I didn't plan on writing about this, but God woke me up a few times and said this is what the next blog is about, so here it goes.
In the last 3 days, 3 different people emailed me from the States about some things going on in their lives and how to make sense of what God is up to.
One of my very close friends emailed me yesterday from work telling me that she had been offered a very generous gift to cover some hospital bills from another coworker that she isn't close to, but is a Christ follower. She said she immediately started to cry. She wrote, "I have been asking Him lately, 'Why me? Why am I so blessed?'"
I told her that when people send me packages/support me financially/etc, I pray for God to return favor to them. I could never pay anyone back anything compared to the way the Lord can work magic. So I told her that she was obedient when He told her to send things last month, when I didnt even realize these medical bills were looming and she was being generous to me. I know of many other times, when she is pressed from Him to do something that STRETCHES her, she does it. I said when you are obedient, He provides. If we can take our hands off our money and listen to what He says to do, even when we don't think we can give $amount to whatever, He always provides for me later. My money is His, not mine. I do not like to look at this as if "I do good, God returns it." There is a difference between doing good things just because you feel like it and doing it because God told you to do it. It doesn't stretch me and make me lean on God to give when I have it or feel like it that day. I woke up in the middle of the night and God told me two things: Tell ____I love her (God of the UNIVERSE wants to wake me up to let a Kid of His know He loves her. I love our King!!) and that is why He did what He did. The other thing is He said "I am Jehovah Jireh." I said, "Oh, God. Seriously. I am going to have to look that up in the morning I don't know that one by heart." (I am a bit embarrassed to type that as other Christians read this! I know God just expects me to go look it up and freaking remember it. Not feel horrible bc of not knowing it). I cried when I Googled it, then started the blog. :)
Email #2
Another email was from a sister in Christ that has a buncha good things going on in her life and wanted to share how God is so good to her. She said, "I feel total amazement that He is doing something like this for me. Do you ever feel like this, feel lost in His awesomeness?" Uh, girl, totally lost in His awesomeness. I know this sister will bring Him glory in what He is orchestrating and He trusts her to do what He is setting up because she lays her life in His hands. Just like the above Sister, I can't say I am shocked by any of this, they are both obedient to Him and try to stay on the path of His will. Why would He not work through both of them? He wants us to rely on Him for our paths. He wants to provide us with what we need to fulfill His will. He knows we can't do it without Him, we have to depend on Him.
(Side note: the word obedient has been huge lately. Every time I read "obey" I see it like this: OBEY. There are so many aspects of it right now, but I will just tell you a quick story. So, God keeps pointing out that word in the Word, bible studies, devotions, songs, todos! I was in the USA sick last month and visited my old school I taught at for lunch when I got better. As I walked out of a building, I was chatting with an older lady and we said good bye. I got about 50 feet away and she turned around and quickly YELLED, "Hey, Brady!! OBEY!!!!! Just keep obeying what He asks you to do!" (Nothing about this lady was natural, I swear it was as if God turned her around and took over her voice to say that to me). I said, "Yes, ma'am." :) Then told myself to not cry until I got into the car to leave! Minutes before this, a little kid came up to me with an envelope. Inside was a generous check from a Sister in Christ that works at the school. I went straight to her class and started to cry. She said, "God told me to. TAKE IT.")
Email #3
I am barely going to address this because I don't feel like I can cover exactly what I believe about the shooting in CT that happened in the USA last week without serious emotion. Someone texted me last week and asked what I believed about children being in Heaven. It was actually a little crazy because that morning I asked God for confirmation and I found it in a FB post that had Mathew 19:14 it said with a pic of Jesus "Let the kids come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." I asked God if it was out of context when I went to my Bible to read around it. He told me to listen to what He told me. I believe kids go to Heaven. I type that with confidence in what God has shown me. You don't like my response, take it up with Jesus. So, back to the email, sorry off topic!! She asked my opinion on this website she found that had a video that God sent the shooter. I will not write the website here, because I refuse to allow this demonic site to be seen via my blog. The emailer friend is not a Christ-follower but she is "searching." That is how I put it when God has grabbed a hold of a heart and is working in it ;) I spent many years in that stage. So, here she comes across this article and is freaked that God sent the shooter from a Christian website. I was LIVID, to say the least.
All at one time, because He is omnipresent, Jesus sees all the evil being done all over the world to His children. We can't fathom this. We can think about it, but we can't understand what it is like to be PRESENT at what is happening in Rwanda as the Janjaweed group rapes and machetes women/men/children, the abuse of the 27 million people in modern day slavery world wide, while a shooter in CT goes on a malicious rampage and little ones are screaming for their lives, etc. He doesn't just see it, He is there.
This book I am reading, Good News About Injustice, says, " The word compassion comes from two Latin words: passio, meaning "to suffer," and cum, meaning "with." To say that God has compassion (psalm 116:5/2 Corin 1:3) for victims of injustice is to say that He actually "suffers with" them. At the root of God's compassion is the fact that He sees, witnesses, directly observes the suffering of the abused."
I keep seeing other Christians post things on their wall with photos and videos saying crap like "Where was God? Well, we kicked God out of school, that's why He wasn't there/that's why this happened." I am tryng so hard to be nice right here. This is so absurd. Since when do we believe the Lord isn't present?? JESUS WAS THERE. I dont care if you can pray in school or "God" in the stupid Pledge, HE IS THERE. Every day! And, when this happened, He was with each kid whether they have EVER HEARD His name or not at home/school, He was with each one. I don't know what He did before, during, or after, BUT HE WAS ALL over it and STILL IS. He is good. Always good.
So God didn't send the shooter and I believe those "Christians are in a cult." After I pushed play, immediately I could feel a battle (eph 6:12) and was freaked out! We need to remember that these battles manifest themselves into tangible injustice, hunger, abuse, imprisonment, beatings (Good News). I emailed her back, "to her not to watch such trash and they are not followers of Christ. THAT site is not of GOD. I dont care how much scripture they use to prove points. I am very grounded in Christ and God told me to STOP watching it immediately bc it wasn't of Him. So I did.
I'm done, I could rant all day. So, Christmas is coming next week and I am staying the DR. I look forward to being alone for 2 weeks while my roommate is in the States.
P.S. Don't forget to look up Jehovah Jireh. :)
In the last 3 days, 3 different people emailed me from the States about some things going on in their lives and how to make sense of what God is up to.
One of my very close friends emailed me yesterday from work telling me that she had been offered a very generous gift to cover some hospital bills from another coworker that she isn't close to, but is a Christ follower. She said she immediately started to cry. She wrote, "I have been asking Him lately, 'Why me? Why am I so blessed?'"
I told her that when people send me packages/support me financially/etc, I pray for God to return favor to them. I could never pay anyone back anything compared to the way the Lord can work magic. So I told her that she was obedient when He told her to send things last month, when I didnt even realize these medical bills were looming and she was being generous to me. I know of many other times, when she is pressed from Him to do something that STRETCHES her, she does it. I said when you are obedient, He provides. If we can take our hands off our money and listen to what He says to do, even when we don't think we can give $amount to whatever, He always provides for me later. My money is His, not mine. I do not like to look at this as if "I do good, God returns it." There is a difference between doing good things just because you feel like it and doing it because God told you to do it. It doesn't stretch me and make me lean on God to give when I have it or feel like it that day. I woke up in the middle of the night and God told me two things: Tell ____I love her (God of the UNIVERSE wants to wake me up to let a Kid of His know He loves her. I love our King!!) and that is why He did what He did. The other thing is He said "I am Jehovah Jireh." I said, "Oh, God. Seriously. I am going to have to look that up in the morning I don't know that one by heart." (I am a bit embarrassed to type that as other Christians read this! I know God just expects me to go look it up and freaking remember it. Not feel horrible bc of not knowing it). I cried when I Googled it, then started the blog. :)
Email #2
Another email was from a sister in Christ that has a buncha good things going on in her life and wanted to share how God is so good to her. She said, "I feel total amazement that He is doing something like this for me. Do you ever feel like this, feel lost in His awesomeness?" Uh, girl, totally lost in His awesomeness. I know this sister will bring Him glory in what He is orchestrating and He trusts her to do what He is setting up because she lays her life in His hands. Just like the above Sister, I can't say I am shocked by any of this, they are both obedient to Him and try to stay on the path of His will. Why would He not work through both of them? He wants us to rely on Him for our paths. He wants to provide us with what we need to fulfill His will. He knows we can't do it without Him, we have to depend on Him.
(Side note: the word obedient has been huge lately. Every time I read "obey" I see it like this: OBEY. There are so many aspects of it right now, but I will just tell you a quick story. So, God keeps pointing out that word in the Word, bible studies, devotions, songs, todos! I was in the USA sick last month and visited my old school I taught at for lunch when I got better. As I walked out of a building, I was chatting with an older lady and we said good bye. I got about 50 feet away and she turned around and quickly YELLED, "Hey, Brady!! OBEY!!!!! Just keep obeying what He asks you to do!" (Nothing about this lady was natural, I swear it was as if God turned her around and took over her voice to say that to me). I said, "Yes, ma'am." :) Then told myself to not cry until I got into the car to leave! Minutes before this, a little kid came up to me with an envelope. Inside was a generous check from a Sister in Christ that works at the school. I went straight to her class and started to cry. She said, "God told me to. TAKE IT.")
Email #3
I am barely going to address this because I don't feel like I can cover exactly what I believe about the shooting in CT that happened in the USA last week without serious emotion. Someone texted me last week and asked what I believed about children being in Heaven. It was actually a little crazy because that morning I asked God for confirmation and I found it in a FB post that had Mathew 19:14 it said with a pic of Jesus "Let the kids come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." I asked God if it was out of context when I went to my Bible to read around it. He told me to listen to what He told me. I believe kids go to Heaven. I type that with confidence in what God has shown me. You don't like my response, take it up with Jesus. So, back to the email, sorry off topic!! She asked my opinion on this website she found that had a video that God sent the shooter. I will not write the website here, because I refuse to allow this demonic site to be seen via my blog. The emailer friend is not a Christ-follower but she is "searching." That is how I put it when God has grabbed a hold of a heart and is working in it ;) I spent many years in that stage. So, here she comes across this article and is freaked that God sent the shooter from a Christian website. I was LIVID, to say the least.
All at one time, because He is omnipresent, Jesus sees all the evil being done all over the world to His children. We can't fathom this. We can think about it, but we can't understand what it is like to be PRESENT at what is happening in Rwanda as the Janjaweed group rapes and machetes women/men/children, the abuse of the 27 million people in modern day slavery world wide, while a shooter in CT goes on a malicious rampage and little ones are screaming for their lives, etc. He doesn't just see it, He is there.
This book I am reading, Good News About Injustice, says, " The word compassion comes from two Latin words: passio, meaning "to suffer," and cum, meaning "with." To say that God has compassion (psalm 116:5/2 Corin 1:3) for victims of injustice is to say that He actually "suffers with" them. At the root of God's compassion is the fact that He sees, witnesses, directly observes the suffering of the abused."
I keep seeing other Christians post things on their wall with photos and videos saying crap like "Where was God? Well, we kicked God out of school, that's why He wasn't there/that's why this happened." I am tryng so hard to be nice right here. This is so absurd. Since when do we believe the Lord isn't present?? JESUS WAS THERE. I dont care if you can pray in school or "God" in the stupid Pledge, HE IS THERE. Every day! And, when this happened, He was with each kid whether they have EVER HEARD His name or not at home/school, He was with each one. I don't know what He did before, during, or after, BUT HE WAS ALL over it and STILL IS. He is good. Always good.
So God didn't send the shooter and I believe those "Christians are in a cult." After I pushed play, immediately I could feel a battle (eph 6:12) and was freaked out! We need to remember that these battles manifest themselves into tangible injustice, hunger, abuse, imprisonment, beatings (Good News). I emailed her back, "to her not to watch such trash and they are not followers of Christ. THAT site is not of GOD. I dont care how much scripture they use to prove points. I am very grounded in Christ and God told me to STOP watching it immediately bc it wasn't of Him. So I did.
I'm done, I could rant all day. So, Christmas is coming next week and I am staying the DR. I look forward to being alone for 2 weeks while my roommate is in the States.
P.S. Don't forget to look up Jehovah Jireh. :)
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