#chosen #waterwalkinggirls

Chosen: having been selected as the best or most appropriate.  There are many places in our lives that we may be chosen and our view of what it means to be chosen may change depending on our age and the situation.  Sometimes being chosen is positive and sometimes it is negative. Whatever the situation, you and I must learn to respond to being chosen in a Christ-like manner.

When I was a child and playing with my peers I wanted to be chosen.  Being chosen signified acceptance.  Sometimes I desired to be chosen to be on a certain person’s kick ball team. Other times the goal was to be chosen to attend a birthday party for someone that was a part of the “in” crowd. However as I have grown older God has taught me that my worth does not come from earthly opinions but from the opinion of the One True King.

As an adult I find that sometimes being chosen can lead me in a negative direction.  I may be chosen to do a difficult or uncomfortable task.  Being chosen to complete something hard may cause me to want to hide or revert to my childhood practice of not making eye contact with the teacher to avoid being called on to answer a question.  Do you have a difficult task lurching in the dark corners of your life? Is there a task that you know needs to be done but you are avoiding making eye contact with the Master because you don’t want to be the one chosen?

I am sure you are familiar with Esther in the Bible.  However if you are not, I encourage you to read the book of Esther to learn about the events that led her to became Queen.  Some may call her circumstances coincidental but as a Christian I believe differently and her Uncle Mordecai did too. Esther found herself in the position to make a difference but she had to choose whether she should speak up or remain quiet. Mordecai sent word to her, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jew will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.  Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

So now I ask again, is there a task that you know you have been called to but you are avoiding making eye contact with the Master because you don’t want to be the one chosen?  Is there something you have been chosen to speak up and say? Has God laid on your heart a difficult path that you are needed to walk through?  Has God chosen you to tackle a problem “for such a time as this?” I encourage you to listen to the words of the song below.  My prayer is that we listen to our individual call from above and that we say yes! The chorus of the song says:

Just a moment for a lifetime. For such a time as this, I say yes! I’ve been chosen to arise. For such a time as this, I say yes!

Take some time to sit still and listen.  Examine the current climate around you.  Is God calling you to speak up and act? Have you been chosen to make a difference in your home, your workplace, your church, your community? How will you respond? Will you avert your eyes in hopes that you don’t make eye contact with God? Will you remain still and silent? Or will you respond as Christ would? Let’s say yes! Let’s arise! For such a time of this, let’s say yes!

#broken #waterwalkinggirls

Monday morning I rushed into my office to grab something and planned to run right back out. As the door slammed behind me I heard the sound of something hitting the floor and the glass breaking.  As I looked back I saw on the floor a broken picture frame.  Many people may have been upset to have broken something like this but for me it was a God wink as just hours before I had written and posted about the Water Walkers word of the week “broken.” God had provided a tangible example for me.  In fact it triggered a memory of when my son Preston was 4 years old.  He had come to school to be screened for preschool.  After the assessment the teacher told me one of the items he had lost points on was on his response to the question, “What should you do if you break something?” The expected answer was, “I get help from an adult or I take it to a grown-up.”  However Preston’s response was, “I fix it.” Being the independent 4 year old that he was, his plan if he broke something was to try to fix it himself.

Aren’t we the very same?  When we are broken or if we are experiencing brokenness often our first response is to try to fix it ourselves.  This week I have been reminded of a poem I read years ago.

Let Go and Let God

As children bring their broken toys with tears for us to mend,

I brought my broken dream to God because he was my Friend.

But then, instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help

With ways that were my own.

At last, I snatched them back and cried,

“How could You be so slow?”

“My child,” He said,

“What could I do? You never did let go?”

(Author: Loretta P. Burns)

Last week my life was touched so closely by tragedy.  As a mother I wanted to help and I wanted to fix the brokenness.  However I was at a loss.  I had no words to help.  I felt helpless.  God has reminded me that I am not the one to fix the break.  Only God can mend the broken hearts.  The Bible tells us over and over that God heals, God mends, God fixes.   I encourage you to take some time today to read the entire chapter of Psalm 31.  The chapter closes with, “Be strong and take heart all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24 NIV  Now read the Message version of Psalm 31:23-24, “Love God, all you saints; God takes care of all who stay close to him, But he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone.  Be brave.  Be strong.  Don’t give up.  Expect God to get here soon.”

So my prayer for you and I is that we give God whatever it is that is breaking our hearts today.  Let’s let go of it and allow God to work in and through it.  Let’s stay close to God and not “go it alone.” Let’s be brave, strong and not give up.  Most of all let’s “expect God to get here soon.”

#finish #waterwalkinggirls

I have to admit that when we began this week together talking about the word finish I had no idea how God would lead me to finish this week.  On Monday, the beginning of my work week, I shared with you a picture of our new porch furniture still in boxes.  Today’s picture is the finished product of our back porch with all the furniture put together and in place.  If you have been reading Water Walkers for a while then you know the process of selling and buying our house was a yearlong process.  However, it was actually much longer.

Recently, as I was unpacking boxes, I found a paper that was dated August 21, 2010.   On the paper was a list of goals that Clark and I had each written.  One of the goals that I had written was, “Buy or build a bigger house.”  The furniture on the back porch represents an over 10 year goal that now has been accomplished. Go God!

If you have been following our posts then you also know that the day after we bought our house I also began a new job.  Another of my 2010 goals stated, “Research/investigate career choices/options.” Wow! God had planted the seed in me of changing jobs over 10 years ago! Now let me explain that after writing those goals or big dreams down, I was not so focused on them that I was pining away or wringing my hands wondering what direction I should go.  However I think it was always in the back of my mind and I had my eyes and ears open.  I would have never guessed that the job I have now was the job God was preparing for me. But isn’t that just like God? The “finish” our Maker has created for us is more than we imagine and better than we hope. 

How about you? Do you have a long time dream or goal that is not finished? Have you been working on or waiting on the next step? Or is God now planting a seed that will not grow into fruition until a later time? Philippians 1:6 tells us, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” If God has given you a dream or goal it will happen. However you and I may not see the finish line yet. Sometimes the finish line moves but it always comes in God’s perfect timing. Along the race God will help you grow and prepare you for what is being prepared for you. Keep dreaming. Keep believing. Keep trusting. Finish with grace and humility. Finish strong my friend! Finish strong!

#impact #waterwalkinggirls

Impact: (verb) 1. come into forcible contact with another object  2. have a strong effect on someone or something

This week we have explored how we are able to impact others through our five senses; sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.  Impact is the word I chose to be my “word of the year” for 2020.  So today I would like for you to examine your impact.  Who or what are you impacting and what is your impact? Is your impact positive or negative?

The cover picture today is of a special group that makes a huge impact whether they realize it or not.  Each Thursday our Run for God group gathers.  Julie leads us in a time of devotion, discussion and prayer.  Then we set out to walk or run.  We have built up to the distance of a 5k (3.1 miles).  There is so much I could write about this process and program but for today I want to ponder the impact of this group.  I wonder what others in the surrounding community see as we cover the 3.1 miles?  What do others think when they see a group of 14 people, various ages, some walking, some running, coming down the street every Thursday?  What do they hear from our conversations when we trickle by their house or pass them on the street? How do they feel when they read our shirts that have “Run For God” on the front and “Who do you say I am?” on the back?  What impact are we making as a collective group?

Now what about you? All week we have pondered your individual impact.  Today think about your collective impact.  What groups are you a part of that make an impact on others? Are you part of a church group, coworkers, friends, that make an impact together?  I encourage you to read the book The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews.  The premise of the book is that everything you say or do matters and has an effect on others.  So today spend some time examining your impact.  Whether you realize it or not you are having a strong effect on someone or something.  Is your impact positive or negative? Are you answering the question “Who do you say I am?” through your impact?

#pause

Housekeeping has always been one of my downfalls. I think I did ok before children but once my first child arrived I became so caught up on managing being a parent that I fell further and further behind with housekeeping on a daily basis. As our children grew older and our lifestyle became busier and busier our house became messier and messier. While I did a good job of cleaning bathrooms, floors, etc., I did not do well at creating daily routines and habits that would help to maintain a tidy home. Over the years as the clutter and chaos grew, so did my anxiety and guilt about not being a good housekeeper. I read books and signed up for daily emails that offered housekeeping tips. In my prayer time I cried out to God for guidance and help. Without realizing it, my lack of housekeeping skills was in a way causing a great sadness within me. And then God planted a seed in me about our family selling our home. At first the thought of dealing with all of the clutter was ominous and foreboding. How could I possibly tackle the project of even getting the house ready to be shown? Yet I knew in my heart it was the next step for our family. As I have shared before, I spent my school summer break last year preparing our house for the market. In June when we got out for summer break I began going through one room at a time. I picked up every single item and decided if it was worth keeping or not. Some items were sold, some were given away and others were thrown away. With those things we were keeping I had to decide if it was something we could do without for a time and put in storage or if it was something we may need to use. (Disclaimer: there were a few things I packed for storage that I later realized we needed lol.) This process was foreboding, time-consuming, and also cleansing. While I sometimes became frustrated and thought the task would never end, I also found that getting rid of “stuff” also helped with my sadness about housekeeping. I began to have hope. By the first week of August our house was ready to be listed and we put it on the market. Now we began the “show ready” lifestyle. We had to keep our house neat and tidy in case a last minute showing was requested. While this was hard on a daily basis to not really relax in our home, this practice was also creating daily routines and habits to teach me. Our house was on the market for almost exactly a year. While living through that year of being “show ready” was not easy and seemed to be never ending, now that I look back I can see that God was forcing me to pause. During that year long pause God was teaching me. In hindsight I can see that I had created the wrong daily habits to be a successful housekeeper and that God used our year long, “show ready” pause to answer my cry for help. WOW! GO GOD!

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.” Psalms 145:17-18

What about you? Is there an area of your life that you have been crying out to God about and asking for help? Are you currently in a forced pause? If so, I want to encourage you and give you hope. When you are in the middle of a pause, it feels never ending and it is hard to see the reason you are there. But God sees the big picture. Your loving Maker wants the very best for you I and is working on your behalf even though you may not see or understand. Stay close to God and trust. Focus on today and what God has placed in your path. Perhaps today will be the end of your pause. But if it isn’t, I trust that this pause will be the answer to one of your biggest prayers.

#next #waterwalkinggirls

To some of you the cover picture may just look like an empty space, but to me it symbolizes the next part of a journey. To me it represents the faithfulness of God.  

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#growth #waterwalkinggirls

I am a teacher.  Teaching is rooted deep in me.  As a little girl I would play school and teach my brother and friends.  I never dreamed or desired of being anything else so once I graduated high school there was no question about what I would study.  Just as planned I went to Columbia College and received a degree in Elementary Education.  Fast forward to today.  I have had some bumps in the road early in my teaching career but in the end found my place and have loved teaching children for 21 years.  Teaching has been my calling and my ministry.  However, in recent years I have had a restlessness and have felt God calling me to something different but I have never put my finger on exactly what would be my next step.  On December 6, 2019 I began circling my job in prayer in my journal.  I prayed each day for job direction.  Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV teaches us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  I prayed it every day for so long and really had surrendered to God.

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