Away in a Manger, Then a Tomb—The Humility of Christ

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” — Luke 1:34-37 (NIV, emphasis mine)

As I read the account of Gabriel’s visit to Mary above, that last line pulled me in and kept there for a while. Here’s the mighty Gabriel telling Mary what she needs to know most of all. In the 1984 version of the NIV, that line reads, “For nothing is impossible with God.”

This is a message for us too and reminds me of the promise in Philippians 4:13: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

God will never take us to a place of seeming impossibility and leave us there! He is faithful, true to His Word and will give us whatever we need to walk all the difficult paths in our lives. We don’t walk them alone. Emmanuel is with us, remember?

Now let me show you something so amazing, that one of my pastors (Thank you, Pastor Alvin!) showed us just this past Sunday. Read these two Scripture references below and let God bring a wave of fresh awe for his grand plan of salvation:

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. — Luke 2:7 (emphasis mine)

Then he took it [Jesus’ body] down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. — Luke 23:53 (emphasis mine)

Jesus’ life and death are “wrapped” in the humblest of means and He willingly chose to do this for us.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! — Phil. 2:6-8

Christ’s humility is the ultimate example of dying to self. He left the greatest place of power—the Son of God—and took on the greatest form of weakness—a helpless baby.

For all of us. ALL OF US! Believe God’s Word will never fail and trust Him to bring the answer to our prayers for our unsaved loved ones at just the right time.

Just as He brought his Son to Earth so long ago—at just the right time.

Praying and believing,
Dineen

Weekend Devo — God's Timing

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. — Psalm 37:7

The biggest challenge we often have is patience, wouldn't you say? I see this all the time in others and in myself. We want things to change now, to get better, get easier, go smoother. But what if we knew those very changes we're so impatient wouldn't be as effective if they happened in our time frame? 

Our October challenge has the potential to bring amazing changes in our marriages. Some we'll see fairly quickly, others may take a while. So let's keep going and trust God not only in the results but in the timing as well. His plan and timing are always best. Amen?

Praying and believing,
Dineen 

Saving Michael by Debra Brand

(Debra's story is amazing and so encouraging! Read to the end and be inspired!)

I met Mike in 10th grade, he was a senior. Our relationship had its ups and downs. But before he left for the Navy we decided to spend the rest of our lives together.

Two days after graduating high school, I married Mike on June 9, 1971. Three weeks later, he was deployed for 4 months on a tour in the Mediterranean. I got my first job at a nursing home. When he came home at Christmas we went to live in Connecticut at the submarine base. As his duty came to a close, we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. We came back home moved to Kirkwood.

My sister-in-law started to share the true gospel with me more and more. She was a little too radical but I got the idea that I needed Jesus to forgive me of my past. My life, even though it was full of love, was not complete. Financial difficulties and family splits piled on more stress.

So, on December 18, 1978, I watched a Billy Graham Crusade on television. I responded to the call to commit my life to Jesus. The nightmare disappeared as peace with God invaded my heart. My life began all over again…alone in my spirituality.

I got a job to help out with income. They hired me because I had no plans for more children. What did I know of God’s plans! My husband had not wanted any more either so he went for a vasectomy in late 1979. The procedure was botched, so I became pregnant.

When your husband doesn’t want any children, their first response is to say, “Get rid of it.” I told him that this was a life that we shared inside of me and that I would sooner get rid of him than the child. That didn’t make things easier. I leaned on God. Then one day, out of the blue, we were with a group of friends and he announced that we were having a baby.

God eased me through the delivery with flying colors. My favorite Scripture at the time was “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) After two generations of boys in Mike’s family, God blessed us with a little girl. She has been the ‘apple’ of his eye ever since.

Mike and I had some very successful businesses and some that weren’t. He sold all his companies and went to work for a highway dept. My last endeavor, a bridal shop, was the reason for a lot of tension between us.

Since I was churchless, my seamstress often invited me to the gospel mission. I finally went one Sunday and never left. My eyes and ears were opened to receive the Word of God as never before. I felt as if I knew the gospel but knew nothing of His Spirit, like it says in Acts 19: “There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And as a child of the 60’s rock and roll, Christian rock helped me to release the feelings of my heart.

My shop had become unstable financially. It seemed that when I took one step forward I would fall back ten steps. Finally, God was able to get through to me and He said ‘If it meant that Mike would come to Me, would you close the shop?’ The decision was very hard but I surrendered to the will of God. And I had peace.

I closed October 30 and the following June, in the flood of 2006, the building I had leased flooded with 3 feet of water. What a mess all those white gowns would have been! God’s urging saved me from sure economic disaster.

Through this period I waited. I watched to see what God would do in Mike’s life and music seemed to be the answer to unite us again. He became interested in playing guitar, so I learned to play bass guitar and now we have a trio with our harmonica player, who has since recommitted his life to Jesus.

But I was still unsupported spiritually. I knew God was working on Mike and my impatience was getting the better of me. The past prayers on his behalf seemed to go cold. I knew in my heart that he was a good man, a man of integrity. Even his name means ‘anointed’.

Years of standing in the gap at the altar for him seemed to go unanswered. Tons of prayers by the church, deacons and pastor seemed to go unanswered. Advice from books, naming and claiming, laying on of hands over his pillow at night, all seemed to go unanswered. I ‘called things that were not as though they were’. I had even taught a class that focused on unsaved husbands based upon 1 Peter 3. I had all of the right answers. Two of the other ladies’ spouses accepted the Lord.

So, I worked harder. I made sure that ‘our’ tithes were in Mike’s name. I would speak togetherness in the Lord even if we weren’t together in church. I read the Bible out loud to dispel any darkness that might be hanging around the house. I was looking to save Mike with my strength and God doesn’t work that way. So, I figured it must be God was waiting for me to change. So I did a spiritual checkup and worked on a make-over.

I finally just stood on my faith. I boldly told God, “This is the year, 2007. This is my year. I’ve tried everything I could think of. I only have Your promises to hold on to. You said that ‘Me and my whole household would be saved’. It’s Your Word, Lord. I’m tired. It’s up to you. It’s my turn.”

January came and went. In February, Mike decided that he would move from a town highway job to the county highway department. He asked me to put his application in on a Tuesday. I dropped it off and the girl said it would go into the system. She said that he needed to submit a new one every six months, because it’s hard to get in the county government.

On Thursday, the highway supervisor called Mike for an interview. He was able to make an appointment for Monday. The interview went well and they told him they would make a decision in a couple of weeks. They called him three days later and asked him to start within two weeks.

His fellow workers wanted to know who he knew to have gotten the job. I had no doubts that it was God. At this point, Mike said it was coincidence but I could tell that he was baffled.

He came to church a few more times. Pastor had started the membership classes and Mike told me that he might join. The next Sunday he came to church and I directed him to the office. God worked it so that it was only him and pastor. He came out after service and then we went home.

Later that evening, pastor’s wife called and asked me if I was on cloud nine. I said “For what?” She told me that Mike had committed his life to Christ that morning. Unbelievable! God did it without any fanfare or tears. It was as normal as breathing. I missed the ‘hallelujah moment’. I had told someone that he would just ‘slip into the Kingdom’ and he did.

My whole life has changed…again. I have a priest in the house, a confidant in the Lord, someone to share Scripture, sermons, teachings, books and fellowship.

My testimony as ‘the wife of an unsaved husband’ has become ‘learning to live with a believer’. I’m still in awe. Just going to the Christian book store with my husband and seeing him interested and shopping is surreal.

So what does the future hold?…God’s promises. They are ‘yea and amen’ to those who believe. If the last 30 years are any indication of God within my life, I can’t wait to live the rest. God holds the future and if I stay in God’s light, the best is yet to come because of Him and there’s a lot in me to work on.

Sometimes the ‘hallelujah’ moment isn’t tears, shouting and singing. It’s as normal as breathing in and out…just like the Gospel.

Romantic God

Today, I have a treat. Nicole Neri wrote a post on her blog that I believe will speak to many of us. I know it touched me. Nicole is sharing it with us here today. I am delighted to welcome one of our wonderful readers  as a guest contributor. I pray you are moved by her words and you see God the way she discovered Him.

Welcome Nicole. And Thank you!

Romance

I’ve always been a HUGE romance lover. I love cheesy chic movies, stories of romance, weddings, unending love… - I think I’ve watched the Notebook one too many times. And oh the dreams as a child I would have. As far as I can remember I dreamt of y wedding day, my prince and our fairy tale life together. My poor husband had no idea the unrealistic ideals I had placed on him. Our story too started off very picture perfect - high school sweethearts, Romeo – Juliet drama in college, yet a perfect proposal and top it off with a lavish wedding. We had a scored high so far on my fairytale planned life. However fast-forward three years, two kids, and a huge mortgage my lala land was gone. I wasn’t prepared to find myself crying in the middle of the night feeling very un-loved. I had a three month old and a two-year old. Louie was working 60+ hour weeks and romance was nowhere to be found. I remember sobbing on the floor. (I’m sure the lack of sleep and hormone level changes weren’t helping:) At one point I woke poor Louie out of his much-needed sleep to just sit there and cry and ask him, “Do you still love me?” He just stared at me in a daze and told me to try to go to sleep.

The next day I remember watching Oprah – she was advertising a book called “How to Remodel your Man”. Surely this will work I thought I will teach him how to be romantic again! After all I had read her book ”A New Earth” the previous year when my Uncle had died and it seemed to help cope with the pain and fear I had experienced.

So the next day I headed to the library in search of my next Oprah book to fix my romantically deficient marriage. They didn’t have the book, but another book popped up on the library catalog that sounded good – “You can have the marriage you’ve always wanted.” Perfect I thought I looked up the call number and found myself in the Christian marriage aisle-whatever works I thought. While there I grabbed a few more books that looked good, “For women only” and “10 commandments of marriage” to name a few. I started reading them and they had a lot of great practical advice. Like maybe for example my husband did love me and that’s why he was working so hard, Duh! Maybe I should put time aside to be with him. Maybe I should tell him what I need instead of expect him to read my mind – and on and on. Our communication started changing and the more I read the more I started understanding how a healthy marriage works. I started visiting that section of the library regularly. Slowly the reality started sinking in that it wasn’t my husband that needed to change but me! But I still had that deep longing for romance hidden and tucked away in my heart.

At that same time, I was playing in a handbell choir. I thought it would be fun to play music again and get out once a week. The only annoying thing was that every few months they we would have to play in church at 8:00! I rarely went to church and never that early. Then one Sunday that we were playing, I read that the message was going to be on – “A New Earth.” I was so excited I loved that book – it was all about Jesus and Buddah and energy and it had helped me so much. I couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say:) As he began the sermon, I perked up ready to listen. But I quickly I felt like a deer in headlights – The pastor started preaching against the book and how so many people were falling for its’ lie! What? Can you say that again? I was in shock. I went home feeling confused and stunned – I had been reading these great Christian books that were working, but I was also was reading these great new age books like the Power of Now and they seemed to be working too. What’s a brain to do? So I decided I needed to figure this out for myself and dug out my old confirmation Bible and started reading it at night, before bed.

As I read the Bible, I followed some reading tracks in the front that were recommended. I read about what Jesus did and what He said and it was all very interesting. I felt like I was actually getting to know the guy. I continued to read my marriage books, and I also had started reading a book I found at the neighbors called “Captivating”. It was a fun easy read and I was enjoying it late one night - until I got to the chapter that changed everything. It was about how Jesus wants to be your lover? Lover um Freaky? Did I read that right I thought? Then I read a part from Hosea quoted from the Bible and I couldn’t believe my eyes – Immediately I went into the other room and got my Bible to make sure it actually was there – I hadn’t read anything like this before. But sure enough there it was…

“Therefore I will wall her in with thorn bushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not find them. Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her…” -Hosea 2:6-7

As I read it aloud, my whole body felt warm and I started sobbing. This historical figure/distant God all of a sudden became an alive, intimate present person sitting with me in the room. As I read the passage over and over in belief, I knew He was saying – all this time you’ve been searching, striving, thinking that this New Age religion or imaginary romance would cure a hole that only I could fill, I am what you dream of - Would you let me be the great love of your life?

My response - ”You had me at hello.”

BIO: 

My name is Nicole Neri and I have been married to my high-school sweetheart for six years. I taught Junior High for two years before I became a stay at home mom. We now have a 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, Brandon and Brooke. Four years into my marriage I heard God knocking on my heart and I opened the door. That was when I reluctantly enrolled at Unequally Yoked University.

Although I’ve experienced deep growth I’ve anxiously awaited my graduation date. I’ve envisioned many far off kingdom adventures working side by side with my husband sharing the love of Christ. But recently I’ve embraced God’s whisper- He’s your kingdom adventure and you get to work side by side with me!

I live on a quiet street in a low-excitement suburb of Chicago - yet daily I get to partner with the Spirit and shine the light of Christ - it's anything but dull! ~Nicole

Thank you Nicole. I am also praying for your graduation. Hugging you, Lynn

When God’s Not There

I read an interesting devotional yesterday that talked about 2 Chronicles 32:31:

"God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart." (NLT)

I remember one time God did this with me. I’d recommitted my life to Christ a couple years earlier and suddenly one day my quiet time became “dry.” And I do mean parched. I recall crying out to God day after day, asking where He was. Slowly the understanding came that God had purposely withdrawn His presence to test me.

Now this wasn’t something I’d learned about in church. In fact, when I expressed my spiritual state to my pastor and that I felt God was purposely showing me something by doing it, he seemed rather baffled. (Later he brought up the subject and shared he had a better understanding of why God does this.)

This was definitely a hands-on experience and not a pleasant one, to be honest. The point I’m trying to make here though is that even when God backed off to teach me what my starved spiritual state would be without Him, technically He was still there revealing His truth. And the best advice I received during that time was to keep my discipline of meeting with God. My closeness to Him would return, and it did.

I know there are times when we feel more distant from God for various reasons, especially so when life throws us some unexpected curves, which seems to happen a lot these days. Be reassured that no matter your position, God sees you.

Let me say that again. God sees YOU. He knows your needs. He knows what’s breaking your heart because it breaks his too.

He has a plan, and plan for good, because He is good, and He is love, and He is so wonderfully worthy of our love and praise. Whether you’re in streams of water or dry desert, God is there and He cares.

Praying and believing,
Dineen

The Eternal Mindset

I believe in eternity. My husband does not.

This fact alone brings us to opposite sides of life. He’s living for the here and now, and I’m living for what’s to come. I know this world is not my home and that when I die I will truly be home in heaven with our amazing and wonderful Savior, God and Friend.

For my spouse, death is final. This life is all there is. I try to wrap my brain around this thought, but I can’t. I just can’t imagine not having heaven to look forward to.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (NIV)

At God’s direction, I’ve been praying this verse over my sweet hubby since January, and I have to say, some interesting things are happening. Not at all what I expected, but so very much God. You could call it a mid-life crisis, but it’s so much more. My husband’s on a mission to be as healthy as he can by eating right and exercising more. A very worthwhile goal for anyone. But to know my guy is to know he does things to extreme.

No sugar, and jogging for a minimum of an hour at a time are now part of his disc golf schedule. I have to say he’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen him. He’s good at disciplining himself and is naturally athletic. (Which just makes me realize how much harder I need to work at being healthy!) Burned out from the tech industry and desiring to be his own boss, he’s now working independently on his own software projects.

See, from my perspective, it’s all about control. For him, he’s in total control of his life. But is he? He’s doing all this so he can live as long and as well as possible. Could it be that the “eternity” God placed in his heart is stirring, demanding attention?

I believe so. Though my hubby can’t fathom the works of God, this eternity is there in his heart, waiting to be recognized. That’s what I believe God’s Word tells us.

I don’t know what that will mean down the road, but I see the growing discontent in my husband. At times it’s scary because this is our future teetering on a precarious ledge of the unknown. Right now I’m called to trust God even more than ever and love my husband in ways that’s only possible through Christ in me—unconditionally.

Without the knowledge that all of this is in God’s control, I would be fraught with anxiety and worry.

Without the understanding that so much more is at stake than our immediate future and comfort, I would become skeptical and then bitter.

Without an eternal mindset, this would be impossible.

We know that all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).

We know that He is before all things and in him, all things hold together (Col. 1:17).

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).

We know God.

Praying and believing,
Dineen

Weekend Devo — The Best Truths Bear Repeating

This is a post from last October that just seems to need repeating. I know it's a truth I need constant reminder of. Trusting God is key, and keeping our hopes in Him is the source of our enduring strength. Have a blessed weekend! Hugs! ~Dineen

Waiting on God
God never ceases to amaze me in the intricate perfection of his work and plan. Have you found yourself in a place where you see how the details surrounding you are linked together and blooming like a flower? And as the petals open, the legitimacy of each event suddenly comes into view, perfectly planned and coordinated in an intricate pattern of destiny?

I love those moments. Though I’m sure I don’t see them all, I know I’d miss more if I didn’t constantly and intentionally draw closer to God. We need to stay in a place of yearning for more of God and less of this world.

Otherwise, we might miss what God’s doing in our lives.

I know I’ve said this before, but bear with me. Waiting is a big part of our Christian walk. Hard to do in a world so focused on how fast something can be done. We’re becoming a culture of impatient people. I see it in my own children. But I know from experience that waiting is critical in our walk with God.

Now I’m coming to understand a new dimension of waiting. For the last year, my constant question has been, “How do I rely on God’s strength instead of my own?” I run out of strength, then wonder what happened. What did I do wrong? How do I know when I’m operating in my own strength and not God’s?

I think I got part of the answer yesterday at Bible study. A very special group of ladies meets every week at my church. I love these women, because they are the most authentic and God-hungry women I know. Right now we’re studying Esther by Beth Moore.

Let me first confess that I’m a big Beth Moore fan. Her studies have impacted my life more than any others I’ve done, except for Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. But this Esther study by far exceeds them all. I think Beth crawled into my very situation and wrote it just for me. ☺

Yesterday we received a nugget that I believe is key to answering this question I’ve had about God’s strength. Take a look at Isaiah 40:31 (ESV):

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Waiting and strength are linked here in a way I hadn’t thought of before until Beth said something like this:

“We will lose our strength when we wait on the event, thing, or person instead of waiting on God.”

Talk about a “whoa” moment. Suddenly the pieces fell into place. When do we feel like we can’t go any further because we have no more strength?

When we’ve prayed over and over again for our spouse to believe in Christ? For a child to be healed? For a job?

For a difficult situation to resolve and find a peaceful solution?
For a loved one to come back to us?

Add yours to the list. (Tell us about it in the comments.) Now ask yourself this. “What am I waiting on?” Did your answer look like one of these:

For my spouse to come to faith.
For my child to be healthy again.
For the right job.
For this situation to be fixed and go away.
For my loved one to come home.

Is your strength lagging? Are you tired and want to give up? Are you asking why God isn’t strengthening you? I know I have.

The key is right in the first line of Isaiah 40:31:

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength.

Like Beth said, when we wait on our spouse to choose God, for our child to be okay, for a job, for peace, for restoration with a loved one, we’re waiting on that specific event, circumstance, or person. We’re waiting on it, and not God. And we lose our strength.

It always seems to come back to where we point our eyes, doesn’t it? Keeping our eyes on God and waiting on Him. Let’s put it to the test, shall we? See if it works? I’m ready to wait on God and let him renew my strength.

How about you?

Praying and believing,
Dineen

Feet or De-feat?

Are you feeling defeated?

I’m slowly working my way through Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ book, Lies Women Believe. This is what I highlighted in my reading for today:

“The Enemy doesn’t care if we “believe” in God, if we are doctrinally orthodox, or if we fill our schedules with a lot of “spiritual activities,” as long as he can get us to run on our own steam rather than living in conscious dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

If he can get us to try to “live the Christian life” without cultivating an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus, he knows we will be spiritually impotent and defeated.”

This is eye-opening. I can remember when I first recommitted my life to Christ, I became heavily involved in the church I was attending. I would complain about feeling worn out and over taxed, and my husband would tell me to slow down and not do so much at church. But was the message I was sending? That church is draining, demanding, and exhausting? Ouch! 

It took me a year to finally cultivate this quiet time with God. Now I’m very protective of it, but I still have to remain intentional about it. The busyness of life has a way of moving in and taking over. And it’s so easy to slip into doing things in my strength and not God’s.

What better way for the enemy to not only make us impotent, but also to defeat our testimony to our unbelieving spouses?

Yes, it’s important that we are part of a church community if possible, but even within our own homes, we can’t mistake doing for God as being with God. This time alone with our Lord is vital to keeping us focused on what He is asking us to do, and it may surprise you too.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us that those who hope in/wait on the Lord will renew their strength. That’s God’s promise of what time spent with him will produce. This is my pursuit right now… how can I live more victoriously in Christ and be a living and visual testimony to my husband of who Christ is?

Ladies and gents, we’re in a battle here. We can either stay alert at the feet of Christ or live in defeat. I know I much prefer Christ’s “feet” over “de-feat.”

What does living victoriously look like to you?

Praying and believing,
Dineen

Hope you'll check out my post "Remember" over at Laced with Grace about a fascinating connection I made between communion and monuments.

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. — 1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV)

I read this verse just recently in an Upper Room devotional and the writer that day helped me see a profound connection I’d missed before... Read the rest at LWG.

Marriage Monday - Get Real!

Hi, It's Marriage Monday.

This month the readers and contributors to Marriage Monday at Chrysalis have an open topic for our community. So I am going to put myself out there and be very real. I invite you into this conversation and look forward to more questions.

Let me set the stage. On Saturday I was interviewed by Jim Norman of Wise People. My interview was an opportunity to share the reality of living in an unequally yoked marriage and the hope I have. Many of you took 25 minutes and listened in. I received several emails that day from regular readers here at SUM. You can listen in here if you have time, no pressure, I know we are all very busy but you might come up with a few questions yourself. Please email me your questions.

100403 Wise People, Lynn Donovan

For those of you joining us for Marriage Monday, I will bring you up to speed. I am living and thriving in my spiritually mismatched marriage. With that said, one of the emails arrived, from a long time friend who is also unequally yoked. In a very nice way, yet with earnest need to know, she doesn't know how to reconcile what I say on the radio and the reality of living unequally yoked. 

I love this woman and I am so glad she is honest to ask how I can possibly say I am happy when my husband hasn't embraced Christ yet. I will venture to guess there are others who also puzzle this question. My answer isn't what you might think.

One of the first questions my sweet sister asked is this: In the radio station interview you said: You are happily married to your best friend - how is that?

How can a believer and an unbeliever be happy under the same roof let alone be best friends? Wow, excellent... I can tell you more than ten years ago, I would have told you it's impossible. Truly, but I can tell you today with complete sincerity that my husband is my best friend on earth. This man knows me better than anyone, next to Jesus. I trust him with my authentic self and do not fear judgments or condemnation from him. I love to laugh with him, tease him, and please him as a wife and a friend. 

It's not always this way. We must look at our marriage as part of the long journey with God. The seasons change, come and go. In our early season, I was lonely and felt judgement and struggled in my faith because of the onslaught of criticisms of Jesus. If it were not for Christ, we would not have moved past this season. 

Part of the journey to becoming best friends was maturity. I had to let go of two things. Entitlements and selfishness. If you knew me many years ago, I was full of myself and believed I was entitled to a man who would fulfill my every desire. There is not a man on the planet that can do that for a woman. We are created to need Christ to fill us up. I had to let go of some of my dreams. Flowers once a week were never gong to happen. Weekend trips to a coastal destination.... gone.... But, what I received in return is a man who I trust. A man who will never leave me. A man who absolutely loves me over all else.

I should insert here, I'm not an easy person to live with. I am driven and at times demanding. I can be critical because I have high expectation of myself and those who live with me. God bless that man for putting up with me.

But, my friend asks, even if you try to let go of things you can't change how you feel. It hurts and it's lonely. I agree. You can't fake it. But, I know how to get over it. So join me next Monday and I will tell you how God led me to get over myself and how he replaced my loneliness with fulfillment.

I am an ordinary woman, an ordinary wife, but I serve an Extraordinary God. AMEN! Happy Monday. Love and hugs, Lynn

Unaswered Prayers or Prayers in Waiting?

Last week in the Unanswered Prayers series, we established that God hears us and considered that the circumstances aren’t just about us. Lynn talked about letting go of what we might think is good in order for God to give us his best.

Read Unanswered Prayers, Part 1 here.
Read He Dreams Big, Do You? here.

As I said before, this series is a challenge. Sometimes we don’t want to hear the truth, especially when it pertains to something we’ve waited a long time for. But what if that truth is better than the partial truth we may be holding on to? What if God’s idea of answering our prayer is so different than what we expect that we possibly even see it as a set-back?

If we think of our own journeys and growth closer to God, we probably can see times where we despaired in the mire of what appeared to be a hopeless or unchangeable situation. At that moment, we had only the present to go by. But our God has the full picture and sometimes that dark moment has to come before the breakthrough. Our faith journeys become a myriad of changes bringing us closer and closer to the person we are meant to be in Christ.

So, I ask, if we can see this in our own lives, what makes us think it would be any different for our unbelieving loved ones? Would we rush a process so critical to their salvation only to meet our own selfish need for it to happen now?

I don’t mean to be harsh. Just honest. The truth of the matter is, there is so much going on that we don’t even know about. Like a wedding, weeks and months go into the planning. The guests see only the day of celebration—the beautiful dress, the fancy suits, bountiful flowers and a spectacular cake. They’ve seen nothing of the hands that created the dress, the organization of the suits for the groom and best men, the bouquets of special-ordered flowers arranged in a pleasing manner, or the hours spent baking and building a sculpture-like cake.

As guests, we see the results of all this hard work. Yet our role in our spouse’s salvation is both. We get to be the guest, but we are also a vital part of the process and preparation. And perhaps that’s where we miss the times our big prayers are actually answered in small parts.

We are so focused on the end result that we miss the small steps leading to it. I know I’ve found this to be true in my daughter’s recovery from a brain surgery. I’ve been so focused on the idea of her being normal again, whole and happy and going to school everyday that I’ve missed some of the steps leading there in a slow process of recovery.

At times she’s done better then to get worse. My greatest struggle at times is to not focus on this one set-back so much that I lose sight of the progress that’s actually being made.  And even when I can’t see that progress, I can choose to trust God’s there, working to restore her to full health.

I know this is difficult, because I’m right there with you. I’ve been praying for my dear hubby for 14 years now. I know some of you have prayed even longer for yours. From my perspective he seems no closer to this critical decision, yet I sense discontent and restlessness in him. In some ways this can be difficult to deal with, and can even appear to be a set back, but in my heart I know that’s God working.

So don’t stop. Keep going. When you feel you can’t pray anymore, do it for God. Be faithful to him. Tell Him your desire is to please Him and that you’ll continue to pray for that reason alone. God will restore your hope.

Our greatest battles with unanswered prayer is not the prayer itself. It is with our impatience to have what we want when we want it, AND with an enemy determined to steal our hope, make us ineffective, and distract us from our true purpose, which is to seek constant relationship with God.

When we do this, when we are faithful to our highest calling to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, we will truly be delighting in the Lord, and He will give us the desires of our heart.

Then we will see our prayers getting answered, because our desires will be in alignment with God’s. What’s truly amazing is that our greatest satisfaction will NOT come from those answered prayers, but from the close friendship we have with our Lord and Savior.

So let’s stop calling them unanswered prayers, but prayers in waiting. Like a bride ready to walk down the aisle, she will arrive at the right time in tune with the music.

And so will our unbelieving loved ones, at God’s time and to His music.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." —Ephesians 3:20

Praying and believing,
Dineen