Waiting in {Life's} Traffic

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks Him.”

- Lamentations 3:25

An overturned garbage truck shut down the interstate this morning and made a normal 30-45 minute commute a right-at-2 hour commute to work.  Needless to say everyone did a lot of waiting on the Nashville roads this morning.  As one of the people stuck in the crazy traffic this morning, I …along with the rest of Nashville…can be witnesses for the fact that waiting is not fun! 

It’s like that in life sometimes too, isn’t it?  Waiting can be very hard and not fun, especially when it’s something that you want so terribly to happen.  Before I got my job in Nashville, I waited for a long time until God gave me this gift that is my dream job.  I applied to job after job within organizations of the SBC because I felt like that’s where God wanted me, but none of them ever panned out.  That time of waiting was hard because I felt like I was missing out or that I wasn’t hearing God correctly; I doubted myself and my capabilities; I even just thought about giving up on the whole thing.  Through it all though, I kept hearing a still small voice – not even audible – that told my heart to wait and keep doing what I was doing because even better things were in store.

Waiting may be wearisome, but God gives us strength (Isaiah 40:31).  Waiting may be confusing, but He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). Waiting may be hard, but God gives us courage (Psalm 27:14).  What He asks of us in the meantime is to trust Him and to keep on following and serving Him day after day after day until the He gives us what we have waited so long for (Psalm 37:4, Proverbs 16:3).

After a few years of waiting, God, out of the blue, gave me the gift of my job with the very SBC organization that helps every single one of the other organizations I applied to – I call it my dream job because it was something that wasn’t even on my radar, but as it turns out was the exact, perfect fit for me!  Lamentations 3:25 says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks Him”… and oh, how good He is to me!

So…don’t get frustrated or start blaring the car horn if you are stuck in a “life traffic jam” right now, just keep waiting on the Lord and before you know it that road ahead of you will clear out and God will take you to who knows where!

Living in a Crazy World

"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."  - Romans 12:2

The world is rapidly…and I mean rapidly…changing.  The things we hear on the news, see on social media, or just hear around the watercooler each day increasingly show us that our world is much, much different than the world of even a year ago, let alone five years ago.  Just stop and think about all of the big headlines (and not necessarily covered by the mainstream news) that have happened over these past eight months – terrorism, environment, marriage, foreign policy, civil rights, gun control, abortion, and the list goes on and on. 

With all that is going on in the world today, do we keep up with it?  Do we change our behaviors and patterns to match today’s culture so that we “fit in”?  Logically it would make sense to blend in with culture because that way we would have friends, be in the “in” crowd, and not stick out like a sore thumb. As believers, though, in our hearts we know we can’t conform to the way the world is turning.  If we did it would be going against everything we believe and stand for in our faith in Christ (marriage – Mark 10:6-9; abortion – Psalm 139:13-16; civil rights – Romans 12:8; and it could go on and on). 

Paul spells it out point blank in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”  I believe that Paul is definitely telling us as believers not to get caught up and be a part of the “big ticket” problems and cares of the world such as the ones previously mentioned, but I also believe that Paul is encouraging believers to not get caught up in the “less mentioned and easily overlooked problems and items” of the world as well.  I’m sure you are now wondering, “what does she mean by ‘less mentioned and easily overlooked items’?”  Thank you for asking. 

I believe Paul is also telling us as believers not to conform ourselves to more “common” day-to-day things like pride, lying, deceit, drunkenness, slander, idolatry, adultery, and the list could go on and on.  For some of us, we don’t correlate the “less mentioned problems” of the world with the more notable problems of the world, but they are one in the same.  The Bible even tells us that God hates these things.  Proverbs 6:16-19: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes,  feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”  In one of his other books, Paul tells us: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

Did you see what was mentioned there? While some of those are definitely deplorable acts, notice those “easily overlooked items.”  They seem small, but in reality they are just as equal as the “big ticket items” in the sight of God.  Things like lying, false witness, stirring up conflict, hatred, discord, jealousy, dissensions, etc. … all of these the Lord hates.  Any of those sound familiar and quite common?

Romans 12 isn’t just advice to new, baby Christians to leave the things of the world behind when they choose to follow Jesus, it’s an appeal to established, mature Christians who also need to heed its words.  As Christians we aren’t perfect.  We have our pitfalls and, yes, we sin.  It doesn’t matter whether the sin is deplorable or one of those “easily overlooked ones”…sin is sin and God hates it. 

I think Romans 12 is an even more crucial verse for established, mature Christians because of how hypocritical we can appear to the world if we are following in its screwed-up ways.  The devil is looking for every possible, minuscule way to get into our Christian lives so that we lose our Christ-like witness.  John 10:10a says, “The thief [devil] comes to kill, steal, and destroy…”  Although we are Christians, we aren’t exempt from temptation or sin; we are subject to the world’s ways just as easily as an unbeliever – the devil knows this and will do whatever he can to take advantage of that fact.  We fall into the temptation/sin and end up hurting our Christian witness to unbelievers. We don’t have to just fall into the temptation of “big ticket” sins, we can sin by lying, cheating, stirring up conflict, creating discord, and the like.  Unbelievers see it and immediately call us out as hypocrites because we are doing something we know – and maybe at one time espoused – to be something contrary to Christ and His Words.  This is why God hates sin, especially for the Christian, because it makes us look like fools in His Kingdom.

But because God is a good, good Father, there is hope in how to live in this crazy world.  Just look at the end of the verse I mentioned earlier from John 10:10.  After telling about the devil, Jesus says, “...but I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.”  In Him is fullness of life!  Praise God!  When we take up our cross and follow Jesus…and I mean follow Him with complete abandon …He will give us the strength we need to not conform ourselves to the world.  To do this, we have to be willing to be transformed through the renewing of our mind (I take that to mean delving deep into the Word of God and also being willing to listen and do what the Holy Spirit asks us to do).  That can be hard – even for the mature Christian – to do because it requires sacrifice and giving up control over our wants and desires. 

If we do decide, however, to buckle down and completely surrender our lives to God instead of surrendering it to the world, we have a great reward ahead of us!  The tail end of Romans 12:2 says that should we choose to follow God with our whole heart and life and transform ourselves by renewing our mind, then we will be able to learn God’s perfect and pleasing will for our lives.  I don’t know about you, but knowing what God has prepared ahead for my life is something that definitely interests me!

In a “perfect world,” Christians would separate themselves from the rest of the world so that they wouldn’t have the temptations that the world offers and so that they could truly live out Romans 12:2 with nothing to worry about.  But we don’t live in a “perfect world,” and as Christians we are to be ambassadors for Christ and go into the highways and byways telling others about Him.  It’s gonna be hard because we’re going to be faced with temptations and obstacles along the way.  We’re going to be forced to give up control of what we want to do.  My pastor, Mike Glenn, likens it to swimming against the current...a task that, in our own strength, is quite hard to accomplish.  We’re going to lose friends, stick out like a sore thumb, and even face ridicule and/or persecution.  However, if we set our sights on the Son and our Father and choose to renew our minds in them, we truly won’t have to worry about anything else because they are in control.

This is a loaded blog and I totally realize that.  I’m even convicted and I’m the one writing it!  It’s my hope, however, that you aren’t discouraged and feeling like you can’t step up to the task of following Romans 12:2 because YOU CAN!  Our Savior is so great, so strong, and so powerful and He will give you the strength you need to follow Him in this crazy, crazy world.  In fact, less than 2,000 years ago He prayed just for you as you live in this insane world that you would have the strength to live for Him.  Let the following prayer…prayed just for you by Jesus in John 17:9-25…be an encouragement to carry you through this world and live a Romans 12:2 life.

From Jesus -

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. ¹⁰ All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. ¹¹ Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. ¹² During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

¹³ “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. ¹⁴ I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They do not belong to this world any more than I do. ¹⁷ Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ¹⁹ And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

²⁰ “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

²² “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. ²³ I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. ²⁴ Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

²⁵ “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. ²⁶ I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

New Beginnings

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not harm you, plans to give you a future and hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

 

Tomorrow is a momentous day.  Tomorrow life changes.  As I stand at the tail end of a beautiful 9 year chapter of my life, I reflect on sweet friends I have made, amazing experiences I’ve been a part of, and memories upon memories to last a lifetime.  Corrie Ten Boom said, “Every experience God gives us is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”  I most definitely believe that.  God has blessed me immensely these past 9 years and tomorrow He blesses me with a new beginning as He picks up His pen and begins to write this new chapter in the story of my life.

New beginnings can be very exciting as they mean new and exciting experiences and opportunities.  New beginnings can also be a little scary, though, as you face a future where you are unsure of how things will happen.  No matter what your feelings about new beginnings may be, there is one constant – God the Father.  He stands with you to face your new beginning and there’s only one thing He asks for in return…trust. 

Let me stop here and say, when Proverbs said to “trust in the Lord with all your heart,” it meant ALL.  Every single bit.  If you don’t give God every minuscule of trust you have, you are going to be miserable about your new beginning (believe me, I speak from personal experience).  However when you give control of your whole life and future to God and trust Him with all of it – He will take your fears and cover them (and in Waffle House terms…smother them) with an overwhelming peace.  Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”  Peace in the midst of uncertainty is a strange feeling but it’s then that you know you’re right where God wants you to be and that your new beginning is in the best possible hands.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not harm you, plans to give you a future and hope.”  What a sweet promise we can take with us into a new beginning as we are promised by our Father that His plans are for our good. 

I’m in awe (and will probably forever be in awe) at how God has orchestrated this new opportunity for me in Nashville.  To take the dream of my heart – to work for the Southern Baptist Convention – and turn it into reality without me even pursuing it is literally unbelievable.  In an excerpt from this blog circa June 16, 2011, I said: “I love the Southern Baptist Convention...I love being a Southern Baptist, I love what the SBC stands for, & I love being able to work for the people who are the face of Southern Baptists.  If I could be a life-long page or a life-long convention worker, I would do it in a heart-beat.  Who knows, maybe I can?!?”  Providential, huh?

God says in Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth…”  I’ve heard and read that verse over and over, but tomorrow I live it.  It’s crazy, it’s scary, and it’s a huge big step…but I’m at peace and ready to trust God with this new beginning and step out in faith to see where He takes me.

Francesca Battestelli’s “Write Your Story” says what my heart sings right at this moment, “I’m an empty page, I’m an open book, write Your story on my heart, go on and make your mark.  Author of my hope, Maker of the stars let me be Your work of art, won’t You write Your story on my heart.”  

His pen is ready and now it's time to start this new chapter...

Dancing With the Father

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord…” (Psalm 37:23)

So my guilty pleasure on Monday nights is the TV show Dancing with the Stars.  I’ve been really excited that the past couple of seasons have featured devout Christian personalities.  Candace Cameron Bure (Full House) was on last season and this season, Sadie Robertson (Duck Dynasty) is featured.  To me, dancing (and not just the dancing on TV) seems so intriguing and beautiful.  Every dance seems to tell a story and it’s fun to imagine what that story might be.  Funny side story: I have had ballroom dancing lessons…and yes, I can totally hear you laughing right now.  While these lessons may not have been “formal” lessons, dancing lessons were part of my eighth and ninth grade physical education curriculum.  Must not have done much though because I don’t remember a lick…plus most of those memories are in the “do not retrieve” section of my memory banks.  I’m definitely not coordinated enough to dance, but I’ll admit…it is fun to watch.

One thing I’ve noticed while watching people dance is that the next steps are very important.  The next step of any type of dance depends on the step that came before it.  If the footing is in the wrong place, the next step will be difficult or possibly even impossible to complete.  Dancers also have to depend greatly on their dancing partner on certain moves and maybe even lifts that are required as part of the routine and in every dance, one of the dance partners has to take the lead.   Through practice, perseverance, and teamwork, however, dancers can create a beautiful masterpiece as they follow through each next step of their routine.

So…how does this apply to us non-dancers?  How can we be sure that our “next steps” won’t result in missteps or even failure?  Psalm 37:23 says it simply and clearly, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.”  God knows the next steps of our lives.  He is ready and waiting to help us get to where we need to be.  The key for us is to give our steps…all of them…over to Him.  That can be hard to do.  As humans we want to be in charge and have it our way, but that’s where we lose our footing and land flat on our face…like a misstep in dancing. 

Life isn’t about what we want; it’s about God's direction and what He wants.  Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”  We may want to achieve that "next step” ourselves, but God is the One who will direct us to the next step we need to take.  He has to take the lead in this crazy dance of life.  It might be a little scary to for us to give Him control of it all, but because His ways are perfect (Psalm 18:30), He won’t let us fall flat on our face…He’ll be there every step of the way.  It could be that the next step He takes us to might not make sense at the time it happens.  We need to keep in our hearts that ultimately this confusing next step is only a small part of an even greater next step that God has created for us.  Through trusting in Him, staying in His Word, and talking to Him daily, He will direct us in every single step He wants us to take.

I love the picture below because it's such a perfect illustration to how we should be in this dance of life with our Heavenly Father.  Just hold on to Him, put your feet on His so you don't fall off, and let Him direct you to the next step.  God is our master designer and He already knows how this dance of life ends.  The dance may be complex and challenging, but ultimately it will be beautiful because we let Him take the lead.