then, & now

Pro 3:5 (The Message)

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
   don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
   He's the One Who will keep you on track.

One year ago, tomorrow, God gave me this verse, in this translation, to hold on to during 2010. It looks like I'm supposed to hold on to it for 2011, too.

What was my life like a year ago?
   We were living in Macon.
   Lynn was teaching full time at Macon State in the nursing department,
   I was leading House of Grace in a warehouse in downtown Macon.
   I was leading on Sundays a satellite gathering in the same warehouse.
   I figured life was pretty amazing, our lives were running at 100mph, & it was crazy & wonderful - we thought we were probably in Macon for the rest of our lives.

And then God started the restlessness in my heart...
   Now we live in a 80 year old farmhouse in some of the most beautiful hill, just south of Blairsville, GA
   Lynn will be tracking nurse practitioner students in the area for N GA College.
   I'm unemployed.
   Our lives are pretty different from a year ago. We're taking one day at a time, trying to connect with this place, culture, & people
   There's been many miracles along the way, more to come.
    I don't think about what has been, but move forward to what is & will be.
   The trust level that brought us here won't keep us here - we have to trust Him more.


And then today, in the same chapter, He gives me this:
   Proverbs 3:25 You need not be afraid of sudden disaster
  or the destruction that comes upon the wicked,
26 for the LORD is your security.
  He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap.


And my 3rd reading this morning brought me across this verse...
   Colossians 2:7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

God gave me this verse, particularly for 2008 & 2009 as I walked toward starting a work in downtown Macon, but it still is one I hang on to & depend on still - probably always will.

I cannot imagine my life if I had not "let my roots frown down into Him, & let my life be built on Him."

The faith steps I've had to take, & that Lynn & I have had to take would have crushed us completely if we hadn't sunk our roots deeply into Him.

So...?

Trust God from the bottom of your heart. He's utterly & completely trustworthy, especially when we don't know what's going on, where we're heading, or how we're gonna get there.

Don't try to figure out everything on your own. I NEVER would have thought that His love & purpose for me & us would have taken us to this place for this season. This whole thing came out of nowhere, not on my radar screen. A year ago, if you would have told me this is where we'd be a year hence, I would have probably thought you's been huffing WD40! Just remember that God is VERY creative. Let Him be.

Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go. hen I read the "everywhere you go" part last year, I wondered what that meant - go? go where? and why? and what we gonna do when we get there? & how we gonna get there? and why are WE to be the ones who go? and are YOU aware we're in our 60's?!!!!!! Can you imagine the amount of listening I've had to do in the last year?! And will only have to listen even more closely in the days ahead?!!!

He's the One Who will keep you on track. How in the round world do you think I've made it this far? And how do you think I'm gonna make it to the end?!

Anyway, that's where I am today. Don't know what tomorrow holds, but then, who of us really does? I do know that God both precedes & follows me (psalm 139:5 - God gave that to me in 2008, too). I have no other choice to trust Him. He's got us on a journey the likes of which only He knows.