Today at work I listened to a sermon that Jeff Purswell gave at Covenant Life yesterday, called Strength For The Weary. Near the end of his message, I typed out some notes that really stood out to me. It's amazing how God works, because just yesterday evening I was trying to describe to my mom how I felt, specifically after coming home from a bridal shower. Often large, or medium even, groups are overwhelming to me. This can be for multiple reasons, but one of them is because I just can't take it all in. There is so much depth to a single soul, and when you have 40 all together, wowzers, I just have such difficulty focusing when I know there is so much I am missing. Purswell encapsulated my unclear thoughts precisely in this sentence: "God is massively working, and we're all just looking through a straw." I think I would explode inside and out if God were to show me even how massively He is working in a single life, let alone in a room full of people, like the ladies at that shower...and just think about his working in this very moment around the universe.That sentence was the first I jotted down from Purswell, but I kept going after that, and here is the rest:
Waiting for the Lord is confident expectation of God's action on our behalf. How I respond when I have to wait tells me everything about what I'm living for in that moment. And when I wait for the Lord, submitting to his will, trusting in his timing, resting in his faithfulness, I'm saying in that moment, Lord, you really are enough. "Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." ... "They who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength." Waiting on the Lord is not simply for trials . . . it's the Christian life. Every day investing all our hope in him, every day submitting to his wisdom, every day trusting in his timing, every day on our tip toes watching, looking, expecting for him to act for us in his mercy. That's what we signed up for.
How do we know he will act for us out of his mercy? Because he already has. The cross is God's guarantee that He will provide you all the grace you need for your biggest trial and all the sustaining grace you need for your most mundane moments (Romans 8:32).
photo: Cinque Terre, Italy 2007
Sarah, I read your comments about the Purswell sermon, and continue to thank the Lord for giving me a granddaughter who is committed to the love of God (reciprocal) and to His purposes. On a quasi-humorous note: I saw you had a shot from Cinque Terra, and since it was in blue, I went to the site out of general curiosity. I have been to that place at least three times, so was not expecting to learn anything astoundingly new. But I was reminded again that Wikipedia is not inerrant, as I was informed by those good folks that the five towns are not accessible by auto from the outside world. That is not true--one cannot drive from one to the other, but they are accessible one at a time. I am not suggesting you change your link; I think I am venting my dissatisfaction at how sloppy they are. Be that as it may, I love you very much, and pray regularly for you.
ReplyDeleteGranddaddy S.
haha, thanks Granddaddy. :-) I know Wikipedia is not always reliable, but I think I'm going to keep using it...just with that awareness in the back of my mind.
ReplyDeleteYou however, are a much more reliable encyclopedia for me, and I'm so glad that I got to go to Europe with you and Grandma (and Vince)!!! Thanks again...love you.