Believin' and Receivin'

Don't even try to suggest to me that my God is uncaring or distant...I would have to politely but plainly inform you that you are dead wrong.

If, by chance, you do perceive Him as distant or even non-existent, would you allow me to introduce you to my YHWH Shammah, my Immanuel? My God who is a "here" and "near" reality. A "with us" God.

I have multiple stories I could tell you as evidence of my belief.  Some of those stories have already been told in my previous entries.  A couple of them involve diminutive dimes showing up in the oddest places at just the right times.

Well, here's one more dime story...

On Friday afternoons, after a week crammed full of classes and volunteering in the community, a group of girls gathers in a campus apartment for a couple hours of Bible study.  Amazingly, they have given me the honor of joining them in their journey.

Beth Moore has heaped on the homework, challenged us to lace up our hiking boots, and encouraged us to believe God to be bigger than we currently perceive Him to be.  Each week we dig deep into His Word to find out what He has to say about who He is and who we are.

This past week was one of believing God can do what He says He can do.  Beth invited us to believe that because His Word says so, we can  believe Him to do mighty things in our present age. She showed us faith pleases our God. She encouraged us to ask!

But she didn't stop there. She also dealt with the tough question of "What if I asked?  What if I believed? And I didn't get my miracle." Here is what she said:

Blessed are you if you are not offended with me. Matt11:6

O God, grant us a faith to be healed and a faith to be delivered but, above all, a faith to trust.  Beth Moore

Beloved, our God is a God of wonders.  Will we not ask because we are afraid of being offended? Embarrassed? Disappointed? Or will we ask, knowing that He is able but trusting that He is good if He doesn't act? Blessed are we if we are not offended with Jesus.

I told some stories then of how I had seen God work miracles in my life and people that I know: supernatural protection, restored eyesight, freedom from addictions. Stories of God's supremacy.  I also shared times when God showed His sufficiency.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2Cor12:9

Then I told them how God reminds me "I am aware. I care." by placing dimes in my path and proceeded to play the DVD lesson for the day.

One slight problem...we couldn't find the remote control!

Let me remind you that we are in a college apartment shared by four females.  I remember all to well what my college dorm looked like and there were just two of us! Got the picture?

So we began the search for the control. Pillows and clothes were upended. Suggestions were tossed out: "Look in the refrigerator."  I kid you not!

Then..

"I found a dime."

Katie was holding a couch cushion in one hand and a dime in the other.

Katie, who had asked us all to pray for her last week. Katie who is currently believin' but not seein'. Was now receivin' a reminder that God is aware. He does care.

That's my God! He is good. You can trust Him.

Guidepost: God's Word and His family

Noun
1. A rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior.
2. A post bearing a sign that gives directions or shows the way.Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

When you have lived forty years in the same general vicinity you don't have to know much about reading maps...no need for a GPS...never have to stop and ask for directions. You just know how to get there. Don't even pay much attention to the road names besides the signs they are written on. Maybe that is why God said "We're moving to Savannah. It's high time you learned how to read My map."

Now I knew that Savannah was in Georgia. I'd read Gone with the Wind five times and watched the movie at least that many times. But I had to get out a map to pin point its exact location. Coastal Georgia (can't say I knew Georgia actually reached the coast.) Awesome!

It wasn't just corn fields I was leaving behind in the Hoosier state. I was leaving family...biological family. I was leaving my mom! Most of our immediate and extended family lived in Indiana. In the same county even. It was huge for me.

But the guidepost God erected for me in Georgia was the importance of my spiritual family. He allowed a famine of biological family so that I could feast at the table with my spiritual family.

It took us awhile to find a church home. We'd go camp out at one. Pitch our tent. Feel obligated to stay--didn't want to hurt their feelings ya know. Then we gravitated to another. Repeat scenario. Finally, God got us where He wanted us and just in the nick of time. I'm not sure I would have made it through that leg of the journey if it weren't for my family of Grace.

My new family introduced me to in-depth Bible study and Beth Moore. I learned to love God's Word and Truth there. Learned that God had a purpose for my life. I learned what it meant to have someone walk along side of me...a spiritual momma who had walked a similar road. I learned that it was okay to be authentic and flawed and still be loved.

So I started reading the road map that God gave us for the journey. Gave Gone with the Wind a break and started reading the Bible.