"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

Sunday, August 23, 2009

More Good Stuff from InTouch

A few days ago I wrote about the InTouch magazine I'd received recently in the mail. Here are a couple more things from the brief articles in it that stood out to me.

In her article on coping with an unexpected pregnancy, author Leslie Leyland Fields admits she had thoughts of "am I to serve others and shelve my own dreams forever?" when she found herself pregnant in her forties. Her surprise pregnancy meant interrupting her teaching job at a university just as she was nearing tenure. But she tells how God literally brought her to her knees. She writes, "I realized we never graduate from the call to live the life of love that Christ exemplified. There is no 'promotion' beyond loving and serving others, especially the weak and needy among us.'"

I liked that.


In a one-page devotional, the author mentions parents questioning "how long?" until their children take responsibility, help around the house and do things when first told. And then we are reminded this is nothing new because in the Old Testament it is recorded that God asks the same question of people.

"How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?" - Exodus 10:3

"How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?" -- Exodus 16:28

"How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?" -- Numbers 14:11

"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." -- I Kings 18:21



So I wonder if God is asking today how long until I seek Him with my whole heart and search for Him like hidden treasures. How long until I sit in silence before Him and earnestly desire to hear Him. How long until I surrender and say with conviction, "Not my will, but yours be done."


And one last thing....this verse which was dear to me a few weeks ago when I felt things were pretty bad. It came to mind one night before bed and encouraged me, and I read it again in this publication:

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. -- Jeremiah 32:17

2 comments:

Amber said...

hmm...I like this.

We're so used to, or at least I am, sitting there are thinking, 'How long until God gives me a, b, c. How long until...' essentially, how long until God meets our expectations.

And God's on the otherside, 'How long until you surrender to Me?'

mmm...definiately something to think about...

Susanne said...

Uh huh...I'm sure sometimes God shakes His head and wonders, "HOW LONG 'til this stubborn girl stops acting like a two year old." :-/