Show Me the Weird Thing

06.11.19. You may have noticed a lapse of posting due to a special social event of the summer, my mom-in-law's wedding!

If your vision of the small town pastoral couple is the quiet life of a village parson living in the modest rectory where steeple bells toll the call to worship across the dell and cherry blossoms gently blow on the breeze, you may have read too many Jane Austen books.

Don't get me wrong, I believe the ministry life is one of the best out there, because of the connections and the community and the opportunities of building a life with the common goal of sharing in relationship with God. Alas, there are toilets to be cleaned, bake sales to organize, choirs to direct, Sunday school classes to be taught, pianos to be played, volunteers to lassoed and chickens to be fried! All this while keeping your own home together and being able to drop it all should someone go into the hospital or your hubby-pastor invites the board of deacons over for coffee and homemade peach cobbler immediately following the Sunday night service or your own children start puking -- which, by the way, intermittent, projectile vomit always seems to happen on Sunday morning!

My in-laws lived in the parsonage steps away from the church where they ministered just outside of Tulsa. He loved to immerse himself in the community and she worked beside him. After Paps died, her life changed dramatically. His death meant they were released from the present commission and she needed a new home.

The family helped pack and relocate all of her adult life into a moving van bound for Oklahoma City, where she would start her new life as a widow. This she did for almost 10 years until an 81 year old widower asked her to go out for dinner. On Saturday, June 8th, they started a together-life. 

Over the weekend, I didn't ditch my 100 Days of Summer Devos, we were too busy with the #momsgettingmarried weekend to blog about them. I would encourage you to purchase a copy of Lysa TerKeurst's EMBRACED to catch what I couldn't write about. I did highlight key thoughts:

Meeting with God before we set out working for Him is a place where we are fueled by His presence and power. "This is the daily sacred exchange where ministry duty turns into pure delight." I want to be busy doing the Lord's work WITH the Lord not as a lone ranger.

Lysa repeats a prayer before she meets with God in this "daily sacred exchange." Her simple prayer reminded me of the one I pray not nearly as book-worthy, nonetheless, effective. My pre-devo prayer: God, show me the weird thing I've never seen, before, in Your Word. And, show me how to apply it, today.

Spending time with Him consistently places us in a position of hearing what deep, divine treasures He wants to reveal in our everyday, mundane things, but we've got to look for it. As we develop the spiritual muscle of looking for Him, "we become changed people who live out the reality of God" and don't need to feel overlooked by everyone else, because we are "handpicked by God" to experience His checklist.

There is a pattern. Do you see it? Intimacy. It's not like our human version which holds back a portion of ourselves until we feel enough time has gone by that the other person has proven they are trust-worthy. God jumps in on Day 1 with an invitation to seek spending time with Him with every ounce of our being. With great delight, He wants to show us the hidden treasures and the weird things while on the greatest adventure that has its starting point, here and now, and continues on into eternity. 

Trust the Lord from the bottom of your heart;
Don't try to figure everything out on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do and everywhere you go;
He'll keep you on track!

Proverbs 3:5-6 msg 

You can have that intimacy. If you're unsure as to how that happens, message me!