Who's your Idol?

Exodus 34:14 - Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Daily life is exhausting.  The body is tired and doesn't want to roll out of bed.  The kids may be sick or have their own issues they want to talk about. The parents may need physical care and it is your responsibility. A friend may have lost a spouse, either through infidelity or death, or even be suffering with a disease and this is a burden on your heart.  It is a true statement that life can be hard.

At work one day, I overheard a co-worker sharing with a client some struggles that were going on in her life.  She had recently had an injury and was discussing the pain of moving around and getting back into the daily grind.  The client responded at the end of their chat with an "I'll pray for you".  What a wonderfully positive statement.  It says both 'I care about you' and 'there is hope for your hurting'.  As my co-worker headed back over to me, I inquired - "is that client a Christian?"  The response she gave startled me - she said, "I don't know, but it couldn't hurt".

Actually, it could hurt. God is very clear in the Bible when He says 'Do not have any other gods except Me'.  Accepting the fact that people worship another god besides the one true God should cause sadness, not indifference.  My problems, my hurts, my struggles are real - I want them to go before a real God. 

God calls us to stand up for what is right - when we allow others and even God to think that we're 'okay' with our personal struggles being taken to someone other than our Creator, we need to say something.  It does make a difference to whom we're praying.

Graduation video from 2011

Ga Ga - not the lady.

Exodus 2:5-6: Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said. 

Our church has baby dedications once a month.  All the parents bring their new babies to the front of the sanctuary and the church gets the honor of praying for the Godly upbringing of the child. Meanwhile, I sit in the pew with my husband 'oohing and aahing' over each little bundle that comes before us.  I even go so far as to inquire of my husband if he thinks it would be nice to have another.  My husband, knowing that our child-bearing days are gone, agrees that we should definitely keep trying as much as possible.

I often feel that my emotions are common. Doesn't every woman's heart long to hold and cuddle a child?  Then I am brought back to reality when I read the news about the mother in Alaska who let her toddlers freeze to death http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/04/alaska-girl-locked-freezing-bedroom-dies_n_1319634.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008 or in Pennsylvania http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/bridgeville-couple-jailed-abuse-charges-baby-suffe/nLSkD/ and after more research, I learn that this behavior is not as uncommon as we would think or hope.

Abortion and murdering of babies was not uncommon in the 1100s BC either. The pharaoh had put a law in place that all first born sons of a Hebrew woman were to be put to death. A pharoah in Egypt was powerful, his family was well cared for - this included his daughter.  One day, his daughter went down to the Nile to bathe - who bathes in a river with crocodiles?  Maybe that's why she needed the attendants.  The Pharoah's daughter saw baby Moses in a basket and took him in to her home.  She doesn't turn him over to authorities - even though she knew he was a Hebrew baby. She doesn't have him killed - even though that was the law her father had in place.  She takes him as her own and calls him Moses - even though he was not of royal blood.

We don't get to hear much more about the woman who raised Moses, we only see the results of her actions. The man who led the captives out of Egypt under God's direction.  We may never see the end results of the effort we take in raising our own children or investing our lives in someone - but God is using the mother, the Sunday school teacher, the AWANA leader, the nurse, the principal, the bus driver . . . in a big way.

Where's a Burning Bush When You Need One????

Psalm 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

I watched a movie today called "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow.  The movie itself was nothing really to write home about - but the plot of the movie got me to thinking about something that has been plaguing my mind.  The story begins with a woman who loses her job and as she leaves her office behind, she runs to catch the 'tube' (movie is based in England).  In the one scenario, she misses the train - and then we rewind and see another scenario where she doesn't miss the train.  In the path of her life where she catches the train, she meets a stranger and has a very casual conversation.  She lets this man know that she lost her job and is headed home to her boyfriend.  When she gets home she finds him in bed with another woman.  She immediately leaves him and her life is played out where she again bumps into the stranger that she met on the train and they spend many happy days together enjoying each other's company and falling in love.  In the other scenario, where she misses the train, she winds up getting mugged and going to the hospital and doesn't get home until after the woman with whom her boyfriend is sleeping with has left her apartment.  Here her life plays out by being continually lied to and gets two part time jobs to support this guy who is cheating on her.  A few months down the line, she does end up finding out that he was cheating on her and she leaves him, only to bump into the stranger she fell in love with in the other situation.

So in both scenarios, the end result was the same - she ended up with the new guy.  When I look at all the different situations in life, the big ones and the small ones, the ones we fervently pray over and the ones we leave to our own best judgment, one question comes to mind: "Is this truly what God wanted for me?"  When we hear people discuss parts of their life and they make the comment: "I feel this is where God is calling me" - how do they know?  How can they be certain?

I took a Bible class not too long ago in hopes of getting a better understanding of this clarification of God's voice - discernment, if you will.  While I felt like I wasn't getting anything that I didn't already know out of the class, I decided to raise my hand and ask - "What if I am wrong  and that's not what God wanted me to do?"  The answer that the leader of the class gave me was a good answer: "Do you not think, that our loving God, would guide you back to where He wanted you to be?"  And while of course I do believe that to be true - how do you avoid the "months of working two jobs and living with a cheating liar" scenario?  How can you be truly certain that it is God's voice you're hearing and not you're own?  I know God has great things planned for us - the Bible tells us that - but  Oh to have a burning bush.....

Would love to hear some stories on how you KNOW you've heard the voice of God: