Coffee Time With Sarah

I couldn’t condense my thoughts well this week into one theme. So here is a little bit of everything...

Yielding/Surrendering

Are you afraid like I am? Afraid to truly surrender everything to God? It’s probably because I identify so much with Moses and you might to. When God came and told him He wanted to use Moses to do great things in His Name, Moses pleaded with God, “Please send someone else!” Moses didn’t feel like he had the skills it would take to do the tasks God put before him. I feel just like Moses! Scared senseless of the crazy risk it would take to accomplish these “tasks” for the Lord. And maybe you are feeling like I am. But do we really want to miss out on all the good purposes He wants to use us for? I know this: God has promised to equip us for the task that He appoints for us. He whispers over you and I, “Do not be afraid child, for I will be with you!” But it is up to us to be brave and bold and willing to trust God, by stepping out in faith.

This kind of action requires “surrender”. My pastor used the word “yielding” in his sermon, and it just goes so hand-and-hand with “surrender”. I think to completely surrender every part of your life to the Lord, you must begin by yielding to the Holy Spirit. When we yield, that means for once we are allowing the Holy Spirit to take over. It is the conscious step of handing over the reins to God and letting Him lead you down paths you were to afraid to go before.

Can God forget me?

No! “He has engraved me on the palm of His hands” (Isa. 49:18). You know what else is engraved on His hands? Nail pierced scars, the ones that Thomas put his finger in and felt, for himself. These are the very hands that Jesus has engraved me upon as well. No, He can never forget or forsake me! Even to my old age and gray hairs, He will be my God (Isa. 46:4). And one glorious day, I will put my own fingers in those hands that were pierced for me!

Affliction

David speaks so often of the affliction that comes from the Lord. We especially see this in Psalm 119.

“…in faithfulness You have afflicted me” (v. 75)

“Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your Word” (v. 67)

“This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life” (v. 50)

Affliction plays a vital role in grabbing hold of our attention. As young Elihu reminds us in Job, “[God] delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears by adversity” (36:15). I can only take this to mean, when I am faced with great difficulty (an afflicting experience) it may be that God is seeking to deliver me from my own stupidity and depravity. He longs to whisper Truth into my soul, but often the only way I listen is when I have no-where else to turn, when all my bridges have been burned to the ground.

But also, in this life, even when I am seeking God with all my heart and pleasing Him, He still wisely chooses to give me evil, affliction, adversity…but it’s all for my good! I just won’t completely comprehend it until I am in eternity and am able to look back at the full picture of my life.

Circling the Mundane

Do you ever feel like you wish you could be somewhere else? My dear neighbor, from PNG, told me a story of two eagles he happened to see in a field. He watched them for many many minutes, until almost 30 minutes had come and gone. All the while these eagles were soaring, creating a huge circle with their wings. As the time past, they rose higher and higher, all the while continuing with their circle. Then suddenly, a wind caught hold of them, and they took off, soaring away on the current. He watched them until they were but dots in his vision.

This story helped me to see, that when the time is right, God will send us out with a strong gush of wind, but in His timing. So at the present, I circle the mundane situations of life today and find joy in these moments of my giggling/crying baby, dirty diapers, house chores, and cooking dinner for my working husband. And all the while abiding in Jesus.

And this has been Coffee Time w/ Sarah. Stay tuned for more next week.