So many thoughts...

buzzing through my mind about today (Sunday). I actually wrote this on Sunday, but I became bogged down by it, I had to put it aside until this morning. This post may be a mixed bag of what's happening in my mind as well as my perspective of what the Lord's day was like at church.

The Lord has been getting my attention for quite some time now by saying "You aren't giving me enough of you." I hear him. I'm not always sure how to give more of myself to him, today I know without a doubt what he wants. "More." In many ways I feel stretched to the limits, overworked, and emotional spent. Still, he knocks and says "More." To drive his point home he gave me several knocks today.

I'm working backwards as to how things came at me. Prevention, Prevention, Prevention. We exercise and eat right (well,--some do) to prevent disease. We brush our teeth, floss and go to bi-annual dental appointments (well,--some do) to prevent cavities. We read God's word, we're on our knees in prayer, and we spend time with fellow Christians to prevent satan's attacks (which are certain to come) from destroying us. As if cancer, cavities and attacks from satan in others lives isn't motivation enough to do what we KNOW we should do, we're surprised when something in our life causes us to be angry with God or break the prevention routine. Although this isn't MY struggle today, it is my brothers, my brother in Christ. The Lord has been getting my attention as if to say "Prevention, Prevention, Prevention, or this may be your struggle too."

"Thank you Lord for the reminder in Steve's sermon today." Isaiah 40:1"'Comfort, O Comfort My people,' says the Lord." Although Steve's sermon was really about 'Hope for the hungry or thirsty,' both spiritually and physically, his sermon spoke to me later as I learned of my brother's lack of desire to thirst and hunger for God. "Lord, you are always faithful to remind me that when I am comfortable with what I'm giving of myself, it isn't enough. Prevention, Prevention, Prevention."

There isn't really a comfortable spot in God. Have you ever noticed? Just when you think "Wow, I've matured, and I'm living the life He expects of me," He goes and moves the lines. He moves the lines because he loves us and he knows we are capable of so much more, in Him, than we realize.

He may take us through the desert to get us to understand, as in Isaiah 48:20-21. We will not grow thirsty because vs. 21 says "...He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth." My thirst is quenched by Him spiritually and physically because He provides all. By moving the lines into the desert I grow in him as he says in Isaiah 43:19 "I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert." He's always inventing new things to prevent me from being too comfortable. Comfort in and of its self is okay, and I have comfort in the knowledge that I am God's, but he will not allow me to become comfortable in a stagnant manner. No way, he moves the lines to the desert.


In our "Treasured in my heart" Bible class Melva said "I'm not trying to be self righteous, I mean what I say as an encouragement." As if anyone could take Melva for self righteous. She has one of the sweetest gentle spirits of anyone I know. I'm sure it's because God moved the lines on her too. In her relationship with her mother-in-law, with her husband, and her children, God moved the lines. She spoke of her family and how she and Tom raised them in the Lord. They were always at church, it was a priority! She didn't say it, but thinking back on her talk I can see how God changed her by moving the lines. He moved state lines, motherhood lines, friendship lines and spiritual lines to turn her into the encouraging, Godly mother she is today.

One scripture that shows her awareness of God moving the lines in order to change her into a the mother she is today, is from Job 42:1-3 "Then Job answered the Lord, and said, 'I know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted.' 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.'" As a mother she had her own ideas for her sons. The Lord had others. Melva admitted that her ideas were small compared to God's. As she saw what God was doing in her boys, more than she could have hoped for, as they grew and made choices of their own she recalled Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'" This scripture focused Melva on the fact that God was in control and he knew what was best for her boys.

I identify with Melva on several levels. Number one, we both married Yankee's (not the baseball players, although that wouldn't have been a bad thing) and we moved smack in the middle of Yankee land (Not the BRONX, just the northeast) to be with our spouses. Number two, she has three sons, I have four. One of her son's, as a boy, was much like one of mine is as a boy, sends ya' to your knees on a regular basis. Number three, our husbands are a lot alike. Tom is a no nonsense kinda guy, a real man's man.

Melva's spoke of her life in term of Psalm 23:5 "...My cup overflows." She's aware of her blessings, she embraces them gracefully with full Melva hospitality, and is grateful to God who supplies them all.

There HE goes moving the lines again...He loves us so much that he won't let mus be comfortable, yet we're comforted. Wow!
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