I share the First5.org messages on my other social media pages frequently but I don’t think I have ever shared one here…so this is a first!
I woke up this morning and opened the First5 app on my phone as normal before even getting out of bed. First5 contains a short daily Bible teaching meant to be read within the first five minutes after you wake up. The purpose is to get you focused on God before you go out into the world to face the day. It helps me. And today the message spoke loud and clear to my current situation I find myself in. Limbo. But just because I feel “stuck” does NOT mean my life is over! Honestly it is only beginning…
I am going to copy Lysa Terkeurst’s teaching below. I am a big fan of using the ellipsis in my writing…(and she explains she is too). It is something I learned from a creative writing professor in college that stuck (and I am sure it irritates many of my more scholarly writers/readers!) Sorry… 😉
So anyway, my life is in a big old state of limbo at the moment. So many unanswered questions. I feel like I am at the skating rink sometimes. “Limbo lower now! How loooooooow can you go?”
Pretty dang low actually.
But I am trying very hard to stay afloat. I had communication with three different people today, which excited me because I plan to share their stories on my blog in the near future. I am continuing to pursue positive endeavors and follow the call God has placed on my heart even though other parts of my life are way up in the air. So, I was feeling great all day and then suddenly I received a call from my bank saying that I had a fraudulent charge on my debit card. The charge was nearly the same amount as my total balance in my account. My first thought was, “Why would they hit up a poor person?” Ha! And then I spent THREE hours on the phone trying to get everything straightened out. They kept transferring me to different departments then I got cut off a couple of times and had to start over. It was frustrating. It wore me out and tore me down. My good day had gone to…well you know. I texted my friend and told her what happened with the bank, as well as some other things I have been dealing with that aren’t so great. Her response was, “Wow God is really testing you isn’t he?” I responded maybe so.
But the truth is that I’m furiously under attack. Satan knows I am trying my best to put goodness out into the world and that frustrates him. Well, back off devil because this is NOT the end of my story. It is simply a little string of dots…leading me to something greater!
If you can relate…it’s not over. Just keep moving and trusting.
See Lysa’s teaching from Exodus below.
Blessings,
Stacey ~ iamalive41
First5.org 2/16/15
Is This a Delay or a Dead End?
Lysa TerKeurst
Exodus 32:1 (NIV) “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’”
We must never confuse delays with dead ends. But I think we do this all the time. We sometimes put a period where our life story may just need a little string of dots …
In punctuation there are terminal points and pausing points. A terminal point is a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point.
But there are far more options for pausing points such as: the comma, semicolon, colon, em dash, and my personal favorite which drives my editors a little batty, the ellipsis.
What in the world does all of this have to do with Biblical truth?
When we confuse what’s really a pausing point with a terminal point, we can get into trouble. And this is exactly what the people of Israel were doing when Moses was so long coming down from the mountain. When they didn’t understand the delay, they decided they couldn’t trust God.
So, they took matters into their own hands and had Aaron form a false god to comfort themselves and combat their confusion. In the end, their solution only added more chaos. And it cost them more than they ever imagined.
Look at all they could have avoided had they just waited a little longer for Moses to return:
-They got completely out of control.
-They became the laughing stock of their enemies.
-Many lost their lives—it says over 3000 died.
-They suffered from a plague.
They could have avoided it all, including enraging Moses to the point where he threw the stone tablets God had personally carved for them, breaking them into pieces.
When there is a delay in our lives, we must determine to fill the gap between here and there by intentionally proclaiming every hint of God’s activity. Just the fact that we woke up breathing this morning is evidence of His goodness. So, let’s make a list and keep acknowledging that just because God is silent in one area of our life does not mean He is silent in every area.
Also, let’s think about an area of our life where we’ve been waiting for what seems like an unreasonable amount of time. Let’s determine today not to mistake this delay for a dead end. Say out loud, “I will not run ahead of God in this. I will not manipulate or manufacture solutions. I will not give up until God confirms I should. I will keep seeking God, fully anticipating and trusting His perfect plan to unfold in His perfect timing and His perfect way. And if He does confirm this is a dead end, I will still honor Him.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I confess that all too often I confuse pauses with end points. Remind me that my thoughts are not Your thoughts and my ways are not Your ways. Help me to not run ahead of You, but instead fully seek You. I trust that Your plan and timing are perfect. In Jesus’ name, amen.