Between the Rains – I borrowed this title from a Beth Moore study session – as soon as Beth gave the name of the session, I knew it was for me.  I knew God had ordained my steps to do this study, if for no other reason, but to hear this session.  To be completely honest, entering this night of study, I was down, wore out, questioning everything I thought God had told me and wondering what in the world is going on with me.

Saturday, July 9, 2011, a day forever burned in my memory.  One of the things I never imagined would happen to us – we watched our house burn to the ground.  Almost all of our earthly possessions were lost in the fire.  We woke up Sunday morning with no home, no possessions and unsure of what was in store for the future; but one thing we were certain of – we knew who held our future.

As the kids watched the house burn, their questions continued to multiply.  Barrett thought since my wedding ring was in the house, that meant Jason and I were no longer married.  Madison wanted to know if we were ever going to have another home.  There were more questions than answers, but through it all, I experienced the peace that passes all understanding.  God started pouring out incredible blessings on us immediately – family, friends, neighbors, and strangers gathered around us providing for us in so many different ways.  We were in awe of the love, compassion and support we received.

God has taught me so much over the last year –   first and foremost, everything in this world can be lost in a moment; that is not where our treasure should be.  Second, I am more focused than ever that God has a specific purpose for my life and He will mold and make me, even take me through fire, to accomplish His purpose.

We have experienced more trials during this last year than I thought was possible.  God doesn’t promise a life of perfection, but He promises to work everything together for His good.  Through it all, the Holy Spirit has filled me with His joy, His peace and His strength.  I still don’t know what the future holds, but I know as long as I am on this earth, God has work for me to do.

I would be lying if I said I don’t have moments of fear, wondering what’s next, or will He come through on this “one”…..but when fear enters, I can proclaim 2 Timothy 1:7 – God did not give us a spirit of fear but of POWER and of love and sound mind.  I can run to my Heavenly Father and take shelter in Him; for He is my refuge, my protector, my strength and my power.

Today we lost a precious 18 year old girl named Ariel Gandy.  Ariel was a warrior in more than one sense of the word.  Ariel was a warrior of God’s army and Ariel was a warrior in her battle with cancer.  Diagnosed 20 months ago, Ariel was only given 3-6 months to live.  Her determination and will to never give up was inspiring to so many across this world; and when I say across this world, that is no exaggeration.  Her story was shared in other countries by missionaries who were moved by her determination and people in far away states heard of her story and started prayer connections.  Tallahassee fell in love with Ariel, from her exciting time she spent with the Florida State Football team, to time with our local fire fighters at fundraisers to fight cancer, to her special night at Leon’s Homecoming, she always inspired people to never give up.

Saddened is not a strong enough word for how I am feeling due to the loss of Ariel.  My heart is heavier then I have ever experienced and I cannot imagine the grief her family is experiencing during this time.  My prayer is people will remember Ariel’s determination and fight to never give up.  As her step-Mom Jane said, she was a true reflection of Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Knowledge is information; wisdom is knowing what to do with that information.  There have been many days where I needed wisdom.  Some of those days I heard God clearly and knew exactly what He wanted me to do and how to handle the given situation.  Other days not so much.  So why, why is it that I can hear Him clearly some days and not every day?

God says that He will give us wisdom as we obey what we already know. Obedience is the key that unlocks the door to knowing God’s will.  When we obey on the smallest detail, we will discover that we know what to do next.

“If any man will DO His will, he shall know of the doctrine; whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”  John 7:17

“Now therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is mine.”  Exodus 19:5

“But if you shall indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak; then, I will be an enemy unto your enemies, and an adversary unto your adversaries.”  Exodus 23:22

“But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die as one without knowledge.” Job 36:12

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” Jeremiah 7:23

“Then he said unto him, Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion shall slay you.  And as soon as he departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.”  1 Kings 20:36

“And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:  “Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.”   2 Kings 18:11,12

And you shall again obey the Lord and observe all His commandments which I command you today.  Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.  Deuteronomy 30:8-10

My prayer today, Father, I choose to obey you in all you put before me.  I know you give wisdom generously to all who ask – I humbly ask for your wisdom.

Comparison – that is what I want to talk about today.  Do you find that you compare yourself to others?  I do this more than I would care to admit.  I really can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t do this.  I remember in college, participating in several pageants and comparing myself to the other girls; when I started my career I found myself comparing myself to other women who I considered successful.  Why?  Why did I and do I find myself comparing me to others?  Maybe part of it is my competitive nature, but regardless of why, comparison to others does nothing but create insecurity and keeps me from pursuing the plan God has for me.  God did not create me to be exactly like anyone else.  God did not create me for a plan exactly like someone else’s.  God did not create me to be a duplicate of anyone else.  God created me in His image for a specific purpose.  Ephesians 2:10 says.  For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand so that we could walk in them.  God prepared my purpose beforehand.  My purpose is different than anyone else’s and He has equipped me with talents and gifts that differ from anyone else.  And the same is true for you, God created you for a unique purpose.  He did not create you to mimic someone else’s life.  He has gifted you and will equip you with everything you need to be successful towards accomplishing YOUR purpose.  Jeremiah 29:11 says For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the Lord,” plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Comparison can also create envy of others.  Why do they seem to have it all, why does their life seem so perfect?  Why isn’t our house as nice as theirs, why do they get all this free time to spend with their family and have fun yet I have to work all of the time, why can’t our business be as successful as theirs; why, why, why?  Envy is defined as “a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities or luck, desire to have a quality, possession, or other attribute belonging to someone else.”  Scripture says we are to keep our eyes on Him, not others.  Isaiah 26:3-4 says  You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

So bottom line, I want my focus to be on Christ, not comparing myself to others, whether it be with possessions, business, ministry or anything else.  I don’t have the same gifts and talents as the next person and that is okay because God created me for His specific purpose and is equipping me to complete it. 

Today I have included an option to watch on video or read the blog 🙂

Video Blog:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_nAmiBRINU&feature=youtu.be

I have considered writing on this topic for sometime now.  Pride, this has been a very real struggle for me over the years; although it took me a long time to come to the conclusion that it was pride.  It reared it’s nasty head in so many facets.  One of the major struggles for me was with our business.  Jason and I had a business opportunity in 2001 in a predominately male industry  (we partnered with a friend in this venture – another male).  It was my mission to prove I was just as valuable as the men in our industry.  I frequently reminded people I was not “Suzy Homemaker” and I was just as much part of this business as Jason and our other partner.  To top it all off I frequently was asked about “my husbands” business.  Oh, that would infuriate me!  Why do you assume it is my husbands?  As God started to transform me, He started showing me how proudful I was in so many different areas, especially with this.  I slowly realized how destructive my pride was and how much God hates the sin of pride.  This wasn’t the only area I struggled with pride; in making decisions, it seem to come back to what about me and how will this make me look, feel and will I be the “winner”.  My marriage suffered because of my pride – “I’m not going to say I’m sorry”, everything was a competition and I wanted to win, I wanted to be the sole decision maker.  Thankfully, I can share this with using a past tense format – although I’m not perfect and still deal with the issue of pride, thankfully not to the same degree.  I guess that goes back to growth in Christ; the more we spend time with Him, the more we act like Him.  

I am getting ready to embark on a Beth Moore bible study called James, Mercy Triumphs.  At the introduction of the participant’s workbook Beth outlines what to expect throughout the study and gives five different levels of participation.  I love this structure, giving everyone the right fit for where they are right now.  Some schedules are busier than others and some have other studies going on at the same time, etc.  One of the options (and it is an option – not a requirement – I don’t want to panic anyone considering a Beth Moore study) is to memorize the book of James.  She suggest taking 5 months to tackle this; not memorizing the entire book in 8 weeks.  To me, that sounds doable so I told Jason my plan and he looked at me and laughed.  Yes, looked at me and laughed and said I would not be able to memorize the book verbatim – so the challenge was really on!  Tell me I can’t do something and you just put fuel in a fire.  So I got a jump start on my memorization and I am on chapter 1 verse 5 today.  I have read James a number of times and specifically this verse, but today I saw it differently then ever before.

TED is an acronym we use in part of our customer service training (thank you Mike Anderson). Part of what we teach is the importance of developing a relationship with each customer and provide Trust, Empathy and Direction.  With the busyness of all the tasks that need to be accomplished, it is easy to fall into the habit of “processing” the customer rather than building a relationship with them.  It is important that we build trust with the customer, we empathize (sincerely, not a fake or shallow gesture) with them and we must provide them direction on how to navigate the repair process.   As I was thinking about our call as believers to be leaders in this world, I realized we too can fall into this trap of just “processing” people.  Our lives are jam packed to where we live in a “can’t slow down mode” and we tend to overlook building relationships.  In order for us to be effective leaders , we must embrace these three qualities – Trust, Empathy and Direction.

Before you can lead or have influence with anyone, you must first earn their TRUST.  Take a look at Joseph with me.  I think we all would agree he influenced others in every capacity he was in.  First, in Potiphar’s home, he quickly earned Potiphar’s trust and was put in charge of everything he owned, then when Joseph was thrown in prison, there he earned the trust of the prison commander and all the prisoners were put under Joseph’s control, then he gained the trust of Pharoah and was put in control of all of Egypt.  I would say trust is an integral part of leadership and we are all called to be leaders influencing the world for Christ.

Secondly, in order to lead people you must be in relationships and empathize with them.  We must have EMPATHY for people, to be able to feel compassion of where they are.  During Jesus’ ministry here on earth He demonstrated compassion over and over again.  Matthew 9:36  says “He was moved with compassion.”.   If He was not moved with compassion He would not have taken on the form of a man, suffered and died for all of us.  He left His throne in Heaven with His Father for us.  That is the ultimate compassion.  I could continue siting all of His miracles healing and helping people, nevertheless bottom line, do we have compassion for others?

Finally, as believers we should be giving DIRECTION and pointing people to an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.    Please don’t misunderstand me here, we are not to manipulate people, or try to “convert” them, rather our life should be an example for them to see Christ.  We should be helping them navigate through this life, however before we can give direction, we must have trust and compassion.

In our business the term “pre-accident condition” is used quite often.  Our job is to take a vehicle that is damaged and repair it to pre-accident condition.  When a vehicle comes in one of our shops for repair, the first thing we do is take the damaged parts off of the vehicle and determine the extent of harm. Most of the time there is damage behind the panels that could not be seen but in order to repair the vehicle and make all the new parts fit, the hidden damage has to be repaired.  The same is true with us, we all come into God’s shop damaged and most of the time there is hidden damage that no one else can see.  Part of the sanctification process is to repair all of the damage, including the hidden damage in order to get to Christ like condition.  It is not a “fun” process.  The Bible talks about being refined through fire, crucify the flesh daily, those are not “sexy” and attractive descriptions .  The Bible also says narrow is the gate to heaven and wide is the gate that leads to destruction.  Many will enter the wide gate, it’s a much easier path.  Are you willing to fight the battle and  be on the narrow road? The amazing part about it is we don’t have to rely on our strength for this battle, we are made strong through Him.