Duh!

I admit it. I hate the word "Duh!" but sometimes it just fits! Today I had one of those "duh" moments when truth slaps you "up-side" the head and gets your attention.

I am currently enrolling in a program to further my education and vocational opportunities. Let me say to begin with, this is NOT an area I had ever considered before....but since last summer I could feel that gentle nudge that led me to believe this is an area where God is leading me. I have done what I knew to do and am trusting (trying to trust) God with the outcome. That really is easier said than done, you know.

Yesterday, as I was completeing the final papers to send in before the deadline, I realized that the "bar" had been raised. What had initially looked like a shoe-in, now looks to be a much more difficult program to get in to. To add insult to injury, the price of tuition has gone up! Now mind you, I didn't really have the money in the first place, but to add another $500 and possibly gas money to the mix was blowing my feeble little mind! I was lamenting - okay, I was COMPLAINING about this to a friend and she reminded me, "God's got this." I laughed and said something along the lines of yeah, He's got all the money, so why worry...but it was this morning that it "hit" me - the "Duh" moment.

I was getting dressed and thinking about sending my daughter to the store to pick up something for me. I, of course, was about to give her the money to make the purchase, plus a little gas money for making the trip when I went, DUH! I'm not about to send her to the store to get something I told her to get and not give her the provision with which to get it! How much more can I trust God to provide for what I believe He has told me to do?!? Plus, I had already given her money for gas (which I might add she somehow burns through at a lightning speed) but since I really wanted her to make this trip to the store for me, I was going to give her a little more. (There's a whole other blog on how she had foolishly 'spent' her gas...)

We all know the scripture the from Matthew 7:11, ^"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" So how come I so often forget this?

The whole point of today's blog is this. If God has directed us to do something that HE wants done, don't we realize He'll provide? Duh!

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NIV)
"The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it!"

2 Corinthians 9:8
The Message (MSG)
8-11God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,
He throws caution to the winds,
giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

May I recommend...

I just finished reading, The Surrender of Ethan Moses, by Terry Goetz, and I am recommending this book to almost everyone I see! It is about the life of a man who works daily to find God's will and surrender to that will. (I really don't do justice to the story...I'm sure you can read a tag line about it on Amazon.com or this link will take you to a review of the book by a friend of the author: (Review)

After reading this book, (which I finished in only two sittings - I didn't want to put it down), I look at my "wanderings" in a new way. Things that happen now don't seem so happenstance; they are another step on this wonderful journey our Father has prepared for us.

This morning as I thought about the story, it brought to mind being on a wonderful hike with God. This is a path in which our Father has already traveled and He delights in watching us discover what He has already known since the beginning of time. The thought of this truly is stirring inside me and I wish I could communicate it more clearly.

I know I've taken hikes with my children along familiar paths and it is such a joy to watch them discover rocks and plants and the sunset (we rarely make it out for sunrise) or just all that surrounds them. It may be a path I've traveled many times before, but when I take them with me it is filled with a new joy at watching them see what lies before them. Once I "hid" treasures for them to find and I still laugh at their surprise as they discovered what was prepared for them!

I have traveled these paths many times before...they are like second nature to me. I know the places that are easy, and I also know the places along the path that can be more difficult - rocks that slip underneath your feet or places you just have to watch your step. I doubt my children noticed that along those places I had my hand right behind their back, ready to catch them if they fell.

If I, being human and filled with flaws, can take my children along a familiar path safely...how much more can our Heavenly Father lead us along the path He has CREATED for us?

Wow...what an amazing thought, and all before I've had my second cup of coffee!

May your journey today be filled with wonder - and as soon as you can, I definitely recommend reading, The Surrender of Ethan Moses....it's one of those books you'll find yourself thinking about a LOT as you travel along.
Matthew 7:11

New International Version (NIV)

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Ephesians 2:10

The Message (MSG)

 ^7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.