Thursday, February 21, 2008

Instantaneous


Superstitions.
There are some great ones out there.
Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
Walking under a ladder.
Black cats.
Spilling salt.

I’ll say that I am somewhat of a superstitious person.
I am, however, not all about the ones listed above.
I tend to have this belief that some things just happen.
For example…
I am driving back from the bookstore.
There is an intersection that has a left turn light,
so that I can get home.
If the light happens to be red,
I then proceed to go to a side street and cut over from there.
I look at it as a sign,
a sign that I wasnt supposed to go that way.

Or…
I decide to go shopping at let’s say Express.
I see a dress shirt that I like but they only have one left.
I choose to not buy the shirt immediately.
I walk around the mall for a little while longer.
Then I venture back into Express.
Only to see my shirt has disappeared.
Once again, another sign that it wasn’t meant to be.

As you can see, its probably not the most Biblical thing to do,
but these are just small, petty things.
In times that matter, I meditate on Phil. 4:6-7.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

When faced with a decision, major or minor,
Take it to the person who wants the best for you.
The One that has a plan for your life.
The One that will always be there for you, step for step.

I can look back on the past year
and recall two instances that were presented to God in prayer.
And no, those weren’t the only things.

I felt led to go to Montana on a mission trip,
only to hear that it was cancelled.
I was bummed out.
I really wanted to go there and felt led to.
After hearing it was not going to happen,
I prayed to be shown another opportunity.
The next day after my prayer,
I got a call and I was invited to go to Kazakhstan.
Now Kazakhstan wasn’t on my list of countries to visit,
but I believed that to be a sign,
an opportunity from God.
I immediately jumped on it and the rest is history.

Another example.
It was the beginning of January 2008, not long ago.
I remember one night lying in my bed thinking,
What am I doing with my life.
I felt stagnant,
like I was doing nothing of any merit.
That particular night,
I prayed that doors would be opened.
That I would have a chance to make a difference, to do something.
You might think I am lying,
but the very next day my Mom called me.
She told me that one of the teachers at the school,
wanted to know if I would be willing to help with a trip to NYC.
I didn’t even have to think about it.
It was a no-brainer.

In closing, I am not trying to say float through life
and whatever happens, happens.
Rather, present your requests to God and follow in His will
and “He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).
Thanks for reading...

3 comments:

Erika said...

It's about time...this is good and goes along with so many of my thoughts lately. I love when things like you were talking about happen- it's such a great picture of how God works. It's overwhelming and exciting because you know without a doubt you're where God wants you and on the flip side have no idea what He will do next. It confuses me when people say that living in line with God's word is boring...

Anonymous said...

Being as undecisive as I am, it would be nice if decisions just fell in my lap :) However, you are right (there I said it). There have been many times opportunities present themselves and you do not even need time to decide, you simply decide that the answer is yes. God has taught me, especially lately, that He is in control and I simply need to trust Him with whatever the future may hold.

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