The Calling

 

“We will have to cancel Vacation Bible School this year.” The words rung in my ear, and the implication of cancelling bible school was a big one.  The problem?  Not enough volunteers to pull of the amazing bible school our church puts on each year.  The ladies of our church were on retreat when the word began to spread. 

 

You see, for church, bible school each year is an event.  The Market Place, is not just something kids come, get a few lessons and maybe sing some songs and go home.  No, it is a full experience.  Kids of various ages are placed in one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and that becomes their family for the week.  We take a section of the bible, or a story and live it out.  In the past, kids left the bondage of Egypt and crossed through the parted waters of the Red Sea.  They witnessed the walls of Jericho come crashing down.  Last year they followed a star to Bethlehem and saw, along with shepherds,  a baby in a manger.

 

This year was supposed to be the year we were to see the early ministry of Jesus.  We already had more kids pre-registered than ever before, but we did not have the workers.  This type of Bible School requires at least 50-75 volunteers.  So what to do?  The ladies on retreat began to pray, and I began to feel the tug to step up.

 

Up to this point, I have not yet volunteered.  I work crazy hours, I also watch my young grandson in the evenings. This year was no exception, plus this year, I am in the middle of writing two book proposals, am editing one of those books, and am in the middle of writing the other.  I work 50-60 hours per week, along with babysitting duties.  Plus, as I said to someone on the leadership team, “kids are not my gifting.”  None the less, I felt the call to step up. 

 

Isn’t that what God is asking all of us to do; to step up, and step out of our comfort zone?  To do what we think is impossible and watch Him work out the details, after all He is the God of the impossible is He not? 

 

I am happy to report that not only did we get enough volunteers to make VBS happen, we had an amazing number of kids come, and not only come, but also ask Jesus into their heart. 

 

Now, I am not saying to all of you overextended ladies (and men) out there to take on more that you can truly handle, and there is most definitely a time and a place for saying the word “no”.  We all need to say it, and we need to keep margin in our lives for so many reasons.  But what I am saying is when you feel that tug from God to do something you normally would not do, pray about it, and if you find it is a calling from Him, step up, follow that calling. 

 

 In my tribe, we had 9 great kids, we got to see water turned into wine, and the feeding of 5000, how could I have missed that?  What about, “kids are not my gifting”?  One of the nightly themes was “Called to Obey” I did, I answered that call, and somehow I did not feel out of my comfort zone.  I lived on two hours sleep each day, but, I truly wanted to be there each night sharing with my tribe all about Jesus.  Yes God truly was with me every step of the way this week, and I was blessed by the experience.  What will you do when you hear His Call?

Lift Mine Eyes to the Hills

 

Psalm 121:1-3

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.

Mount Pisgah Overlook

The Blue Ridge Mountains, lush with vegetation, blue green in color, and on rainy days, clouds cling to and hang on, looking like smoke escaping from the trees. This is where I call home; I moved here 24 years ago and am still moved by the beauty of God’s creation.  Just fifteen minutes from my home is one of the tallest mountains east of the Mississippi, and on hot summer days, My husband and I used to drive up and enjoy the sunset. I haven’t been up there since we lost Dave, but I often look up that road, and think about where my help comes from. 

 Long ago, when the Israelites made their journey to Jerusalem for one of the holy days, they would often look up to the mountains and know they were getting close to the city on the hill, the beautiful Jerusalem, and they were reminded of God, the helper of their people.

 

A mountain top is where God spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments.  Mountains are also a place of safety, and it is no wonder that the psalmist wrote this psalm, thinking about where his help came from when looking into the hills. 

 

Night sky off the Blue Ridge Parkway

 Our help also comes from the same God who created the mountains, and the heavens.  Can you look up into the night sky and not wonder about our amazingly awesome God?  Billions, upon billions of stars in the heavens, stretched out beyond for even the most sophisticated telescope to see. 

This same God that created the heavens, and the mountains, the wilderness, and the oceans, yes this same God cares for us intimately. 

 

The star breather, also breathed life into our lungs, and it says in verse three that he will not allow our foot to be moved, or in other versions, it says he will not allow our foot to slip.  I take this to mean that any trial I go through has to go past Him first. 

 

Also in verse three it says He does not slumber, meaning He is always on duty.

 

My help comes from the God who breathed stars into existence, who made the mountains and all their wild beauty, the oceans and all of the amazing creatures in them, and He made me.  He is a good God, who is always on duty, who will never allow a hardship or trail to come my way if it will not be for my benefit in the end, so I know I can trust Him.

 

So my prayer this morning as I write this is this…

 

Father God, help to look to you the creator for help, and not creation.  God take my awe and wonder as I look into the sky and see all of the billions of stars, and as I look to the beauty of the earth you made and see that you are still intimately involved in my life.  Help me to not see all of the hugeness of your creation and be afraid to call you daddy.  Help me to see that I can ask you for anything and know you have my best interest in mind for me.

6/5/2015

Submit.

 

When I first started to write this, I pulled out all kinds of scripture, definitions, and began to really break words down into a full on study; then I took a step back, and saw the teacher in me coming out.  Instead of all of my research, I’m going to start with a story.

 

My husband and I had been married almost eleven years before I gave my life to the Lord.  After, I began to struggle with the word submit, this was an entirely new concept to me.  Should I, as a Christian still submit to my husband even though he was not yet a believer?  I mean the passage in Ephesians says for “wives to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord” right?

 

God led me to read the story in Genesis about Abraham and Sarah.  There was a famine in the land, and Abraham, worried about feeding his family, without asking God, moved everyone to Egypt where there was food.  Next, fearing for his life, he told his wife Sarah to lie.  You see she was beautiful, and he was fearful that the Egyptians would kill him and take Sarah from him. 

 

So she submitted, and told the Egyptians that she was Abraham’s sister, she was given to Pharaoh to be his wife, and Abraham was allowed to live.  God protected Sarah, and sent all kinds of plagues and disasters to Egypt, so Pharaoh would not lay a hand on her.  Pharaoh, realizing what was going on, sent them all packing, telling Abraham to take his wife and leave.  He gave him herds, servants and riches just so they would go. 

 

Ok, so what was my lesson in this story?  It was that God protected Sarah in the midst of Abraham’s unwise, against God’s will, decision.  God also dealt with Abraham regarding that decision. So my ultimate lesson was to submit to my husband, and God would take care of me no matter what.

 

Now I know in general, in the world’s view, submit is considered kind of like a bad word, and often, Ephesians 5:22 which says, “wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord.” it is often taken out of context and misused.  What people often leave out, is Ephesians 5:21, which states “Submitting one to another in fear of the Lord.” meaning first we submit one to another, then, and only then, are wives to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord.(emphasis added).

 

I took an impromptu Facebook poll about what people thought the word submit meant to them.  I thought I would get a lot of responses of what the world thinks of the word, but was pleasantly surprised.  Here were just a few responses.

 

• Spiritually surrendering my life and my choices to the Lord
• Surrender with my whole heart
• Letting go, and letting God take over
• Bow down my will to God
• Palms up

 

I think, the main thing is to submit to the Lord first, when we are totally in His will; He will take care of us no matter what comes our way.  There is another benefit to submitting to God, not only will he take care of us, but the enemy hates it when we are in the will of God.

 

James 4:7 says

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

 

So you see, when we submit to God, and resist the devil, he has to leave us. 

 

So, back to my story, I began to obey God, and submit to my husband.  It had an amazing effect on our marriage; I also believe it was one of the things that ultimately brought him to accept Christ in his life. 

 

To the men out there who are reading this, please remember Ephesians 5:21 and submit one to another as unto the Lord, your wife is a partner in life, do not misinterpret or misuse God’s will for marriage, and love your wife as Christ loves his Church, and your wife will gladly submit.

 

One thing I also want to make clear, submission never means abuse.  That is never ok, and should not be tolerated. 

 

What I am talking about is general every day stuff, make decisions together, work together, pray together, love God together, and He will take care of you, no matter what!  Try it and see