We are just about to finish our book study on Lelia's blog. We have been reading and discussing Lysa Terkeurst's book What Happens When Women Walk in Faith. If you haven't read this book... you are missing a huge blessing. God has met me on the pages of every single chapter. He has taught me so much through this book.
Chapter Eighteen A Promise Made is a Promise Kept
This chapter is about Sergei, a little boy living in an orphanage in Belarus. After Lysa saw pictures of the conditions that he faced on a daily basis... she began to pray for God to show her how she could help him. God began to stir her heart. Sergei came to stay with her family for 5 weeks at Christmas. When the time came for him to return to Belarus, they discussed the possibility of adopting him into their family... and he said that he would love to be a part of their family. So... they began the adoption process. Things didn't go like they had planned. Things were taking soooo long... They weren't able to have a lot of contact with him. She describes a phone conversation that she had with Sergei. She wanted so desperately to explain to him that they were not the hold-up with the adoption... it was all the red tape involved. She asked for an interpreter, but there was not one available. She remembers the lady telling her,
" There will be no interpreter as nobody knows English at Ryasno. But you will tell him that you love him, and that he will understand."
Wow! How true is that?? Love... the universal language. Lysa said...
"When I grieve over the bummer things in life and cry out to God, I can imagine God instructing the Holy Spirit to say something similar to me. "There is no way to interpret this event in a way she can comprehend, but tell that I love her, and that she will understand"."
That is so precious to me right now. That word picture brings me to tears. I so do not know what He is up to... I cannot comprehend the overall plan right now...but the one thing that I do understand is that NO matter what.... My Father loves me. I feel His love. I can smell His love. I can taste His love. I know it is there. His love is something that I can understand... whether I understand the situation or not.
Lysa then said,
"Even though the best answer seems to me to be having Sergei with us, truly the best place for him is where he can come to know God."
I am not where I would want to be... but I am exactly where I need to be so that I can come to know God more and more. I have come to almost like this place. A place where knowing God and His love is more important than anything else.
Chapter Nineteen God Brings Dreams to Life
To despite the quick living that we do these days... Lysa tells us...
"No shortcut or quick fix will help me become the woman God wants me to become."
Well... don't you just hate that. I love to take a shortcut. I love to find a quick fix to a problem. But I can't in this area. The process of getting to the end is the important part. It is the time that we learn to love and trust God like no other. My end... is to be the woman that God wants me to be. And... in this season of my life, I have decided that whatever path I have to travel to get there is the path that I will choose to take. Even the difficult path I am on now. I haven't really enjoyed it... but I am enjoying the benefits of knowing God and trusting God more. For that... it is worth the trouble.
This book has been wonderful for this season in my life. Just what I needed. If you want to find out what others found meaningful in these chapters, click here.
1Peter 3:15
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared in give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
4 comments:
God has me on a path somewhere and I'm trying to find out where He's leading. I just don't have His final answers yet. I cna't wait for Him to reveal ALL.
I'm glad that this study has been such a blessing to you...Everything that you have shared has certainly been a blessing to me.
It is so hard to be patient during the difficult times.
I had to call my neurosurgeon Monday, because I am still having so much problems with the nerve in my back that leads to my foot. After back surgery and a little over 2 months of recovery now, I just "thought" by now, I would be all "healed."
He told me that it may take another month, or it may take another year. The healing process after nerve damage is very slow.
He said to me, "You will have to be patient. Where do you think the term "patients" comes from? Patients have to be patient while they recover. There is no quick fix."
Sigh.
I have always been told what is true in the natural is true in the spiritual......Healing and understanding take time.....
(I will be posting about that soon.)
God Bless,
Amy:)
Lynn, Thanks for sharing all of this. I've had this gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach for days... from school busyness, to financial stresses, and just being so incredibly weary from the lack of love, appreciation & care I feel in my day-to-day relationships. I realized that part of my problem was I had neglected the Word this week in my busyness. I spent time with God this morning, partly reading the Word and partly on my face weeping & praying for God to fix things. Not long after, I came to your blog and your words spoke to my heart... I felt God saying, "No matter how it feels right now, know that I LOVE YOU." Balm to my weary soul.
Thank you.
I never thought about this before today. . .we wonder why we can't hear God sometimes in certian situations. . .but get this from Job 26:7-14 (The Message)
He spreads the skies over unformed space, hangs the earth out in empty space.
He pours water into cumulus cloud-bags and the bags don't burst.
He makes the moon wax and wane, putting it through its phases.
He draws the horizon out over the ocean, sets a boundary between light and darkness.
Thunder crashes and rumbles in the skies.
Listen! It's God raising his voice!
By his power he stills sea storms,
by his wisdom he tames sea monsters.
With one breath he clears the sky,
with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.
And this is only the beginning, a mere whisper of his rule.
Whatever would we do if he really raised his voice!"
We could not understand or contain it if God just spoke out loud and told us everything He was doing. His power would just send us home to heaven in an instant. We just need to trust Him. His plan is good~all the time. That is what I am clinging to today.
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