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Waiting for God

Originally posted on my Steemit blog here 

We're constantly told as Christians to wait on God's timing, to trust Him, He's never late.....and all this is true. However, God's not early either, He's always just on time. My patience is something I'm always needing to work on as I don't like waiting, and even if something's on time it can still mean a wait.

I'm ever perplexed by God's timing. The church wasn't 'born' til 50 days after the ascension! Fifty days is a long time when you're waiting on God and you're not really sure what is coming next and the world is looking at you pointing fingers, and claiming your Messiah wasn't really Who He said He was. The disciples didn't know what exactly was going to happen on the day of Pentecost, they just had to wait and I bet those 50 days felt like 50 years.

So many people in the bible had huge waits - much longer than 50 days too! Noah had around 120 years forewarning of the flood; Abraham waited around 25 years for his promised heir; Moses had a huge wait....he waited 40 years to lead the Israelites out of Egypt - in fact he was a whopping 80 yrs old and just starting an epic adventure as an old man; Paul had 14 years after his dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus to his first Missionary journey. Don't even get me started on Joseph! David waited years after his annointing by Samuel until he took the throne. Jesus also waited until He was around 30 years old until He started His public ministry.

Why does God wait? More importantly, what happens in this time, what is God doing?

I believe He isn't idly sitting around or forgetting about us. He's preparing us, He's building us up, but He doesn't rush because ultimately there is a perfect time for things, and we can't see that, but He can. The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Shavuot - Pentecost. The birth of the church was at a designated time and in the light of the Jewish Feasts and their significance on creation's time frame, it is highly significant that the church was born on this day.

If things are happening quickly in our lives - because of course, not everything takes a long time - I often think it's like we're in the pressure cooker. The job gets done quicker, but there is some pressure and heat during the process. However, when we're in the other camp, it's like we're in slow cookers so to speak, bubbling away slowly, He's tenderising the meat, cultivating the flavours of patience, endurance, compassion and love.

A long wait often means the lessons learnt during the wait are essential to the plan He has ahead for us. So the wait may depend partly on us and our willingness to be prepared and moulded.

I spend a lot of my life waiting. Not for just for God to move - just waiting in general. Waiting in queues, waiting in traffic jams, waiting for food to cook, waiting in for deliveries, waiting for children (to get dressed, eat, or basically do anything they are asked to do!)....and the list goes on.
But whatever we're waiting for, we are telling a story: our waiting is like a book telling others all about who we are. We radiate a very unique vibe when we're waiting, just take a look at your neighbouring drivers in a long traffic jam! We can wait well or we can be impatient, angry, frustrated waiters. Now, I'm quite impatient in the car and I get seriously frustrated on the road. But I've started changing my car habits; now my traffic jams are an opportunity to pray or praise God. Ignorant drivers are a signal from heaven of someone to pray for and bless right there in the moment. When I'm waiting for God I want to be waiting well and I've realised that the waiting I show in my book when I'm waiting on God speaks volumes.

As I look at my heroes in the faith for some encouragement, I realise that the waiting - even though sometimes very long - does not necessarily equal wilderness. David was annointed as king many years before he took the throne, yet the years he spent waiting drew him so close to God. Abraham spent years waiting for his heir, yet again so close to God had he become, and so firm his trust in Him that at the Akedah, he gave his own son into God's hand. The very son he'd waited many years for.

If you're waiting on God for a fulfilment of a promise or the answer to prayer, take a new view on the situation. A new perspective will turn the wait into a breath of fresh air. The waiting is not designed as a wilderness. It may feel dry and arid at times, but the waiting is a time of growth; a courting and a wooing by God; a time to rest entirely on Him; a time to learn to trust Him even more than before and become more intimate with Him, and to cultivate the characteristics to take on the next step in God's plan for our lives.

An Epiphany at Epiphany

Originally posted here

So I realised that I don't really know what Epiphany is about and what with it being tomorrow, January 6th, I thought I should find out.
Doing a little reading around, it seems it used to be quiet a big celebration day. It is thought to have been celebrated as far back as the 4th century and is associated with the wise men, or Magi, who followed the signs in the heavens (i.e. the unusual star), and visited Jesus with gifts. A story we're all familiar with.

But if you think you know the story because of all the nativity scenes, just take a moment to realise that when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem and had to stay in the stable room, that they wouldn't have lingered there. Matthew 2 v 11 tells us when the Magi finally got to Mary & Joseph, they were in a house : "And on going into the house"

They are thought to have travelled around 1000 miles. That's a long way by camel power, or donkey power - or whatever animal would have been used. In fact even to travel 12 hrs a day, I've roughly calculated that such a journey would take nearly a year.

Now this got me thinking about the dedication that took. Even if my maths is off, and even if it was only 500 miles, it's still around 166 days travelling. That's half a year! ONE WAY!!

Now these men could have stayed home, still believed in God, still believed in the coming Messiah, and still been perfectly happy, perfectly blessed, and not have had to do years of careful study of the sky, understanding the constellations, navigation and taking that long perilous journey. The journey would have been over rough terrain, over deserts, in heat, in freezing night temperatures, with wild animals all around. They didn't even have any guarantee that the signs in the heavens they were seeing were what they hoped they were! The risks, on paper, were far too great to take this journey.

Yet they went anyway. They took a risk, they left their comfortable homes and left their whole lives behind, knowing that they would be gone for around a year - perhaps even longer - that's if they made it there and back in one piece.

I wonder whether I would do this. Would I do that to see a baby? But then I consider, would I do it to see Jesus? And my answer would be yes, unequivocally yes. And that's the same thought that the Magi had - would I take this risk simply to meet the Messiah? It's a yes every time!

Now just because our cosy little nativity scenes show three Magi, assumed because they took three gifts, there's actually no evidence to show there was only three. It's likely that there was a group of them. A group of learned men, who studied the prophecies, and were also students of astronomy who gave their time and energy to their skill. Yet I'm willing to bet, even after years of planning to set off the moment the heavens revealed the signs that they diligently searched for night after night for decades, that when the time came, some of them backed out and didn't go. I reckon there was a split, with some staying put, perhaps having doubts that this was the sign, perhaps some just deciding the journey wasn't worth it, and then the hardcore few who decided they'd take the risk and go.

Then I had an epiphany about Epiphany: We have a similar choice to these Magi. We have the choice to stay where we are in our Christian walk, to study the word, enjoy our Christianity in the comforts we have, or we can follow the signs and go deeper. We can take a leap of faith when God calls us to do so, and actually get closer to our Messiah. The journey will be long, the path crossing deserts and dangers, not even knowing where we are going, or how we're actually going to get there.

But I think at some point in our Christian lives, God gives us the choice that the Magi had- stay here, or take a leap of faith and go and meet the Messiah? For us, the 'meeting our Messiah' is a deeper relationship with Him. It is a process or journey of Romans 12 v 2 - "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" and destination of 2 Corinthians 3 v 18 "And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another"

I think He calls everyone to take this journey, a journey from merely study and knowing of Him to true faith in Him and seeing Him, knowing Him more fully. It's then up to us if we accept. Many don't, and that doesn't mean they're less saved, or less Christian. But they miss out on the very thing Jesus came to give us - Abundant Life. I used to think this was living life in comfort and abundant earthly blessing, but now I know it's not just knowing of Him, it's knowing HIM for there's no earthly treasure that could compare. For He IS life.

Don't put Christmas in a Box

Originally posted here on Steemit.com

It's just that time of year when we're packing Christmas away, putting it all back in boxes and storing it away in attics, garages or spare rooms for another 11 months. Lounges up and down the country are looking bare and empty as walls, doors and shelves are void of tinsel, cards and Christmas ornaments. 

As the twinkly lights are gone and we revel in the extra space in the house, we need to make an effort to not pack Christmas away for the year. The decorations, the tree, the fairy lights are not Christmas, and we can easily take the 'out of sight, out of mind' approach when we put away the decorations. We don't think about the wonderful message of Christmas again. Up it pops in the loft with the tree. 

Our thoughts at this time are on our "resolutions" to improve ourselves, lose weight, get fit or whatever we've decided we must do this year. Now I'm not a New Year's Resolution kind of girl. I don't make them (mainly because my shiny new year very often becomes tainted with my failures in the first few weeks....or days even! This marring of my brand new year by a big fat pig out pretty much ends up setting the scene of the next few months as I mull over my continual failings. I hate this, so I decided to make a change as and when the need arose. I don't wait til new year, I start right where and when I am. I am a girl of the NOW, just like the bible calls me to be and then I fall and stumble I remember the words of CS Lewis and pick myself up again and carry on. " "No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time!" ~ C.S. Lewis)

Anyway, I digress somewhat. What would we say about Christmas if we were to describe it, what is the essence of the season? In addition to the Christmas nativity account, we'd say it was a season of goodwill, spreading love, being with family, enjoying time together, giving gifts, seeing loved ones, sending cards and well wishes, catching up with people.

Whatever your goals or resolutions this year, or even if you haven't set any, make a decision to unpack Christmas every day. Every day you can wake up and be kind, give an unexpected gift to someone - just because! Make a donation to charity, help someone you've never helped, smile at people as you pass them, call in on people to check how they are, send a card to an old friend telling them you're thinking of them, volunteer one weekend somewhere, be thoughtful on the roads, leave a tip at a cafe, make a gift for your loved ones......go to church and see what it's like at a different time of year! Because Christmas isn't trees and stars, or crackers and baubles, it's LOVE.

Each day we can make a decision to just be a little more kinder, a little more gracious, a little more thankful, a little more loving, a littler more humbler, a little more generous than the day before.

Don't pack Christmas away for the year, keep it in your heart and live it every day!