Attributes of the Almighty: A Summer Series

My husband Joe and I will be married 20 years in October. Two young kids then, have become two middle aged parents raising teenagers and when I said "I do" 20 years ago, this was the dream that was in my heart. My family is my greatest joy, they keep me humble, and stepping into life with teenagers is quite the journey.

Our story didn't start out easy. About three years into our marriage, we decided we wanted to start a family. Surprise to us- I wasn't pregnant long after. And with excitement we put the onesie in the bag and walked around sharing with our families that a baby was coming. At about week 10 I woke up with terrible pain and bleeding. Only to find out a few hours later we had lost the baby. And a few months after that we lost another baby. And in those days, I’d be lying if I didn’t ask Why me God? Or if I told you I didn’t cling to every word the Dr. spoke . Do you know the only thing I had to offer to the Lord during this time? Dependence. 

GOD IS FAITHFUL

Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

Consistently reflect your dependence on God the trustworthy promise keeper. 

I'd like to look at one story from the Bible of a man who consistently reflected his dependence on God the trustworthy promise keeper. In Exodus 3 we meet Moses out tending his flock. What I want you to know is at this time- the Israelites had been in captivity for 400 years. Serving under the Egyptians and their harsh conditions, 400 years of generations of people. God gets the attention of Moses through a burning bush. It is here that Moses, is asked to do what seems impossible and yet God reminds Moses "I have seen, I have heard, I do know"

Are you in a season where you need to be reminded that God sees, hears and knows? For those of you who know the story of the Exodus, God was faithful but it did require some suffering. 

We all have a story we could share of God’s faithfulness. Some of us harder than others. But whatever we have walked through or are walking through I want you to KNOW we serve a faithful God. 

After alot of Dr. Appts and heartbreak God gave us our daughter Joie. You would think after the blessing of our beautiful daughter and two sons, that would have been all God could have needed to help me to completely depend on Him and never have another worry, but- I’m human. I consistently need reminders to reflect my dependence on my trustworthy promise keeper. Joie is my oldest and when it was time to send her off to school we had the sweetest little Christian school down the road from us. So we took her to meet the teacher and register. This teacher was your perfect example of someone you would want to leave your first born in her first school experience with. She was your fairy tale 4K teacher and the peace I felt based on my understanding at that time with my little 4YR OLD DAUGHTER. A few weeks after we registered her we were contacted and told that the school would be closing. My perfect little “safe” place that my daughter would be when not with me, was closing. Frantically we looked into every other option and Lord kept nudging us towards this little school that sat 3 minutes from our house on the corner of Richmond Road. Ugh, Public School. I might as well have been throwing her in the lion's den. This was not my plan, not my desire but in my heart I knew this was clearly where the Lord was leading us. I didn’t like it. 

Faithfulness is hard when we don’t want to do the things that God has called us to. 

      When we choose to be obedient regardless of the situation.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Now, after the Lord calls Moses, He starts to question God. In Exodus 3:11-17 Moses basically says "OK God if I actually do what you're asking me, how will they know this is actually from you?" I mean the question is fair. We like tangible answers, common sense reasons and a trust where we can see the end result. God answers Him in the best way possible- "I AM" The power behind God’s I AM is not pride. The power behind God’s I AM is his faithfulness. I’m the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses, you know all those stories you’ve heard of your forefathers- I am that guy.The God who made a covenant promise with Abraham that directly ties to the people I am going to save and the land I am going to bring them into. I AM. Trust is knowing that God will keep His Word and has always kept His Word even when we don’t understand.

Lean not on your own understanding.

We can depend on God because of who HE is and not who WE are. My struggle to get pregnant- God was faithful.  As this beautiful little girl was ready for school- God was faithful-Remember that terrible little school 3 minutes from our home?  Well, it turns out it was 10 years of Joie attending there. The Lord also has allowed me to work at the school as a substitute teacher and you know what’s happened? Doors have opened for conversations that have led to Christ. Wonderful teachers have imparted their wisdom and love into her and my boys' lives. We’ve met believers and non believers along the way. We’ve had really great days and really bad days. God has been faithful.  It was evident and has been evident that our Faithful God led us to exactly where He wanted my children to attend school. The same God who had been faithful all those years at Richmond was the same faithful God who would walk the halls with her through High School and beyond. God knows, I just need to be dependent on Him.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

In the book of Joshua, God calls 12 men to gather stones of rememberance of the Lord's faithfulness. Joshua said to the Israelites "In the future when your descendants ask their parents, 'What do these stones mean? tell them, Isreal crossed the Jordan on dry ground." Stones of rememberance. Where do you need to remember God's faithfulness to you in the past, so you can trust His faithfulness in the future? Take some time this week and ask the Lord to show you all the ways He has been faithful to you, and reflect your dependence on God the trustworthy Promise Keeper.