Not all about me!

I've decided when you hear things over and over again that maybe, just maybe, you were meant to hear them and take them to heart.  From tons of different sources, I keep hearing "it's not about you."  So, apparently, "it's not about me." 

Michael has taken a job.  Go ahead and do a celebratory dance.  Yell out a big WOO HOO!!!  After many months of applications, interviews, denial letters and phone calls, only ONE job came to fruition.  If you don't see God's hand in that, you can finish reading this blog right here.  We have learned to spot God's hand from a mile away, and we know it's all over this job.  Now, it's not a job that Michael would really have ever chosen for himself.  It's a job where he is TOTALLY uncomfortable and out of his element.  He knows nothing about what he is doing.  Most of the people he works with are nothing like him.  But God has taken a man with a willing heart to be used by Him, and said, "Michael, this is where I want you for now."  Apparently, it's not about Michael and what he wants.

This job was referred to Michael from his good friend who had just started working there.  It is a job dispatching fuel and grains to farmers, convenience stores, and other companies that need these services.  The dispatcher gets a call for a product and communicates with a truck driver to deliver the goods.  For those of you who know Michael, you might be giggling that he is communicating with truck drivers.  I laughed, so go ahead.  It pays well and the hours aren't horrible, so it'll do for now.  And it may do forever...who knows.  We've quit trying to figure out what God wants for us to do!  But for now, we know why Michael has been placed there.  His friend who referred the job to him is going through a really painful divorce.  The divorce will probably be final sometime within the next few months.  This friend needs Michael to lean on, and where does Michael sit at work?  Right next to his friend.  Isn't God funny like that?  So, this job has nothing to do with Michael....God is just using him right now to uphold his friend and help him through the most painful experience of his life. 

Wouldn't it be great if everyone lived their lives this way?  Just at the mercy of wherever God needed you to be at the moment?  Wouldn't it be great if everyone realized that this life has nothing to do with you?  If we put others higher than ourselves.  If we loved and cared for people more than we love and care for our things, our bank account, our free time, etc.  What if we all began to realize that God can work best when we just let Him have control over ALL the little issues in our lives.  He will put us exactly where He needs us to be.  And it's okay if it's not exactly where you want to be.  God knows the desires of your heart.  But he also has tons of other children that He needs you to impact before He can give you the desires of your heart. 

We have been giving God 100 percent for the past 5 months.  Has it been easy?  NO!!!  It has been extremely hard.  Why?  Because we've been warring against our human nature.  We've been fighting against what society says we need to do.  Michael could have had many jobs paying very well with his flying background.  But that is not what we have felt God's call to do.  God wants us here, in Grand Forks, for some reason.  Some reason that may have nothing to do with us. When God is finished with us here, we may be called elsewhere.  Who knows?  We're just floating along on faith.  Jesus said in Matthew 11:29-30, "Take my yoke upon you.  Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."  Giving up our human-ness, following God is really the easy way.  No worry or stress.  Just let God handle it.  Easier said than done...but SO worth it! 

I challenge you all to give it up for God today.  Let Him lead your every step.  Not just some steps, but every single one.  It's not all about you.  Sometimes God needs you to meet the needs of His other children.  Find where God is working, and join Him there.

Coincidences and Lunatics

I totally heard from God yesterday.  He spoke to me and Michael separately and said the same thing.  Thankfully it came to Michael, too, otherwise I would think I was going crazy!  So, here's the story on this one:

I was at Walmart yesterday and ran into Dennis.  Dennis is a man who used to go to our church & he is a....well....um...peculiar man.  He is a super deep thinker, spends tons of time in God's Word, is kind of a recluse, and just different than other people.  I'm just a tad bit uncomfortable around him, but I'm not sure why.  When he went to our church a few years ago, he would come up to me frequently and say, "God wanted me to tell you this", and he'd tell me something that I really needed to hear.  Sometimes it was things that confused me and made me think.  But he was generally spot on.

So, I haven't seen Dennis in quite a while.  Long enough that he has no clue what's been going on in mine and Michael's life lately.  He asked what Michael was up to and I told him he had been looking for a job since separating from the Air Force.  That sent Dennis into a deep think mode, which made me a little uncomfortable in the dairy section of Walmart.  But then he turned straight toward me and said, "Will you encourage Michael with these words?  Tell him to remember what God told him long ago, he shouldn't doubt that.  And when he wakes up at 4am, that's God gently nudging him that He wants to talk to him.  God is the only thing that will help him get to the other side of this, and just let him know that he's almost there."

Thank you, Dennis or messenger from God, whatever you want me to call you.  I call Michael on the way home from Walmart and tell him about my experience.  Michael gets a little choked up because the thing God told him "long ago" was that he was to be a pastor and the thing he's been doubting lately is how he can provide for his family on a pastor's salary.  Secondly, he has been waking up quite frequently at 4am and not being able to go back to sleep.  And thirdly, we have been asking God (pestering God, actually) lately how much longer we have to go through this waiting period.  We've been waiting for 5 months for God to reveal His plan to us!

Weirding you out yet?  Well, the story isn't over.  Michael goes to pick up the kids at school about 30 minutes later.  A sweet friend of mine who I work in the lunchroom with got out of her car, walked up to Michael, and said she had something to share with him that God wanted her to tell him.  She asked him to read in the Bible about Jesus walking on the water.  Michael informed her that he knew that story.  She said, "I want you to REALLY read it and pay attention to the wording."  Focus on the storm, and then read that when Jesus got into the boat with the disciples that they were IMMEDIATELY on the shore and safe.  She encouraged him that God has something for him that is coming IMMEDIATELY and it's something big!  She told him that she didn't know what any of this meant, but God wanted her to share it with him. 

Most people would chalk all this up to coincidence and a bunch of lunatics!  But I don't believe in coincidence anymore.  Too many things have happened "coincidentally" when I've prayed about things.  God spoke to me.  And He spoke to Michael.  And he said the same thing.  And I'm not a lunatic.  God gave us encouragement that our waiting is almost over.  The storm is almost passed.  And He spoke through two willing and highly favored servants. 

I asked my dad the other day to pray for us, and to help me hold up my shield of faith because it was starting to get quite heavy.  I think God is holding that shield for me now because someone the burden seems a little lighter.  I'm excited to see what is coming immediately and what it is!  I'm sure I'll tell you all about very soon...maybe some morning at 4am!  See you then!