, which He will make known to us as we watch and pray. Each of us are special, placed on purpose in a time and a place to do His work. Ephesians 2:10 says, ” For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
I am so encouraged by this. I have been made for a purpose, and I am special to God and here’s the big news…so are you!
Have a great day, Lynn.
P.S. – A new book in the Goat Tails series will be launched late this fall…entitled, Even Pigs…Have Purpose. Surprise!! Watch for it.
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, onManitoulin 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.
I bet you thought that I had given up on blogging….since I haven’t written anything for over a month! No excuses will suffice, except that I didn’t seem to have the time to sit down and…think! But, that time is over and I am back at it again! So here goes…
When I last blogged in December I was pondering the topic of being Super. I mentioned that in my life every time I began to think that I was Super it lead to disaster in one form or another! So is there a problem with being Super…or just a problem with my definition of Super? That lead me to check to see if the Bible says anything about being Super and to my surprise it does….well sort of!
The Bible tells us that each of us is Special…designed by God Himself to do a job for Him…especially selected just for us! (Ephesians 2:10) Well…if that’s not Super…I don’t know what is!
The trouble is that we don’t cling close enough to God or dig enough into His Word to find out what that Special Job is. We define our sence of “special” by the world’s standard and that doesn’t usually match the standard set by God. That was Scruffy’s problem, he felt that in order to prove his worth that he had to show-off…to hop higher, fly further, protect better than anyone else around him…but that wasn’t the right way to be Superspecial. Nellie (his mom) told this story to give an example of being Super in action…
“Scruffy lay dejectedly in his pen, all alone, afraid to face anyone. Nellie knew that he was sad, so she snuggled close. After a while she spoke, “Scruffy, don’t be so hard on yourself…we all make mistakes, but these mistakes help us to grow…they build character. Never doubt that the Maker has made you special, perhaps not to be the SuperScruff that you wanted to be, but Super enough to do the job that He put you here to do.”…”The Maker’s idea of being Super is not the same as yours, so perhaps you should rethink what it means to be Super. He says that to be Super in His kingdom you have to be the servant of all…you have to be willing sacrifice yourself for others. Your type of Super was to be a show-off just to make yourself look better than others…do you see the difference? she bleated. Hmmm, let me think of an example….Do you remeber seeing the pond at the end of the pasture?”
“Yes…the Scruffkids and I almost fell in when we slid down the slippery bank while checking it out.”
“Well you weren’t the only curious ones! All of the piglets checked it out, too, but with their pudgy little legs they weren’t able to stop themselves from sliding into the water. And they weren’t made for swimming.”
“What happened, Mom!”
“Well, Billyboy heard them squealing and so he yelled for Papa to come quickly and then dove into the pond to rescue them. Between the two of them, they managed to pull all of the piglets safely out of the water! Nellie exclaimed. ”
Nellie goes on to tell Scruffy that Billyboy didn’t bother telling anyone about this escapade, he just carried on with his other chores, despite the fact that he was a hero.
That story introduces the topic of what makes a person special. We know that scripture tells us that each of us is special and has a special purpose…but not all are called to do the same job…to be special in the same way…some may be quiet heros, like Billyboy, others will do seemingly inconsequential tasks that make a big impact, for God. In the next few blogs I will share some real life stories of people showing how special they are…how they were sometimes “shaped” by adversity for a task that our Maker had designed for them….stay tuned.
See you next time
Lynn
P.S. I would love to hear your stories…How has God impacted your life…How have you been used for His purposes and tell me if I can share it with other…send me an email …plynnhalliday@gmail.com
