Reactions and Choices

Recently, I’ve been taking some time to look back on my life and revisit how I reacted to certain events, and how my reaction changed the outcome. 

What has stood out to me during this reflection is that I have a choice how I will react.   There is always a moment (sometimes just a spilt second) when I have to choose how I will react.  It’s easy to say something like “I just reacted.  I didn’t choose it… I just exploded/laughed/was mean.”  Or, “I can’t help how I reacted.  They just made me so angry.”  But the truth is, I have a choice.  There is always that moment, the split second (or longer) when I know I am faced with a choice about what I will say or do in the next moments.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I used to think that the fruit of the Spirit would automatically begin displaying itself in the lives of every follower of Christ, because the Spirit lives in each of us.  I am seeing more then ever that we must still make the choice.  I must make the choice in each challenging situation how to react- this is self control!  Self control is not the Spirit taking over my body and forcing a reaction upon me.  Self control is pausing in that moment of aggravation or frustration to listen to the voice of the Spirit and choosing to react in a way that honors Christ. I must choose my reaction.  You must choose your reaction.  If we ask Him, the Holy Spirit will teach us how to use our moment of choice to stop and listen.

Our family recently went through a huge shift in our ministry situation.  Through the month-long process of making decisions and dealing with frustrating circumstances, we were faced with choices about our reaction every single day.  Sometimes so many times in one day, our heads were spinning. But looking back, it is clear to me that our reactions made a huge difference in how events unfolded.  I’m happy to say that we responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and reacted accordingly.  There is no doubt that if we had reacted badly, the outcome would have been far more unpleasant. 

John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

It’s encouraging to look back and see how I have grown in my walk with Christ.  How about you?  How do you react to frustrating situations, and how has your reaction affected the outcome? In what ways are you bearing fruit?

Verses for Now

I know, from touring the Blogosphere, that there are many other families in similar situations to the one we are in.  We are waiting (again) for a document to arrive, one that should have been here a week ago, one that will delay our departure if it does not arrive quickly. 

It’s hard, this waiting.  The not knowing is the worst.  Will we be delayed?  What preparations do we need to make just in case?  It would be easier to have everything 100% ready, to be able to emotionally prepare, one way or another. 

But, clearly, there is something to be learned in this season.  Whether waiting for a new assignment, a document to arrive, or learning a flight has been delayed, there are many uncertainties in the lives of nomad families.  The issue is learning to deal with these uncertainties without giving fear and worry a foothold.

I will be the first to admit that I have not conquered these lessons just yet.  I have been learning to turn to Scripture more quickly, as a first response, rather then after 8 hours of ulcer-inducing worry.

And because I know that there are so many others in this same situation, I thought perhaps it would encourage someone else if I posted a list of the verses I am reciting over and over these days.  The added benefit is that I can pull up this list myself as needed.  So, here is my list.

1 John 4:18- There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Matthew 6:25- Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food and the body then clothing?

Matthew 6: 33-34 - But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

John 14:1- Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me.

Psalm 32:10- Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

Psalm 33:20-21 – We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

Psalm 34:4- I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 42:8- By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life.

Which verses do you stand on in trouble times?  I’d love a few to add to my list!

Taming the Beast

Recently, we purchased this:

 

It’s a Voltage Converter, designed to keep our electronics safe when we plug them into at 220 V electrical system.  It weighs 22 lbs, and I not-so-affectionately call it The Beast.

When you only have 50 lbs per suitcase, and you are moving your family overseas, this 22 lb. beast is a little stress-inducing.  It’s making me think creatively about packing, and that’s probably a good thing.  Because, after all, creativity is a necessity when you are moving your family overseas.  In more ways then one.

The Beast is a necessity.  It keeps things working.  Necessary things like phones and laptops, and helpful things like walkie-talkies and MP3 players.  I’m fighting the beast, wrestling it into a suitcase, because we need it.

I’m fighting other beasts these days as well.  Beasts like sadness, grief, and a need for more faith.  I’d rather fight The Beast.  It stays where I put it.

Fighting beasts like sadness and neediness is hard…  but even more necessary.  The difficulty, for me, is that they often don’t stay down, even when I flatten them to the floor. 

But fighting these beasts is a necessity too.   These are the battles that bring me to my knees, and closer to my Savior. 

They put me in my place.

My place is close to my Heavenly Father.  My place is where I can hear His voice and I choose to obey.  Fighting these beasts forces me to move to that place. 

This morning, I won.  I spent an hour with God and the beasts ended up on the floor. 

Tomorrow, they may be back.  If they are, their presence means I’m out of place again. 

So, while I am wrestling with The Beast and our 12 suitcases, I’m trying to remember to stay put, in this place where I belong.  It’s the only way to keep the beasts one the ground… and everyone exactly where they belong.

What are your frequent beastly visitors and how do you tame them?  Got any verses or advice to share?

Too Great A Compliment?

I’ve been reading the Bible recently in a bit of a different way, mixing it up a little, as it were.  I’ve been using my Bible App to search a specific word or phrase and reading through all the related passages.  Most recently, I’ve been reading through references for the word “decide.”

The first passage that really caught my attention was Exodus 18.  This is the chapter that tells of Jethro’s visit to Moses, and his subsequent advice to Moses to appoint judges to serve under him and relieve him of some of his duties.  There is a lot of good stuff in this passage, but there was one thing that really jumped out at me.  Check out this quote from Matthew Henry’s commentary on Exodus 18:

“Necessary business must always take place of ceremonious attentions. It is too great a compliment to our friends to prefer the enjoyment of their company before our duty to God, which ought to be done, while yet the other is not left undone.” – Matthew Henry

Huh.  We are in a season right now of trying to squeeze in as many visits with friends, trips to favorite places, and meals at favorite restaurants as possible before our departure.  Sometimes, that becomes a very high priority.  And, there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Bu in pondering this, thinking about Jethro’s visit to Moses (which, by the way, was made to return Moses’ family to him following their extended visit with Jethro), something really stood out to me.  Moses could have easily used the visit as justification for laying aside his work and staying home.  And he did, to a certain extent.  But as Matthew Henry so eloquently points out, he did not do so to the detriment of his duty to God.

In the most unexpected of chapters, then, I find this reminder to reevaluate, reconsider, and realign my priorities.  It’s time to once again make sure that the main things are the main things… 

I’m sure that will be the last time that we, as a missionary family, will have to do this prioritizing.

Or not.

How do you prioritize items on your list?  How do you keep your duties to God in the “top positions?”

I Feel Like Noah

^{Gen. 6: 22} Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (Full Text HERE.)

What a loaded sentence!  God had just asked Noah to change his life, everything about it, and step out in faith in a huge way.  I've been thinking about this man of faith a lot lately.  Here is the scene I imagine:

Noah wakes early, headed to another day working on the ark.  He's nearly done cutting down the trees he needs.  In just a few more days, he'll ready to start preparing the wood for the shipbuilding.  Just think, in a few more years, he might be able to start building!  

Fast forward 5 years.  Now, the ark is a skeleton, outlined against the sunrise as Noah trudges to work.  Along the way, he meets a neighbor.  "Noah, good to see you man!  You coming to the party tonight?"  

Noah: "Aw, man, I can't!  I'm still working on the ark, you know."

Friend: "Dude!  You've been doing that for years!  Give it up, man, you're going a little crazy on me here. I'm worried about you."

Noah: "God told me, He TOLD me, it's gonna happen, this flood is gonna come."

Friend: "Seriously?  You're still on about that?  Where is this God of yours anyway?  You are are playing the fool, Noah."

I don't have to work very hard to imagine how Noah felt.  I'm pretty sure he wanted to scream, just SCREAM at... anyone.  But especially at God.  

The "what if's" must have plagued him.

What if there is no flood?

What if I run out of time to finish before the flood?

What if I end up being the fool everyone thinks I am?

What if I heard God wrong?

55 to 75 YEARS of building. I understand Noah's feelings completely.  I get it.  

We've been building an ark. 

Not literally, of course.  But we have been selling our home, packing our things, selling things right and left, to prepare for SOMETHING.  We've been led by God to the mission field, and for months we have been preparing.  We've been told we were crazy, to be making preparations for a move without a destination.  And there were times we felt that might be true. 

It wasn't.  It isn't.

We have a destination.  We know where we are going.  I'll be sharing more about that very soon, but for now, let me just say this: The sky is becoming cloudy right about now.  It's starting to look like rain.

Has God asked you to wait for rain?  What was the result?

Lavish Love and Missions

As a Christ-follower who has done missions (by missions, I am referring specifically to living in a country other then your birth country for the express purpose of sharing Christ) previously and is preparing to do so again, I’ve been thinking a lot about what missions is and how it should be done. 
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s much simpler then I would have at first thought (Shocker.  Or not.)  Since writing THIS, the word lavish has been swimming around in my grey matter.  Sometime in the last 48 hours, this

has merged with this:

Here’s the nugget I uncovered.  If we go, to serve, and we live lives of love, displaying that love with action and truth, then we are doing missions.  In the best possible way.  It’s simple, yet so very complex.  It’s living as Christ did, following His example, leading people to the Father of their souls. 
While attending some missions training recently, we discussed the meaning of incarnational living.  It took me a while, but it has recently “clicked” with me- incarnational living is just what I’ve been pondering.  It’s living a life of lavish love, serving with the heart of Christ.  No missions formula could ever come close to the power of that simple equation.
This is not anything NEW, really.  Just a refresher, a reminder, a new life breathed into a previously learned truth.  A word with a brand new relevance for me. 
Interested in a little more reading on “Lavish?”  Check THIS OUT.  Apparently, lavishing love is a two-way street.  How very inspirational.

Lavishly Loved

This afternoon, Elijah and I were having a “cuddle nap.”  Basically, that means that we snuggled together on the couch, huddled under blankets, and pretended to sleep.  Every now and then he “woke up” and asked a question, about such things as two trees falling in the woods at the same time (can they hold each other up?). 
Somewhere around the 17th wake-up, he repeated to me an oft-used phrase in our home.  “Mom,” he said, “I love you to infinity and beyond!”
It’s not the first time I’ve heard that, of course, and I love it.  Every. Single. Time.  But this afternoon, I had a new thought.  I thought about how that’s kind of a silly phrase, that no one can really love someone beyond infinity.  Infinity is FOREVER. 
But then it hit me.  God loves us beyond infinity.  Really and truly beyond.  I’m not certain that’s even possible to really understand. 
As I sat there, fake sleeping, I thought of this verse:

I looked at my son, snuggled beside me, and knew that in that moment he felt lavishly loved, because I was taking time in the middle of the afternoon to do nothing but love him.  He craves this kind of love, this kind of touch.  I was meeting his needs, by BEING there. 
And guess what?  I think it’s pretty awesome that my heavenly Father meets my needs every single day, just by being there.  He lavishes his love on me in so many ways, and sometimes I am aware of those ways.  Other times, I really need to be reminded that being there is a gift.  If gift of love.
~insert laundry break~
Upon further speculation, I had one more thought, and that was this:

What would happen if we did this ^^^^  lavishly?  What if we lavishly loved others with our actions, and with truth? 
What do you think?  How do you lavishly love?