Wednesday, February 11, 2009

God

I belileve God is ever-present, but also notice that in my life sometimes he seems to just be more present than at other times. When he answers my prayers, he seem to answer them in bulk. Yesterday, it was like he took his big God eraser and went to town on my plans and wrote his own agenda for me, which I'm completely okay with!

It started Monday evening, when after a few days of not seeing much of each other, Kell and I finally had a couple hours to sit down, be together and talk. Lately a few areas in my life have been bothering me and leaving me in cranky moods. We talked about them, one being my job, how it's such a bore and a complete waste of my abilities and second being my desire for a solid group of girlfriends to hang out with. I often think about how nice it would be to just regularly meet up with girlfriends over a big pot of tea and freely laugh, complain, console, pray, understand and be understood!

{this is where God shows up}

I hadn't checked my facebook before mine and Kell's conversation, but earlier that day a girl I've known for a while through Young Life, but for some reason have never made plans with, sent me a messege asking if we could get together soon. I was so excited to hear from her and it came at just the right time, so tonight we made plans to meet at my place and craft some sweet handmade Valentine cards for our sweeties. We also made plans to call some other girls we know but don't get to see often, and all get together next Friday to paint pottery downtown at Clay Pidgeons! It should be a grand time and I'm hankering for a bit of creative crafting time - it's been a while!

Then, yesterday morning I got to meet with a dear friend and wise counselor, Susan, over coffee and breakfast at my favorite, Boston Coffee. It was so nice to catch up with her, as it had been too long since our last meeting! Actually, my first time living away from home was when she rented me her charming backhouse for six months prior to my moving to Orlando. While I lived there I worked at Boston Coffee and I have to say that serving and making coffee has byfar been my favorite job ever. I loved the early mornings, the coffee smell and all of the friendly regulars. Now that I'm back in DeLand, I've always wanted my barista job back, but because I hardly have any flexibility in my schedule (due to school and young life) they haven't had a place for me. Anyways.. getting to the point, while Susan and I were having our breakfast, one of the servers handed me an application and said the manager wanted me back and that he could try and work something out with my schedule! Holy cow.. had I not been praying about this for a while, and not JUST the night before talked to Kell about getting a more exciting job?!? So I've decided to think about it a little bit, pray some more and figure out what the manager meant by working with my schedule. I should probably also calculate and determine if I would make enough money to keep us financially afloat. We'll see!

But God didn't stop there..

I had 30 minutes to kill in between classes at school and since it was another beautiful sunny and 70 degree day in Florida, I decided to spend time with my book and get my dose of vitamin D for the day. A few benches over I noticed two guys talking and since I'm an unashamed perpetual eavesdropper, I listened in. I heard that one guy was trying to explain and answer to the other guy some of the more complex questions on faith and God. I'm always curious to hear how other people share the gospel, and this guy was doing a terrific job of it. But when the other guy asked "If God is just, then what happens to babies and jungle people who have never heard the gospel.. do they just go to hell?" the gospel sharer, we'll call him, seemed to know the answer in faith, but was having trouble explaining it in words or recalling supporting scripture. I felt bad for him because I know how frustrating that helpless feeling of not having the right words to describe something is, especially when it comes to sharing the gospel. He kept trying to make different analogies that ended up being more confusing than the question itself and I thought.. hey maybe I should say something! So before I left for my class.. I went up to them and admitted to my eavesdropping and told them I felt the need to interject for sake of it might helping explain his question.

I told him that from my understanding of God's character, he does what is right, just and good. I told them that I believe that we are judged based on what we know and believe. But that in the New Testament it says not to stay in your elementary ways of belief.. so believe what you know (even if all you know is that "these jungle trees are so beautiful and the rain is so useful for growing our crops and animals are good for eating.. whoever must have created these, I love and thank them!") but if you can learn more then learn more and believe more. Basically, and these specific words aren't in the Bible, but what I've gathered from God's character is that we will be judged upon what we know, and what we do with that knowledge.. did we believe or ignore?

After I said that, they both smild and seemed relieved or thankful to have an explaination that made sense. Or maybe they smiled and thought I was crazy, whatever. And then I had to run off to class. I was glad that I could share a part of my faith and hopefully help them understand God a little more. I hope also that they look into it for themselves before just believing what I say.

And God didn't stop there either! So for the grand finale...

Kell is in Ocala for a young life silent retreat until Thursday night, so I went out to Orlando for school by myself. My car needs new tires and breaks, so I thought it'd be best to take his truck since I'd be helpless in the event of my tire blowing out on the interstate. (It happened once, 2 days before my wedding while I was running all of those rediculous last minute errands.. needless to say I was a helpless wreck). So I took his truck that in the past has proven to be reliable. It ran like a champ all day, but when my last class let out (of course after the sun had set and the wild things came out) I went to crank the engine and nothing. I checked to see if maybe I left the lights on and the battery had died, but no sign of that. I started panicking because.. well I was in parking lot, it was dark and my husband was on a SILENT retreat where after 10 attempted phone calls confirmed my suspicions that he had turned his cell phone off (yes, it took 10 tries before I was convinced). So I popped the hood, jibbied with anything that look promising and tried starting the engine again.. which did nothing except rule out any possibilities of a career in mechanics for me. So I just locked my car doors, hoped for a miracle and turned the key halfway so if my mircale came.. I would see the lights come on. I prayed and with my eyes still closed, opened my Bible and happened upon chapter 27 in Psalm. I read it slowly as it spoke about days of trouble, defeat and helplessness. Then the very last verse.. verse 14 reads, "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." So I closed my eyes and repeated the verse, and all of the sudden (I kid you not) immeadiately afterwards, the inside lights came on, the gauge needles rose and the clock was blinking 12:00!! I gasped like a kid playing peek-a-boo and could hardly believe what had just happened, my miracle came and my heart rejoiced! With confidence I turned the key and the truck came roaring to life.

Thank the Lord.. he is SO good!

p.s. I'm at a coffee shop.. yes.. the same one mentioned twice in this note, it's my home away from home really. And I'm sharing a couch with a seemingly homeless man (he came in rolling a suitcase full of his things so I just figured he's homeless) and just a minute ago he went to the counter to get a refill and came back with two little bite size cake desserts, one for me and one for him! I feel like I might just melt with gratitude! How can anyone say there isn't a God?

3 comments:

  1. Most encouraging thing I've read all day!!

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  2. Anna, this is so great! Your story made my day :) I love the part about the truck-- He helped me out when I ran out of gas once and I still remember being awestruck when I got to the gas station safely!

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  3. What a great post Anna! I'm proud of the budding writer you are becoming. Even more so I am so thankful and Praising your Lord for his tender care and bold application of His Truths in your life! Amen.

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