Life Lesson #2

Still waiting on my new title. (hint, hint) ;-)

2. Live in the present.

I almost typed: Live in the present moment, but I stopped myself because that is not the lesson I'm learning. Sometimes we must plan for the future. Sometimes, often times, we must do things in preparation for the future because if we don't then we can't accomplish what we are supposed to in the future. Living in the present moment is not what I'm talking about here.

What I'm talking about is most easily explained with an example.

This past March God brought a group of people, myself and RC included, together. Our first joint endeavor was doing a musical 'special' for offering at church one Sunday. We had a blast! I actually posted a video of it here.

After this, we all wanted to keep hanging out. We felt like the Holy Spirit was up to something and we wanted to make sure we didn't miss it. So, we planned an evening to get together to eat, talk, and pray. That too was great.

From it, God started to grow our group by adding more people. The people He was adding however, didn't have any musical gifting. This was confusing. Now, what seemed an obvious purpose (music) for our group was not so obvious anymore. Needing help we invited our pastor and his wife to our next get together.

The first thing they said to us, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, was "don't try to define this, yet". Now, this was hard to hear. We were so excited and gung ho, and this seemed to take all the wind out of our sails. Without definition we were at a loss as to what exactly we were supposed to be doing. But, because we trust our pastors and we felt in our spirits that this was indeed a word from the Holy Spirit we obeyed.

This began a work in me personally that God has used to reveal to me my attempts to live in the future. I spoke a little about this here.

I wanted to know God's purpose for this group and I wanted to go to work. I didn't want to wait. But, praise God, I didn't want to screw up even more. So, instead of pushing forward without a clear directive from the Holy Spirit, I waited.

And I'm still waiting.

And God has taken this group, now a family, in a completely different direction than I (we) ever expected. A wonderful direction. And because I'm choosing to live in the present I'm no longer trying to figure out God's ultimate purpose for bringing these particular people together.

I've heard it said: Both FAITH and WAIT have the letters A-I-T. Without a WAIT there is no FAITH. And the Bible tells us that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. (sorry for all the caps, but in my heart this stuff is IMPORTANT) =)

Now, I am getting better about living in the present, and not worrying about or trying to figure out the future. But I'm going to be honest, it isn't always easy. And it seems to be even harder to live in the present when your life feels like it is in transition. Maybe you're at a job that you know isn't what God created you for, but no other doors are opening right now and you have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Or, maybe you live in a house that feels to small for your family and you are believing God for a bigger house, but you know that there is no financial way it could happen soon. Or maybe God is moving your family from one town and occupation to another town and occupation and nothing is happening at the same/right time. (I love you, M)

We so easily believe the lie that somehow life will be better once we get there, where ever there is. And we so easily miss the wonder of where we actually are. The wonder of how God in His great power and brilliance orchestrated things so perfectly to bring us exactly where we are. The wonder of how God gives us everything we need in His Holy Spirit to accomplish exactly what we're supposed to exactly where we are.

Here's the deal, folks. Our God is HUGE. ABSOLUTELY GINORMOUS. So completely beyond our comprehension that we should thank Him daily, hourly even, for making himself known to us. Because the reality of it is that we CANNOT understand the things of the Spirit without Him giving us the understanding. So, even if God did tell us our future, there is so much more to it that we can't grasp that we would still miss our future if left to find it ourselves.

Wow. Was not expecting that. Thank you, Lord.

And thank you, Lord, for bringing me to this place of love for You, joy in You, and dependence on You. You truly are the greatest adventure and our VERY GREAT REWARD.

Bridget

And without faith it is impossible to please God... Hebrews 11:6

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." Genesis 15:1