God's Faithfulness

I awoke this morning to the sound of Max Lucado’s “tweet” on my cell phone.  This is what it said:

“If you knew what God had planned for you, your knees would buckle, your heart would skip and your mind would do summersaults!”

And immediately 1 Corinthians 2:9 came to mind~ “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

In a very gentle whisper, I heard/felt the Lord say to me, “This is also what I am doing.” 

I’ve noticed lately that as I wait on the Lord, even though I KNOW He has good plans for us, and plans for His great glory through our lives, I find myself preparing to willingly accept whatever He offers, while not fully expecting it to be good. 

That is SO wrong! 

Of course, on this side of Heaven, there will always be troubles and trials.  Life will not be “peachy” every single day.  But the plans God has for His children who seek, obey, and trust Him… Those plans are GOOD!  Not “acceptable” or “O.K.”, but GOOD… The kind that, according to Max Lucado’s tweet, will make your knees buckle, your heart skip, and your mind do summersaults!

What a shame it is to forget this truth as we find ourselves waiting on God. 

Yes, God is calling His children to trust Him (posted below).  But we are to trust Him beause He loves us and has plans for our lives that are beyond our wildest immaginations. 

According to our beloved Romans 8:28, God’s plans are for our good and for His glory… and moping through a mediocre life, never expecting anything better… that’s not very glorifying to God, is it?

This morning, I am receiving this Word from the Lord – that what He is doing as He calls us to trust Him is knee-buckling, heart-skipping, mind-summersaulting GOOD! 

It’s a Word not only for me, but for you, too!  Let’s not let the enemy trick us into missing the hope and expectation that as we wait, what God preparing for us will one day blow our socks off!

Praising the Lord for these truths this morning, and looking forward to my knees buckling in awe and praise over what the Lord has planned for you and for me in the days to come…

🙂  Jennifer

Have you ever asked God this question?  I find that it’s often on my heart and mind these days.  And today, the Lord sweetly revealed part of the answer to that lingering ponder.

On Friday, the Lord gifted me with a day in the presence of a group of women who have faithfully loved and served Him for many years. Even though they wouldn’t call themselves by this name, many were what you and I would call “Spiritual Giants”. God called some of these ladies to blaze a Bible Study and Ministry trail that has impacted millions of lives. And others He called to quietly serve Him behind the scenes. All of these dear women are just living life, one day at a time, faithfully serving God right where He has placed them.

Every story shared, whether at the podium or around the luncheon table had the same theme: God’s faithfulness and goodness, and His blessings poured on us in, through, and sometimes because of our trials. These are just a few of the life situations that surfaced through casual conversation during the day:

• A single mom of two sons, who never expected to find herself in this position
• A mother of a precious seven year old son battling cancer
• The mom of a daughter, who instead of celebrating an engagement right now is grieving an unexpected break up
• A mother whose son and family has been looking for a job for over 16 months
• A wife and mom who survived breast cancer
• A woman whose husband had been without fulltime employment for 4 years
• Several moms whose hearts are desperate for their children to stay on God’s path
• And then there is us… unemployed, uninsured, and completely unaware of what next week holds.

Every story spoke of a trial, but each was told with an Undaunting JOY in the Lord and the assurance of His faithfulness and love. Through laughter and tears, we rejoiced in the Lord and in the awareness of His presence over, in, and around our lives.

I awoke with these beautiful women on my mind this morning, and as I thanked God for their joy, I just had to ask Him:
“What are you doing, Lord?
What are you doing in each of these difficult situations?
What are you doing in these lives?
What are you doing in our lives?”

Then I thought about you. You precious friends whose lives intersect with mine on the blogosphere. I thought about what I’m aware of that many of you are dealing with. And I realized that I don’t even know a fraction of the whole of it. So I wondered the same thing to the Lord about you, “What are you doing?”

This is the answer He brought to my mind and heart:

“I’m teaching my children to trust Me. I’m teaching all of you to look ONLY to me. For your answers. For your lives. Because I love you, I’m drawing all of you to My side so that you will learn to joyfully walk hand in hand with Me for the rest of your earthly lives. I’m teaching my children that I AM, and there is no other, and that nothing can separate you from my love… no matter what!”

God knows our tender, earthly frames, and remembers that we are but dust. None of these trials that seem to overtake us have taken Him by surprise. God knows how wearisome it is to be troubled about tomorrow, so He tells us NOT to worry, and He teaches us to trust in Him and His love for us in that Romans 8:37-39 kind of way.

“Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us. For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, or angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39 (Amp)

Oswald Chambers had this to say about this passage and subject:

“The bedrock of our Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary, a love we never can and never shall merit. Paul says this is the reason we are more than conquerors in all these things, super-victors, with a joy we would not have but for the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.”

Then he goes on to say one of my all-time favorite Oswald Chambers quotes:

“The surf that distresses the ordinary swimmer produces in the surf-rider the super-joy of going clean through it. Apply that to our own circumstances, these very things – tribulation, distress, persecution, produce in us the super-joy; they are not things to fight. We are more than conquerors through Him IN all these things, not in spite of them, but in the midst of them.

The saint never knows the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but BECAUSE of it… Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can alter. The experiences of life, terrible or monotonous, are impotent to touch the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
My Utmost for His Highest, March 7th

Undaunted Joy – that’s us, friends…. It’s what the Lord, because of His love for us, is working in each of our lives… not in spite of our circumstances, but because of them… if we will trust Him.

When I need an extra dose of “Trust, Peace, and Joy” for the day, I wear this neclace.  It’s message reminds me of the women I fellowshipped with.  It reminds me of many of you: 

When we Trust God, we have His Peace.  And when we have His Peace, we have Joy!

And that’s what the Lord is doing.  It’s  good enough answer for me!  How about for you?  🙂

Dear friends ~ You have been SUCH gifts to us! Your joy, prayers, and words of encouragement as you celebrated the sale of our house and affirmed our walking ahead in faith mean so much to me – and to my entire family. I appreciate you so very much!

We kept the house sale on the DL (“down low” – oh yeah… I’m cool… Ha ha!) for almost two weeks, knowing that it lacked one step to be final. When I sat down to write a post for last Thursday, the Lord directed me to share where we were, what we didn’t know, and what we DO know as we wait with the Lord.

Today, with a grateful and humbled heart, I sit down to write the same… where we are, what we don’t know, and what we still DO know as we wait upon the Lord.  Except, this time, our house is back on the market.  For the moment, all puzzle pieces are back into the pile of God’s unrevealed plans for our lives.

Even though it was disappointing, we know that the same things that were true when we thought our house had sold are still true even though it hasn’t… God has a plan, and we know He is working in ways we can’t see.

We cling to what He has been telling us all along: “Trust Me. I will show you. I will take care of you. I will be glorified.” We know that He wants that to be enough for us.

I shared with a few friends about how hard it was going to be to go back and tell everyone that “our house deal fell through”.  I questioned whether I had heard the Lord correctly and obeyed Him in speaking about it earlier.  But the Lord confirmed His directions to me to share, and then He used precious Lisa Shaw to speak His truth about this situation.   Lisa said:

So, my friends… here I am…coming back to give God more praise! Hallelujah! Our house sale situation has changed, but our God has NOT! And neither have His plans for our family.

A men, and Praise the Lord!!!  God is setting us up for His glory in this current location.  He’s doing the same for you, too – wherever you are…or wish you were!

Our journey “urged on by faith”, wouldn’t be nearly as precious if we were doing it alone.  I know that many of you are walking your own journey “urged on by faith”, and I thank God for all He is doing in EACH life to bring Himself great glory.  I pray that He blows us all away with His good and His glory, and that until we can see “what” He’s up to, we’ll continue to cling wholeheartedly to “who” He is.

With love and thankfulness for every. single. one. of. you.  🙂
Jennifer

“Urged on by faith …., when he was called, obeyed…and he went, although he did not know or trouble his mind about where he was to go.” Hebrews 11:8 (Amplified)

PS:  James said he thinks it’s time to pull out the “Snowman Plea” again. Ha Ha. 🙂