Red Sea Rule #9

As I read these rules I can see how each of them apply to my current season in life! Today is Rule #9

This is true! As we look at the house situation and the repairs that need to be done I'm reminded of past times when things like this happened and how God provided for us, and I'm seeing it again as we work on home repairs. I'm seeing his faithfulness in providing for us.

Where I struggle is that I have never been out of a job before. I have worked full time since I was 18, sometimes two and three jobs at a time, so to be out of work and not know when God is going to open the doors for another job is a little scary.  I believe he will, I have faith that he will, but when, where and will I hear him clearly are my struggles.

I told you recently that we were looking at a move out of state, we didn't make the move cause financially we didn't have peace that it was going to work out, because we were basing everything on man. BUT, what if God is asking us to step out in faith, move and trust that he will provide when we get there?  I know it doesn't sound like a logical thing to do, especially with the whole family but then again when did God ask someone to step out in faith and it sounded logical? "Go head Moses tell the Israelites that you are going to hold out your arms and the Red Sea will part and they can walk through on dry ground?" Not sounding like a logical solution to what the Israelites were facing, but they did it in faith and God showed up - like he always does.

God allows trials in our lives to strengthen our faith. It grows us and stretches us and draws us closer to God and our dependance on him.  I have seen in the trails in life I have faced.  When Coleman, our 8 year old daughter with Down Syndrome was 6 months old she needed to have open heart surgery to repair a heart defect. From the time we found out about it until about a month before the surgery I struggled with it. I was sure that she was going to die in surgery. Then one day when I was at a Children's Ministry Conference and we were singing Amazing Grace - My Chains are Gone, God spoke to me. There were probably 10,000 Children's Ministry workers in the room and I felt like it was just God and I. And as I sang the last verse of that song there was a peace that came over me and God spoke to my heart telling me that Coleman was going to be okay, that he was going to take care of her, and he did! Then when she was four years old she got pneumonia and croup at the same time and ended up in ICU on a ventilator for 10 days with round the clock care. At one point she was doing so good they were telling us they would take her off the ventilator the next day. That morning, around 6 am I went into her room and she was surrounded by nurses and doctors and a nurse came out and told me that she took a turn for the worse around 5am and they didn't know what was happening. I remember walking over to the window with tears flowing and looking up towards heaven and saying; "God she is yours and if you choose to take her home I will still love you." I knew what it felt like to think she was going to die once before and God was faithful and I was trusting him to be faithful again. A couple days later she was off the ventilator and we were on our way home with our little girl. Every time I look at Coleman, I am reminded of God's faithfulness in so many ways.

So I know he's got this! I know he has great things in store for me and my family! And I know that he is teaching me not to lean on my own understanding. I am going to trust in his promises. (now please don't read into this and think I'm moving out of state, but rather I'm trusting in God for letting me know if and when the time is right.)How about you, what is your current crisis? Are you seeing God's hand at work? Are you looking for it? And how can it strengthen your faith for the future?
These are my thoughts - hope you found a nugget in there somewhere!

Red Sea Rule #8

Check out today's rule, its one I tend to get wrong most times.

No matter what your back ground is with the Bible I'm pretty sure at some point in time you heard how God parted the Red Sea for the Israelite Children to cross on dry land. It, to me, is one of the most fascinating miracles of the Bible. But I wonder how many of the Israelites standing by the Red Sea watching Moses stretch out his arms were thinking; "Watch this, the water is going to part and we are going to walk right across..." - I can't imagine any of them were. I'm thinking if it were me I would still be looking for a boat to show up and take us to safety.

This rule for me is another one I need to work on. Whenever there is a situation going on in my life and I am crying out to the Lord for help I have ways that I feel He should work. I know how I want the problem solved, I know how I want Him to answer, to work it out.  But in Isaiah 55:8-9 it says; "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond untying you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts." 

I've always heard and seen in my life that God works in mysterious ways and this chapter in Robert J. Morgan's book The Red Sea Rules is just a reminder of how awesome God is. I tend to expect God to do what he as done in the past, for me, for my family and friends or even how he worked in the Bible.   If I am in a similar situation as before, I expect God to show up and do as he did before, but that isn't how God works.  Sometimes God performs a miracle. A super natural healing or protection. Sometimes God places someone or something in your life to provide you with what you need. A good friend to talk you down off the ledge, a job when you were down to your last $5. So many things that when you look back you know, that you know, that you know, it was the Hand of God providing. And then sometimes he works it out mysteriously. You don't know how it happened, what really took place, but you know that it was God. A stranger shows up with something you need and you never see that person again. Was it really a person or an angel sent by God to provide for you in your time of need.

In all the craziness that can go on in life, that is going on in life I tend to think I know what I want, how I want it and expect God to do that for me, but that isn't how God works. And you know what, I'm glad for it. God is able to do immeasurably far more than we could ever ask or imagine...Thanks be to God!

These are my thoughts, I hope you can find a nugget in them somewhere.