.I am humbled to be the daughter of the Creator of the Universe and the "little sister" of the LORD Jesus Christ. What a family! What a fellowship of believers! I am so blessed!
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Sadly though, there are many days that, as part of the family of God, I take my eyes off of Jesus, who is my LORD and Savior. I then become unfocused and get discouraged. Who moved? Me!
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There are other times when I don't move away and life is still full of difficult circumstances. I have witnessed and/or experienced horrific circumstances associated with pain, sickness, disabilities, disorders, clinical depression, surgeries, deaths of loved ones, loss of jobs, near bankruptcy, murder, adultery, abuse, abandonment, deception, gossip, anger, violence... you get the picture. Two little says that often come to the forefont of my brain are:
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- Life is hard, but God is good!
- GIGATTAATTGIG: God Is Good All The Time And All The Time God Is Good
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I'm not a kidding when I say LIFE IS HARD! Difficult circumstances come to christians and non-christians. Yet, we walk by faith and not by sight. I get my comfort from the Holy Spirit of God. I get my encouragement from how He works through His people. I am so thankful that God has given me family - physical and spiritual family! What a blessing it is that because of Jesus Christ, we can be family!
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I'd like to share with you a few "family" blessings that I have experienced this week over a little more than a 24 hour span.
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1. I made a new friend when I became an adjunct instructor at a nearby university last fall. This new friend is a baptized believer who is one of the administrative assistants of the department that I teach for. She just happens to love babies. "W" has been so encouraging to me in my new role as grandma "Gigi". She's checked the pictures on Chloe's blog and is always asking for updates. She told me that she had put together a basket of goodies for Chloe. We kept missing each other for me to pick it up.
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"W" has some severe heart troubles, is a single parent, cares for her grandson, and works full time. What?!! She had time to think of my grandbaby! Amazing! She may have physical heart problems but "W" has one of the biggest spiritual hearts I've seen. She has become one of my GIGATTAATTGIG friends. What a sister! I was in the offices on Wednesday and picked up her gift(s) for Chloe. I captured the laundry basket full of goodies on my cell phone:
2. It was also on Wednesday that I began experiencing difficulty with the ringer on my cell phone not making a sound. I kept missing calls yesterday, too. Several people called Steve or the church office trying to contact me. Steve had come home for lunch and had not been gone very long until he showed up again. He said that the head of my department at the university had been trying to contact me about a job. What?!! I had been looking for jobs elsewhere because, as a rule at this university, people who have not completed their doctorates do not get full time jobs with benefits. In talking with her on Wednesday, "DC" had told me that there would be a place for me to continue adjuncting in the fall. Yet, yesterday God answered my prayers through this fellow believer. "DC" offered me a full time position with benefits in their teacher training department, after which she said, "Patti, God is good!" Yes, He is! GIGATTAATTGIG!
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3. I haven't known the name, John Waller, for very long. Yet, now that I know about him, I love the way he uses his gift of music for the LORD. You may know "JW" as the author of the theme song in the movie FIREPROOF. Tuesday in Bible class, we were talking about God being the "running Father". Someone brought up that "JW" had a song about that. So, later that day I searched for the song online. Not only did I find the song, He Still Calls Me Son, but I have put it on this playlist as #3, right after #2 - his FIREPROOF theme song, While I'm Waiting. Both songs so intimately depict the christian life...moving away from God, moving back to God, trusting God, waiting on God...
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I know a few things about WAITING. Lately, it's become so heavy on my heart to watch our daughter Jessica continue her suffering. I will also admit that although I continued to trust God, I had begun to ask "What if I don't find a full time job?"
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Then, in the blink of an eye, a 1:56 p.m. phone call yesterday ended my search for a job for fall. I sat down at my computer around 3 p.m. to write a few thank you notes. My waiting for a full time job was over. In my inbox, I found two encouraging notes to me. The first was sent at 1:59 p.m. while I was on the phone with "DC", "W" was emailing me about the new job that I was in the process of accepting: "GIGATTAATTGIG!!!!! You will be one happy lady!!! I will pray all weekend!!! It is yours!!!!!"
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The second email in my inbox was a response to a note that I had posted to "JW" on Facebook. After the song search on Tuesday, I had written him a message that in part said:
"Praising God for your ministry to so many hearts...
my daughter waits for relief from 13 years
of almost 24/7 migraines...
my friend is in her sixth month in a hospital room
with her 3 year old who waits for a new heart...
singing... singing...
I'M WAITING ON YOU LORD... "
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What a treat! What a blessing when John responded to me, at 2:44 p.m. yesterday with encouraging words.
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4. Later in the day, I viewed a video that our oldest son, Jordan, had posted on Facebook. Although, I have witnessed "The Jesus Painter" in person before, I had never seen this. What!?? Amazing! The background music to this video is the same song that is our theme song on this blog this week: ABOVE ALL. It encouraged my spirit! It filled my soul! Coincidence? I don't think so! Jesus Christ is not only LORD, He is the only name under heaven by which we can be saved.... He is above all, in all, through all, and in Him all things hold together... .
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Before you watch this amazing video, please know this... in the same 24 hours that I experienced these 4 grace-filled blessings, difficult circumstances still abound as I wait on the LORD:
- All of our cars have something wrong with them that must be repaired. As I type this, Steve is standing out in the driveway waiting for the tow truck to come for his pickup.
- It seems that our refrigerator and dryer are about to go out.
- We're having power surges in our house and blown fuses on a regular basis... some brothers in Christ will come tomorrow to see if they can find the problem.
- Our house is a mess and we have overnight guests this weekend.
- Steve's back injury is really bothering him this week. Last week, he was down flat.
- Jessica just told me that her pain level is a 9 out of 10.
- Something is wrong with my computer and it has taken me over 12 hours to post this:)
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I must remind myself continually that we are on a difficult journey that is made easy when we keep walking with our LORD, Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus, we are family! Please join me this summer as we study how to make it our goal to please Him as virtuous women!
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