Me

Last Thursday I was priviledged to speak to the ladies of the Newberg church. Since we have been in the Portland area, the Newberg church has been a blessing to our family. The congregation is an array of new converts and pillars in Pentecost. Yet, young and old alike, they are the most loving kind people I have met. As I spoke to the ladies, I commented on how every time I try to shake their hands, they bear-hug me instead. It is a blessing to have such a warm feeling from people who just two months ago didn't even know us.

My topic for my talk was "me". Now if you know me very well, you will know that I'm not real fond of talking about me. I can brag on my husband, raise up my children but lets not put me in any of the lights. I usually get very ill feeling at the thought of it. But some how Thursday night was different, with the help of God.

As I began to study for this talk my mind wandered back to my childhood and upward. As I did, I marveled at just how many times God intervened in my life. No, not in the ways some may think but just in a way that is far more humbling. Jeremiah 1:5 (KJV) says "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." I'm not saying I'm a prophet but I am saying He knew me before I knew myself. I realized, throughout my life, God has always been right beside me, sometimes in front of me but always with me. Isn't that just like God.

Like the Prophet, Jeremiah, we are His children and He cares for us. My favorite scripture for years has been Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." But as I studied more I think I enjoyed The Message version better, for it says "This is God's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." Jer. 29:10-11 (The Message). I know it's not as orthodox as the KJV but hey, isn't it true God always shows up and takes care of us. He has the perfect plan for us in His time. Not sooner, not later. We can try and pursuade Him, reason with Him and even beg Him to do it in our time, but He inevitably always does it in His time, simply because He knows what He's doing.

What's this got to do with my lecture? Well, as I studied more and read more, I realized, I am right where God had intended me to be all the time. No I'm not settled in and planting roots, I'm simply content in whatever He wants me to be in at this present time. Would I rather have a clear picture of my future, YOU BETCHA I would. I'm the one who used to plan to the minute what we were doing on our vacation (before we actually left on our vacation) and got a lot stressed if it wasn't followed. But He knew me before I knew myself and now I can say it's all in His hands. Jeremiah 17:7-10 tells us "7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." I am blessed because I trust in Him. I have a hope, I have a purpose and most of all I have a future. I am thankful today that I can put my trust in God and know He cares for me. Have you put your trust in Him today?