Yielding

 Have you ever stopped to think about people in the Bible and the commands God gives them?  Put yourself in their shoes for a moment, and try to imagine what that must have been like?  Just some thoughts I've had recently...

For example, in Joshua 5 and 6 (not too long after Joshua has started leading the Israelites), Joshua is faced with a big problem.  That big problem is named the city of Jericho.  Joshua gets a chance to talk from the Lord and hear His plan, and it goes something like this:  Basically, Joshua, you are going to get your people to walk around the city once a day for 6 days.  Then on the seventh day, you'll walk around Jericho seven times, then the priests will blow the trumpet, the people will shout, and voila!  The walls will fall down.

Personally, if I were Joshua, my first response would be:  uh, are you sure about this plan?
(Or if it was God telling Gwen to do this, my response would probably be a lot more blunt.  Blunt as in directly telling God, "I'm pretty sure this is a terrible plan!")

Nevertheless, Joshua obeys, and we all know the end to this story:  the walls come down exactly as God said they would.  This story has a major lack of self-reliance and a giant dose of faith in God and in His word.  And not surprisingly, God gets the glory for the whole situation.

Example B of crazy things the Lord tells you:  Mary, in Luke 1.  As in Mary the mother of Jesus.  Imagine having a huge angel coming to you and saying "You are favored of the Lord!  Even though you're not married yet, you're going to get pregnant supernaturally and your child will be the Son of God."  Say what!?  "I was all ready to go and be happily married, with my Pinterest-perfect life all laid out in front of me...I think this kind of throws a wrench in my plans."  Oh wait.  Mary didn't say that.  (But I totally would.)  What she actually says is "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1: 38)  And again - there is obedience.  And there is blessing.  And the Lord is glorified.

  These are just the first stories that came to mind.  I could go on.

  Its been a very challenging thought to me lately.  I find myself looking at the Lord's plan, and in my human stupidity saying "Not gonna lie, I think this is a terrible plan.  I kind of hate it."  (Wow, how arrogant am I?  The clay is too stupid to have any say in the Potter's work, and yet she comments anyway.)  But time and time again I'll read or hear of a story of someone being obedient to a command of the Lord and yielding their rights and their way, and there is blessing.  And an amazing plan is worked out by the hand of the Lord, and He receives all the glory.

Yielding.  Denying self.  Surrender.  However you want to put it, it will sound great in your inspirational Christian book, and be ridiculously hard and painful in practice.  But so necessary for those who would follow Jesus.  Lord may I be quick to yield, and slow to give suggestions on the plans that You have in store.  Thank you that You are God and I am not.  Help me to not soon forget that fact...

Never Once

"Scars and struggle on the way, but with joy our hearts can say 'Never once, did we ever walk alone...'"

This last session of teaching has flown by... we are so close to the end! I am so incredibly thankful for schedules and routine that make time seem to pass more quickly.

Each session at CMA, we focus on a certain topic for our devotional time throughout the session. Our session theme this fall has been "My Strength and My Song." The idea is that as we learn to remember and recognize what God has done in our lives previously, we then let that remembrance and knowledge fuel how we serve Him now. Also, remembering and seeing what He has done in our lives should bring us to a place of sharing that story of His faithfulness.

Hmm, what a timely message for Gwen to hear!

Before the start of the session, I felt like the Lord wanted me to go back and read some of my old journals (especially ones from the past 3 years). I wasn't quite sure why, but as I started reading and remembering things forgotten, it was so encouraging to see where the Lord has brought me from, what He has brought through, and where He has brought me to now. It has forced me to admit that the Lord has been incredibly faithful in my life, at a time when I can sometimes want to sit in my pity party whining about how the Lord has done nothing for me. Its been a great reminder both of the Lord's great love, and also of my own (spiritual) short term memory loss.

In our devotional times in class, teachers have also been having students share testimonies of how they've seen God working in their own lives. What a blessing that has been! There is nothing like being able to hear your students share stories of how they have seen (and currently see) the Lord at work in their lives. (We'll also end up putting together a cardboard testimony video for the performance - I can't wait to see it! If you've never seen Cardboard Testimonies, check it out on Youtube. Really good stuff!)

The Lord is basically just too good to us...and He really knows how to drive a point home. Because sometimes the best way to learn (or remind yourself of) something yourself is to teach it to someone else.