Life in Words

"Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means 'the LORD will provide'). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" Genesis 22:14 There are times when we are called to be still and wait on God's timing. Then there are other times when we are called to move first in faith to see the provision of God. Abraham was not given the ram before he went up the mountain. He was not given the ram halfway up the mountain. He was not even told there was going to be a ram provided. Abraham was asked to do something in faith and he did it. First came the obedience, then came the miraculous provision. If he had waited for provision before starting his journey, he would not have received it. If he had stopped halfway through his journey, he still would not have received it. Even if he made it all the way to the top of the mountain, he still wouldn't have seen that ram until he had fully obe

“...for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:11) This became my mantra the years we waited for a house to become available in the specific city that we knew God had called us to move to. All those with good intentions encouraged us to rethink about choosing a wider perimeter, but we knew that we were meant to live within this specific city. Two years past and we still had not been successful in purchasing a home. This waiting time in between receiving a word and the fulfillment of it is one of the hardest and most frustrating. If we are not careful, we can hold onto that promise so tightly that we squeeze the life out of our present. What happens if I heard incorrectly? What if it wasn’t really God? What if I am missing something? The questions and the agony of the waiting suffocate the joys of the present... In the meantime, our kids are still celebrating milestones, our present responsibilities still require completion, and our awareness of the “smaller”

Standing several feet taller than the average man, Goliath was no ordinary foe. He taunted the army of Israel for days before a young shepherd boy decided to face him without any armor. While listening to this story with my kids this morning, one particular part of the story jumped at me. "Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, 'Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul ?' " (1 Samuel 17:8a)(emphasis mine) He called them "servants of Saul." He didn't call them the army of Israel, God's chosen people, nor the army of God. Nothing close to what their true identity was. Now Saul (the king at the time) did not appear to be a very brave man from what I understand about him. He didn't volunteer to fight Goliath. He didn't even volunteer to go speak to him. He was only offering a reward (a very large one at that) to the person brave enough to stand up against Golia

For someone who has never been very good at math, I sure like formulas! My sister told me the other day that my brother-in-law wondered why I wasn't an engineer since I value and prize order, organization, straight lines and routines so much. (She informed him that I sincerely lack in the area of mathematical expertise which quickly took engineering off the career table for me in college). Duty and responsibility are probably some of my loudest personality traits. This becomes a problem when I let those two parts take over in my spiritual life. I begin to recite prayers like formulas assuming they will work because of the power of the words, not the power of the Father. I begin to faithfully read my devotionals to check off my to do list, not because I'm sitting at His feet to listen. I begin to sing worship songs at church expecting the same revelations, not because I'm seeking His face. Order, familiarity, formulas, routine ... these are my places of com