bekahcubed

From Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby:

If you knew all you had was a relationship with God, would you be totally and completely satisfied? Many people would say, “I would like to have that relationship, but I would also like to do something” or “I would like for Him to give me a ministry or something to do.” We are a doing people. We feel worthless of useless if we are not busy doing something. Scripture leads us to understand that God is saying, “I want you to love Me above everything else. When you are in a relationship of love with Me, you have everything there is.” To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the greatest achievement, and the noblest position in life.

And such is my struggle. I seek to be content in my circumstances only to find them changing. I speak of learning contentment in my singleness–and then something happens and I’m fighting that battle all over again. I speak of learning contentment in school–and then something happens and I go over the same road again. Because learning to be content in my circumstances only lasts as long as my circumstances last. (Not long!)

Perhaps the problem is that I’m seeking contentment in my circumstances rather than satisfaction in Christ.

If I am satisfied in Christ, then regardless of my circumstances, He is my all. If I am satisfied in Christ, everything else is just an extra. If I’m satisfied in Christ, those external circumstances have no bearing on my contentment.

Paul says “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Phil 4:11) How can he learn contentment in every state except that his contentment is found outside of his state? Contentment is found in Christ.

I was reflecting on Psalm 42 this morning: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And [why] are you disquieted within me? Hope in God.” I’ve often thought of “Hope” as being the main word of those verses. Hope. Hope. Hope. Yet I realized this morning that “hope” is not the key word, “in God” is the key phrase.

What is hope unless it is placed in the right someone? It’s an empty campaign slogan.

My satisfaction, my hope must be found in Christ alone.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

We’re expecting guests for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow noon–sixty-five guests, to be exact.

The Life Groups delivered bags of food to several families from our community who were in need–and followed up with an invitation to dinner tomorrow at church. Eleven families have confirmed that they will be there–about 65 people.

Pastor Jason sent out the word so everyone could prepare. The women were urged to bring extra food; Pastor Jeremy went into overdrive trying to find enough workers to handle the 40 extra children that we expect in children’s church.

I hadn’t signed up to bring anything–but I’d planned on doing it anyway. This news means I amped up my preparations. A 9×13″ fruited jello salad sits in my refrigerator. Five pounds of potatoes are sliced and in the crockpot on low overnight for mashed potatoes. And three pounds of onions are in another crockpot on low overnight–caramelized onions to (hopefully) cover the taste of the (in my opinion, awful) turkey the church is buying.

I accidentally sliced one of my fingernails in my preparations, and now my hands reek of onions. But I can’t help but be excited. We’ve got houseguests coming tomorrow and everything must be ready.

A thousand thoughts start to dance through my head. Is the nursery prepared? Has Debbie thought of it? Did Tracy find someone else to help me cut desserts? Joanna’s scheduled for the nursery. Is her helper reliable? What if they come for Sunday School? Is John prepared for extra kids? He just started teaching the kid’s Sunday School–I hope everything will work out fine. Just a minute, am I scheduled to be in the nursery during Sunday School? I don’t know, I don’t remember, we’ve had so many re-schedules this month. Tracy said she knew for sure that I wasn’t in the nursery for the service. So that at least is good. But what about…

My thoughts run on and on. I want us to make a good impression. I want them to be welcome. I want for us to show them love. I want for there to be plenty of food. I want for their children to be excited. I want for the parents to feel relaxed. I want them to be blessed.

Houseguests, strangers, walking through our doors. We offer them food because we want them to have life. I want them to taste and see that the Lord is good–and come back for another bite.

I just thought of something to say. Really.

I’m going through Experiencing God, an awesome Bible study, at my church–and God revealed something to me today.

I was complaining to God this morning when suddenly the first principle of Experiencing God popped into my head: God is always at work around me. And then it struck me that I should be asking myself “How is God at work in this situation [that I’m complaining about]?”

And so I’ve been working on being aware today, asking myself where God is at work. And that got me wondering, “Hmm, I wonder how God is at work in my roommate’s life?” Which got me thinking, “Hmm, it’s been a long time since I talked to my roommate.” Which got me thinking, “How can I know how God is working in my roommate’s life–and how can I join God in what He’s doing in my roommate’s life–if I don’t talk to my roommate?” Which inspired me to Facebook my roommate asking if she’d like to do dinner and movie tonight.

She accepted and we enjoyed Cornbread and Chipped Beef Gravy and 101 Dalmatians. We didn’t have a “deep” evening–no theological discussions, no heart baring. We just enjoyed each others’ company.

I didn’t discover what God is doing in Casandra’s life, but I did discover something that He’s doing in mine. He’s showing me that whatever He’s doing, I want to join Him–and whatever I join Him in, I want to do it with my marvelous comrade beside me.