Ann Voskamp

If you have never heard of Ann Voskamp nor read her blog you owe it to yourself to connect with her for she is most assuredly connected with God.  I had the privilege of meeting her at a recent conference.  What a humble sister in Christ.  I know you will be blessed by her writing.    This is a recent quote from her blog.

"What if we woke up this morning
with what we thanked God for last night."

Thank you Ann for sowing seeds of His grace for us.

Precious in His sight

Psalm 116:15

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

A few years ago a friend of mine was tragically killed in a car accident. I had known him for more than 30 years. I had gone to high school with him and he had married one of my best friends.

If there was ever a married couple that I have known who really loved each other and were totally committed to one another it was them. From the time they met everyone could tell that they were meant to be together. And together they were, for 31 years.

On Nov 30, 2008, the day of their 31st wedding anniversary, while out shopping for Christmas presents for local needy families they were stopped at a traffic light and another car plowed into the rear of them. The SUV that hit them was estimated traveling at 95 miles per hour. The impact was so forceful that it pushed the car carrying my friends over 400 feet. The impact killed my high school friend instantly and sent his wife, my other friend to the hospital where she remained in critical condition for weeks.

Time has now passed but in those first few weeks that followed the accident when my friend was in hospital and her husband gone I struggled with God on this passage of scripture. I cried for my friend and the hurt I knew she was now going through and would continue to go through. I just didn’t understand how God in all his love and mercy and kindness could call something as tragic as this ~ “precious”. It just didn’t make sense.

One night in the early hours of the morning God woke me up, spoke directly to my heart and said to me (my interpretation of what my heart heard) “You want to know why I can call this situation precious, get up, I’m going to tell you”.

I went to another part of the house where I could be alone with God, got on my knees and started searching the scriptures. This is what God revealed to me.

The word “precious” means costly. God told me that He was the one who paid the high price for my friend to be one of His saints. He is the one who made the sacrifice, who shed His blood who bore my friends sins so he would have eternal life with Him. He was the one who died for my friend and spared his soul for eternal separation from a loving God.

That’s why God can call the death of one of His saints precious. Because it cost Him All He Had.

From that moment on God gave me peace about it and I never again asked why. I know my God is faithful and trustworthy.

If you've lost a loved one God will help you deal with the pain of loss if you go to Him and let Him carry it for you. Why, because you too are precious in His sight and anything thing that He calls precious ~ He keeps close watch over it.

Lord, thank you for my family and my friends.  I pray your protection over each one.  And when it's your perfect time to take one home to be with you let me still be able to take comfort in your love so pure that even in death you see it as a precious thing.

Guidance

"Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them ~ the children of Israel. Joshua 1:2


More times than I care to admit I sit back and say "Lord, I need your guidance in this" (whatever "this" may be at the time) and then.... I wait ~ nothing comes. So I wait some more ~ still nothing comes. No moving of the spirit, no booming Charlton Heston voice saying "SIT STILL KATHY AND SEE THE DIRECTION OF THE LORD! Nothing!

Yes, I want the Charlton Heston voice booming loud in my ears so I will know for certain I'm doing what He wants me to do. That would be nice ~ wouldn't it? Absolutely! Nice and Easy! However sitting still isn't what the Lord would have us do when we need guidance. It isn't what He wanted for the children of Israel and it isn't what He wants us to do. God has so much more in store for us than just sitting back and taking the easy route. He wants us to have the adventure!

In today's passage the leadership baton has just been passed from Moses to Joshua. God doesn't allow Joshua time to sit around and say "Lord, I need guidance". No, God plainly tells Joshua ~ Moses is dead, now it's time to Arise and go...! If there is one thing I've learned about God it is that He doesn't beat around the bush.

The Lord wanted Joshua and the children of Israel moving ~ stepping out ~ trusting Him that no matter where they were headed God would make certain they were moving in the right direction. That is exactly what God wants us to be doing ~ moving, staying focused on Him and trusting Him to guide us. He has promised to guide us but He can't do it if we refuse to take a step of faith.

Notice in the passage the Lord says "arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them". The children of Israel did not have the land yet ~ they had to get up and go get it. God said He was "giving it to them" but they had to obey His command to "arise and go".

It is the same with us. We can either stay where we are and wander around the same "Lord, I need guidance" desert and never get anywhere ~ or ~ if we want what God is giving to us we can strap on our traveling boots, take up our shield of faith and "arise and go" (get moving) trusting God to guide us.

Yes, we do need to wait on the Lord. God's word tells us plainly to "wait patiently" for the Lord. However, we so often connect "waiting" with "doing nothing" and that is not true. Waiting does NOT mean ~ doing nothing.
Is there something in your life that you need guidance and direction on? First, ask the Lord for His direction and then "arise and go". God has promised to guide you but as long as you stay where you are ~ doing nothing you will never receive what God is so willing to give to you. He wants you moving forward and trusting Him for every footstep you take. Are you afraid of making a mistake? That's ok! Of course we will make mistakes, we're human. God doesn't expect us to be perfect. We serve a BIG God who can even take our mistakes and turn them into days of divine instruction for our good and His glory. He has a wonderful adventure just waiting for us, so let’s get moving.