week 5......
chapter 11
a thousand problems
God rushes in
A.W. Tozer once wrote that if we exalt God to his right place in our lives, "a thousand minor problems will be solved at once." p. 101
We press through the doubts and the fears and we trust because God is trustworthy, and he knows how life is best lived. The more we jump and see our God come alive around us, the more we jump without fear - and the bigger the cliffs get. p. 103
Suffering affects my life for eternity in a positive way. I've never lived that way. I've lived trying to fix everything hurting in me with counseling and a good latte. And while none of that is bad, it never fully worked. I still hurt. What I wasn't told is that it is supposed to hurt. War isn't supposed to feel easy and comfortable and happy. p. 104
chapter 12
dominoes
no turning back
Somewhere in my life I picked up the idea that if things did not feel right or fall perfectly into place, God was not in them. I thought obeying God should feel pretty easy and convenient. For instance, if God was calling you to Africa, then he would have a buyer for your house in two weeks; if not, then he likely isn't in it. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but if obeying seemed too uncomfortable, I likely would have decided that it wasn't from God. Where did I get that?
In Scripture God promises we will have trouble in this world. p. 107 (my favorite from this week)
Mary....
Mary never sought her own comfort.
She lived entitled to nothing.
She expected suffering rather than being surprised by it.
She waited and responded to God rather than trying to control any outcome.
She submitted to her husband's leadership over and over again.
She received whatever the Lord had for her with joy....... p. 110
As I looked at Mary, I saw a girl who surely did not feel worthy or able to bear and raise the son of God, but she did not focus on that. She submitted and focused on the eternal plans of God, and when she did that, she was just in awe that she got to be part of them. The cost and her inadequacy paled in light of God's plan for humanity. She just was in awe that God would have plans for her simple, short life here. p. 111
God did not seem too worried about what the people in Scripture thought about their callings; he handed them out even if they felt reluctant or unsure about their assignments. Moses and Jonah and Esther all wished their callings away. But in their obedience, God was changing the world and building his stories. p. 112
I beg you - all of us - to fall. Fall into obedience that will shape the glory of God in our generation. We don't want to get to heaven and realized we missed it, that God rerouted around us...Besides, I have this feeling these things God has for us may be the best things in life. I don't want to miss them. p. 114
chapter 13
spreading insanity
lots of yes
I had made following Christ all about a bunch of rules and principles. But the relationship I'd heard about all that time growing up, this was it. God in me. Leaning into him for self-control when my nine year old talks back, for guidance on where to use God's gifts in me, for words when I am fleshing out this book he led me to write, and for patience as the consequences of obeying flooded our lives. Without the Spirit of God to lead our
anythings, we will only be do-gooders with our own agendas.
p. 121
God's priorities are beautiful, and they trickle down into invisible spaces....into neighborhoods and families and friends and strangers. He will call us to pour our lives into the cracks around us, and sometimes into cracks far from our doorsteps. But wherever he calls us, we pour, not wishing for a larger crack or a more noticeable one, or even the one we were expecting. p. 122
