I'M ON A ROLL

So...following the Women’s Retreat, I had a wonderful mishap...I drove into the church parking lot for drama practice, and my son asked if he could stay in the car to finish listening to a CD. I left the car running so he would have air condition. I’m such a good mom, right? I ran inside to get some stuff for drama, and when I came out...my car was gone, and my son was standing in the middle of the parking lot.
“Where is my car?” I asked.
He pointed.
I saw nothing. Now I’m getting angry. Thoughts of him or one of my drama kids driving it somewhere went through my mind. “Where it it?” I asked again.
He once again pointed. I followed the direction of his finger and gasped.
My car had rolled backward, landing against a tree, leaving a smashed window and a nice dent. All due to the fact that I didn’t quite get the gear shift into park.
In this horrible and frustrating circumstance, I found that God was with me.
First, my son jumped out. He wasn’t harmed and I am extremely grateful.
Second, had the tree not been there, my van would have taken a nice visit into a neighbor’s yard.
Third, a few days before, I had received a unexpected check in the mail for teaching a class at the San Diego Christian Writer’s Confernce. It helped me pay for the damaged window.
Fourth, the man who fixed my window quoted me one price, but when I said where I worked, he cut an additional $35 off the bill.
As Christians, many expect that life will be perfect and wonderful...we’ll ask Jesus into our hearts, then ride off into the sunset with our Lord Jesus Christ. So, when bad things happen, people are quick to ask, “How is that possible? Why could God allow that to happen?”
But we are human, and He is God. My mistakes were all human. Leaving my son in the car, not turning off the engine, not making sure it was in park...all simple mistakes, with big consequences. But even in my human error, God was still watching over me and my son. Things could have been so much worse. But in the end, God gets the glory. Whether He allowed it to happen as a reminder to be careful in how I live my life, or as a reminder that God loves me enough to protect me from myself, God allowed my van to go charging backward for my own good.
Whatever you’re going through, it may be uncomfortable and frustrating, but the good news is, God is still God and He cares. You are not alone in your situation.
Someone once told me, “God allows bad things to happen so that we can learn to draw close to Him.” Let us not have to run into a tree for Him to get our attention, let us be ready and waiting, open to what He desires to teach us. And let us not get mad when things don’t go our way, but rather, look to God to be our strength, and ask, what can I learn from this?

II Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

CARRYING YOUR CROSS

(Idea taken from a comic strip, Author Unknown)
One upon a time, there was a man who had a heavy cross to bear. It was so heavy he prayed that the Lord would give him a saw, so he could cut some of it off. The Lord granted him the request and he sawed the bottom off. He did this several times. One day, he came across a valley. On the other side was a wonderful place. Everyone around him stretched out their crosses and walked across, no problem. So the man laid his cross down, but it wouldn’t fit, it was too short. He was unable to get to the great thing God had in store for him.

This is like our lives. We have burdens that we must carry. We can’t see why we must walk through those things right now, but we must trust that God has our best in mind. It will get us through the valley somewhere down the road and something awesome will be on the other side. We just need to trust God.

James 1:2-4
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

But remember, we aren’t alone:
Matt. 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

And we can help each other:
Gal. 6:2
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Genesis 29:23-30
But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)

But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”

“It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. “But wait until the bridal week is over, then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”

So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah.

Do you sometimes feel like Leah? Maybe the "Rachel" in your home is the TV, Online Gaming, Sports, the Secretary at your husband's work, etc. We all have our Rachel's. But the story doesn't stop there.

In verse 31, God sees Leah and blesses her. Some times we may not feel loved or second best in others eyes, but remember that God sees us when we are discouraged. He knows our heart and our desires. There is light beyond our darkness. Just try God. He is our husband, our provider, our ultimate source of love.

Blessings & Sacrafice

Abraham is an amazing man of God. Anybody who is familiar with the Bible would probably agree. Lately I've been studying his life and I've seen some amazing lessons for us today.

Genesis 15:6
"And Abraham believe the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith."

Abraham was an old man without any children, when God came to him and told him he would be the father of a nation. Because he believed God about this miracle, God saw him as a righteous man.

Sometimes our circumstances look bleak. The desires of heart impossible and out of reach. But God sees beyond our years and knows our future. We just need to believe God is in control and he will bless us, for this is the holy thing to do.

Now we know God gave him this son. And if you wait for anything long enough, you really cherish it, probably more than most. And it was that very blessing that God asked for Abraham to sacrifice. None of us mothers could possibly imagine placing our children on an altar. The very thought makes me cringe. But there was a lesson here.

Genesis 22:12b,16,17
"You have not withheld from me even your son, your ONLY son...Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son...I will certainly bless you."

The ultimate sacrifice, to give of his son. I have trouble turning off the TV or giving up a meal for Christ and yet, Abraham was willing to give up his own son. And God blessed him for his sacrifice.

The thing that struck me most here is God doesn't ask anything of us that He wouldn't do for us. He spared Abraham's son by sending a lamb. But Jesus, God's own son, wasn't spared. He died for us all. When we think of Abraham we see that we need to trust God with our future and then be ready to sacrifice some things. We are not alone in our grief, but know that God promises to bless us for our belief and obedience.

A New Garment

Mark 2: 21-22
"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

Do you find that each year you keep trying to start over in your faith, let bygones be bygones, make that New Year’s resolution and find yourself on December 31st, doing it all over again? I do. Every year I make all these deals with myself. I’m going to do this or that. The problem is, I’m building on something old. I haven’t really gotten rid of the things that held me down the year before. I still clutch onto them and then expect the next year to be different. And it never is. This year, I pray that I can give up all those things that have a hold on my life and start fresh, new. Jesus gave us this verse about wineskins when asked about fasting. This year, let us remember that the most important thing we can do in the New Year, is to give our time to Jesus. This is through prayer, Bible reading, fasting and attitude. Don’t think of it as a resolution, but rather, a commitment. Resolutions are assumed to be broken, commitments are meant to be kept.

Blessings to you and your family in 2008.

FOCUSED ON THE OBVIOUS

John 11:32 "When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

The faith of this woman was great. She knew that Jesus had the power to heal and she believe that if He'd been there, that is exactly what would have happened. And yet, she totally misses the boat. She is focused on the obvious. She has probably experienced Jesus heal someone before, so she knows he is capable of that. But she can't see beyond that. "If only you'd been here Lord..." Mary's faith could only go so far.

I like what Jesus says even before he gets to Mary. "No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." He knew Lazarus would die. But He allowed it to bring glory to God.

How often do we have things in our life where we think, if only God had stepped in, I wouldn't have lost my job. If only God had stepped in, I wouldn't be in court. If only God had stepped in, maybe I wouldn't have been divorced. God allows bad things to happen. It doesn't mean He loves us any different. But He is in the helicopter, we are in the car. He knows that if He allows certain things to happen, it will draw you closer or someone else closer to God. That whole bumper sticker that said, "Be patient, God isn't done with me yet," takes on a whole new meaning.

I'm sure I've shared my push up story with you before, but here it is again. When I went in the Army, I had to be able to do 1 pushup to go into basic training. I trained with a Marine. Doing one pushup...please, cake. But I couldn't. I pushed out 15 or more, none to the drill segarents satisfaction. Bam! I hit the table and was shipped off to 2 weeks of 8 hour a day physical training. I was SO angry at God, but that two weeks ended up saving me from the Panama situation, going to Saudi Arabia and the LA Riots. I missed all of those wars by guess how many weeks...you guessed it...two. We can't focus on what is right in front of us, because that isn't the end of the story. God is the author. We just need to trust Him to write the best possible story.

FOCUSED ON THE WATER?

Read: John 5:5-8
“One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’
‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”

The great thing about this story is here is a man who is looking for a miracle, but doesn’t have the ability to get to the pool that will give him one. When Jesus comes to him, the man is still focused on the pool. He doesn’t ask Jesus to heal him, he simply states he can’t be healed because he can’t get to the pool. Jesus speaks two words, “Get up!” and the man is healed.

How often do we focus on what we think will bring us our miracle without once looking to God? Oh, we may say a prayer here and there, but are we really focused on Jesus or on our problem?

I just walked through a trial where I found myself looking to every worldly solution there was and only making my situation worse. Finally I stopped and realized, I can’t get to the “pool” by myself, I need God’s help. I began to pray and Jesus made a way.

Do you have a trial today and your solution seems out of reach? Stop trying to get to the solution and let Jesus be the solution.

—K .Mendoza