Dangerous Trust

It’s been a big week for Chris and I because we were able to announce in this week’s service that we are expecting a baby in December!

Ever since finding out a lot of people have been impressing on me how different life will be when we have children, and how it’s like nothing you’ve experienced before.

I don’t think any first time parent can really get their head around all the changes that are about to happen in their life, and for a Christian, you really have no other option other than to just trust God for the future.

Trusting God for the future seems to be a very easy thing to do when it’s unfolding the way you expect. (And so far, with the pregnancy that’s been the case, thank God). But a few unexpected occurrences at church recently have shown me that really, it's lot harder to trust God’s got the future in hand when things happen in a way you’re not expecting.

I’m not one for unpredictability to be honest, I like things planned and organised. However God doesn’t always let me in on what He’s planning and that’s when I have to trust Him all the more. When it’s not quite clear why things are happening the way they are.

When questions come to you like: Why hasn’t God moved yet? How is this ever going to work out? Why isn’t God doing what I expected Him to? You’ll find you are having to trust God more than you feel comfortable or safe doing. But the bible tells us over and over not to play it safe but to give ourselves completely over to God.

Remember God’s words from Isaiah 55  

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

 neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth,     so are my ways higher than your ways    and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We’re not always meant to know what God’s up to, but we are always meant to trust Him to get it right. If you are trusting God to the point where you feel vulnerable because He’s more in control than you are – your faith is growing. It may not feel like it, but it’s a good thing. Trust Him, and do not panic.

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Interested in more?

Check out some of our Sunday sermons at: http://www.buresbaptistchurch.org/sermon_catchup.php

A Summer of Celebration?

So far it seems to have been a ‘summer of celebration’ for me, although perhaps less of the ‘summer’ and more of the ‘celebration’ if you’re watching the weather.

We’ve had jubilee parties, my grandparents’ 60^th wedding anniversary, the 20 year anniversary of the Anglican vicar and his wife coming to Bures, Father’s Day, my own wedding anniversary, family reunions, birthdays, and there’s lots more to come. By the time England win the Euro’s and make a sweep of the golds at the Olympics, I imagine Tesco will be well and truly out of champagne.

It’s got me to thinking a little bit about celebrating.

Celebrating is after all, very biblically based. Right back into the beginnings of Christian history the early Jews were taught to party and celebrate their blessings.  Celebrations are good for morale. They also call us to thank God for all the good things He gives and to spend time with our loved ones.

But if you’ve been feeling a bit ‘celebrated-out’, don’t feel bad. Sometimes when we celebrate a lot, we don’t find the time to talk about the things that are difficult in our lives. That need to share our pain, as well as our joy, can start to make all the partying seem a bit hollow.

It’s not that life isn’t worth celebrating, it’s not that we don’t have an amazing Saviour to praise and it’s not that there’s anything wrong with the parties, it’s just that, the bad things in life keep ticking over, just the same as the good.

The good doesn’t undo the bad, though it might pleasantly distract for a while. Your problems and struggles still need recognising, and dealing with. Don’t let them eat away at you inside while you plaster your jubilee smile on for the umpteenth time. Make time to discuss life’s hardships with people who will listen and give you wise advice.

You need to know that when the last party popper goes off (and it will eventually), you’ve got an ordinary life to go back to which isn’t falling apart around you. So give yourself a break, make space in all the celebrations to attend to your needs.

Too much on to be a servant?

My word for the day this week has been a series focusing on being ‘servant-hearted’. Not finding any task “below” you, because Jesus didn’t. He washed the feet of his friends and died as a criminal for them. Jesus was the greatest authority ever to walk this Earth, how does our status compare to that?

Sometimes I don’t want to do menial tasks, perhaps not because I think they are above me, but because I think I have more important things to do. That is a difficult balance. This morning I have a blog to write, and studies to get on with, but I also have a lot of preparatory work to do for my college interview which is likely to be sooner than I thought. I also have our 9-13s club to prep for Friday and obviously a service to prepare later in the week. But it’s just me holding the fort at toddler group this morning, so I have lots of mums and children to see and at the end of it all, rather a lot of toys to put away, and a nappy bin to empty.

I don’t think clearing up etc is below me, I do it most weeks (although usually with 1 or 2 others) but it’s seems odd to me that this should be God’s priority, in a week when so much is on. But various people are away, so it seems like the toys and the nappy bins are my responsibility this week and God is going to have to take care of the rest.

Ever feel like that? Lots of important tasks looming over you but you don’t seem to be able to get much further than the nappy bin? Maybe God is teaching you (and me) something about humility, something about trusting Him.  I don’t know how or when half of these things will get done, but I keep praying God will help me organise my time and I believe He will.

In the mean time, perhaps it will turn out the menial WAS the important and the ‘important’, well God had it in hand all along. Afterall, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; [and] the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27), He’s used to things being a bit topsy turvy.

Anyway, time to get out of the office and back to these toddlers!