I have found over the years that a lot of people try to understand the Christian faith by asking Christians where they stand on issues. This baffles me, because although the issues may indeed be an issue, they lean toward the non-issue side for me. Have I lost you yet?
Before you get the idea that I am an anything-goes, there's no such thing as right or wrong sort of person, let me explain. People ask me what I think God thinks about issues ranging from homosexuality to whether women should be allowed to speak in church. And believe me when I tell you there are a plethora of issues in between. I haven't always been as firm as I am now on my belief, but since this is my blog, I would like to use this platform to be very clear on where I stand now.
If you want to know what God thinks about an issue, ask Him.
There are a lot of reasons for this strongly held belief of mine, the most obvious of which is..... I'm not God. I try to follow God with all of my heart. I study His word, and I love when He speaks directly to my heart. But it doesn't mean I know everything. He's got the corner on that market. My opinion is, for lack of a better description, a crap shoot. It may be true. It may be somewhat true, limited by my understanding up to that point. It may be true for me, but not for you. (If you read your Bible you will know this can happen) OR I could just be wrong. That sucks, but unfortunately, after 28 years of walking closely with God, I'm still wrong more than I'd like to admit in this blog. (But if you really want to know, ask my daughters... I think they keep a running tally)
Another important reason that I hold to that belief is that even if I'm right about what God thinks, it won't mean anything to you unless you have taken the time to talk to Him yourself. Why would His opinion even matter to you if you haven't really gotten know Him? How could anything He thinks impact your life if you don't realize how deeply He loves you? The reason I follow after Him, and the reason I care what He thinks, is that my relationship with Him has deeply impacted my life. He has changed everything for me. And for that, I will be eternally grateful.
So, some of my more zealous Christian friends may ask, "How are you supposed to be the light of the world if you don't speak up? We are supposed to be the light of the world!"
Well, setting aside the fact that I don't believe condemnation lights up the world, and also setting aside the fact that every Christian has a list of the things the Bible is clear on that still apply today as well as a list of things the Bible is clear on that do not still apply today (and those lists often don't match), I have not said I won't speak up. There are plenty of things I will speak up about.
Do you want to know how deep and how amazing God's love for you is? I may not be able to express it fully, but there's nothing I'd love more than to try! I have stories, lots of wonderful stories, of ways He has touched my life. I can tell you how he rescued me at times I didn't deserve to be rescued. I can tell you how He showed Himself to me at times when I desperately needed to know He was there. I can tell you how, at a time when I felt completely alone in this world, He showed me that I would never, ever, ever be alone... because He wasn't going anywhere.
Do you want to know the lengths God would go to just so you have a way to be near Him? I can tell you about that. Do you want to know about how He listens when you talk to Him? How He lays out a path that's just for you and then leads you along that path, patiently and lovingly bringing you back even when you get sidetracked? Do you want to know how He can take even the worst of situations and use it for your good? I have stories I can share about ALL of those things!
It's not that I don't believe you need answers to the other questions. You do. But you need to hear it from Him, and I strongly encourage you to ask Him. He is not hiding Himself from you. In fact, He is always pursuing you. He loves you. He wants you to come to Him and ask.
And the most important thing about Him answering your questions instead of me? When He answers you, it will change your life forever.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
I should have known.
For those of you who are on the edge of your seats wondering whatever became of our "roof" situation, here is an update.
Just to get everyone up to speed, about three months ago we received a letter from our insurance company informing us they were going to have someone do an "outdoor visual inspection" to see if there were any issues with our house that would cause them to decide to discontinue our coverage. My heart immediately began racing because I knew they would say we needed a new roof. We had checked into a new roof, but came to find out it was going to cost $10,000+ to redo it because of the height and because we have asbestos shingles.
Needless to say, that project quickly went to the back of line. That is, until we received the letter.
I didn't know what we would do. We HAVE to have insurance, but we didn't have $10,000 to fix our roof. So, we did what we always do..... we prayed. Now, some people pray for God to work everything out just the way they want it to work out. But we learned a LONG time ago, that's not the wisest prayer. We learned that we are working with very limited information, while He is working with the COMPLETE picture. We prayed for everything to work out the way HE wanted it to work out, and determined in our hearts to trust Him in whatever He decided.
You see, we have found over the course of our lives that God really does take care of us. He always has. Our lives are not always easy. Everything isn't always smooth-sailing. But He is always with us. He always takes care of us. And when we have to face tough things, He always sees us through and teaches us valuable lessons along the way. So when we prayed for everything to work out the way He wanted it to work out, we prayed knowing we were in the best hands we could possibly be in.
Well, the insurance guy came and guess what? He said we needed a new roof, and we got a letter saying they were going to discontinue our insurance. Our insurance agent called us and said if we could get it fixed before October (when our insurance expires) they would continue coverage. We decided to file an insurance claim and see what happened. We can't really see that high, but we hoped maybe they would find some hail damage and cover at least a portion of the roof. At this point, anything would help.
Yesterday some guys came out to make the decision. I found my heart being anxious, so Leonard and I sat down to pray again. We told God it didn't matter to us what kind of numbers this guy came back to us with because our trust was in Him, not them. We have entrusted our lives to Him, not the insurance company. And we decided a long time ago that no matter what this world throws at us, we would live with grateful hearts because we serve a God who deeply loves us, and that's all that really matters. What we have or don't have in this world is not the most important thing.
The guy finally knocked on the door and came in to discuss his findings. There was a little bit of hail damage on our roof. But because they no longer make asbestos shingles, the insurance company is going to cover replacing the entire roof. They will be paying for ALMOST ALL OF IT! More than we ever dared hope for or dream of. My heart was flooded with gratitude.
About 3 months ago, we were informed the insurance company would be doing a visual inspection and I thought it was terrible, terrible news. But if they hadn't done that, we would have never discovered the insurance company would pay for replacing our roof. We wouldn't have known, we wouldn't have asked. We would have just struggled to try to find a way to pay for it ourselves.
Once again, God drove the point home. We are working with so little information. What seems like the worst possible situation can be the beginning of the best thing that could happen. Trust. Trust that He knows what He is doing. Trust that He loves you. Trust that He will see you through, whether it's easy or it's hard. Certainly we are grateful the insurance company is covering our roof. But we know in our hearts if it had gone the other way, He still would have made a way. We still would have trusted Him to see us through, because that's what He does. He is a kind and loving and merciful God.
And He makes it so easy to live with a grateful heart.
Just to get everyone up to speed, about three months ago we received a letter from our insurance company informing us they were going to have someone do an "outdoor visual inspection" to see if there were any issues with our house that would cause them to decide to discontinue our coverage. My heart immediately began racing because I knew they would say we needed a new roof. We had checked into a new roof, but came to find out it was going to cost $10,000+ to redo it because of the height and because we have asbestos shingles.
Needless to say, that project quickly went to the back of line. That is, until we received the letter.
I didn't know what we would do. We HAVE to have insurance, but we didn't have $10,000 to fix our roof. So, we did what we always do..... we prayed. Now, some people pray for God to work everything out just the way they want it to work out. But we learned a LONG time ago, that's not the wisest prayer. We learned that we are working with very limited information, while He is working with the COMPLETE picture. We prayed for everything to work out the way HE wanted it to work out, and determined in our hearts to trust Him in whatever He decided.
You see, we have found over the course of our lives that God really does take care of us. He always has. Our lives are not always easy. Everything isn't always smooth-sailing. But He is always with us. He always takes care of us. And when we have to face tough things, He always sees us through and teaches us valuable lessons along the way. So when we prayed for everything to work out the way He wanted it to work out, we prayed knowing we were in the best hands we could possibly be in.
Well, the insurance guy came and guess what? He said we needed a new roof, and we got a letter saying they were going to discontinue our insurance. Our insurance agent called us and said if we could get it fixed before October (when our insurance expires) they would continue coverage. We decided to file an insurance claim and see what happened. We can't really see that high, but we hoped maybe they would find some hail damage and cover at least a portion of the roof. At this point, anything would help.
Yesterday some guys came out to make the decision. I found my heart being anxious, so Leonard and I sat down to pray again. We told God it didn't matter to us what kind of numbers this guy came back to us with because our trust was in Him, not them. We have entrusted our lives to Him, not the insurance company. And we decided a long time ago that no matter what this world throws at us, we would live with grateful hearts because we serve a God who deeply loves us, and that's all that really matters. What we have or don't have in this world is not the most important thing.
The guy finally knocked on the door and came in to discuss his findings. There was a little bit of hail damage on our roof. But because they no longer make asbestos shingles, the insurance company is going to cover replacing the entire roof. They will be paying for ALMOST ALL OF IT! More than we ever dared hope for or dream of. My heart was flooded with gratitude.
About 3 months ago, we were informed the insurance company would be doing a visual inspection and I thought it was terrible, terrible news. But if they hadn't done that, we would have never discovered the insurance company would pay for replacing our roof. We wouldn't have known, we wouldn't have asked. We would have just struggled to try to find a way to pay for it ourselves.
Once again, God drove the point home. We are working with so little information. What seems like the worst possible situation can be the beginning of the best thing that could happen. Trust. Trust that He knows what He is doing. Trust that He loves you. Trust that He will see you through, whether it's easy or it's hard. Certainly we are grateful the insurance company is covering our roof. But we know in our hearts if it had gone the other way, He still would have made a way. We still would have trusted Him to see us through, because that's what He does. He is a kind and loving and merciful God.
And He makes it so easy to live with a grateful heart.
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