Waiting To Be Rescued?

One day on the Christian radio station, I heard an amazing story of survival. 

A man, his wife, 4 year old son and pilot crashed into the ocean.

It just so happened  a smaller boat was nearby and the people dove in and began the rescue.

It just so happened  a larger boat nearby joined in the rescue. 

It just so happened  there were doctors that began medical assistance immediately.

It just so happened they all survived.

It was an amazing story.  It made me cry.
It was miraculous and could have only been orchestrated
by a Holy and Mighty God.

Honestly, some tears were from joy, some from jealously.

I selfishly wondered why the Lord choose
to deliver some people and not others?

When I find myself having these kind of
wrong thoughts about the Lord,
I seek an answer in the Word and in prayer,
then I might blog about it.
That's how I birthed the blog  God Doesn't Always Deliver.

I have to daily surrender my "right" to plan my own life.

It's ridiculous, when you think about it.
We boldly sing and proclaim that Jesus is Lord of everything,
we gladly give Him all,
He's on the throne,
Take our Lives and Let Them Be,
blah, blah, blah.
Then, in the privacy of our homes and our hearts,
we hold back.


Like kids unwilling to share their toys or treats,
we withhold our
time
checkbook
health
children
time
marriage
jobs
home.


We're all being challenged in one or more of these areas,
that's why we cry out for deliverance.
We're not willing to "share" an area with the Lord.
It belongs to Him, we gave our lives to Him,
we just don't trust Him with His plans for that area.

Let's open our hands and release what we're withholding from the Lord,

then raise our hands in
surrender
understanding
praise
adoration
trust.

Are you waiting to be rescued?

Leave a comment  and let's pray for one another.
If you can't share details, just say unspoken.
I will pray for you and I ask my readers to pray.

Until the Lord delivers us, tread water in faith.
We don't know how our stories end,
but I'm confident it will be like that ocean rescue~
miraculous!

What About Joseph?

This has been a hard post to write.
In fact, I've been struggling with the topic for months.
Maybe longer.

It's hard to face the topic of Joseph.

People honestly love me and try to encourage me

with their thoughts of Joseph,

but they haven't grasped our daily reality.

I know this is the Lord's will.
I accept this by faith.

I long for a little compassion when they remind me of Joseph.

The Innocent Man has to find a way in jail to buy his own clothes,
his own toothpaste, his own shampoo, his own snacks.
He is limited to two shots of insulin a day,
when his doctor had him on a daily regimen of four.
In jail they consider baloney a food,
a food worthy of serving twice a day,
once on white bread, once with gravy.

I think if anyone pictured their innocent loved one in jail,
they would struggle with the story of Joseph, too,
because they would be struggling with having to accept
that this is part of the Lord's plan for their lives.


Not a wedding, not a career, not a public ministry.
Jail.

 I made myself read part of the Scriptures about Joseph.

Shying away from any part of the Lord's Holy Word

is like turning my back on God.

Of course, I was blessed.

As I finally faced that story of Joseph,
I discovered  the first use of the word
deliverance

in the Bible is in the telling of the life of Joseph.

Genesis 45:7

And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth,

and to save your lives by a great

deliverance.

When I walked out of the courtroom

without the Innocent Man  I understood

God doesn't always deliver.

 Deliverance

did not come that day,
despite the tears, prayers and pleadings of many believers
around the United States.

Deliverance
occurs in
God's timing
and
God's way.

If God had delivered Joseph from his brothers out of the pit

and brought him home to his father,

he wouldn't have been able to restore and  save his family.

If God had delivered him after he was sold to the Ishmaelites
he wouldn't have been able to save the nations.

If God had delivered him when he was first jailed
he wouldn't have been able to fulfill God's plan.

 

Each step in Joseph's life of suffering

brought him farther away from the comforts of home and family,

but  into closer fellowship with the Lord.

 

We can easily read about Joseph's sufferings, because we know how it ends.

With the Innocent Man,

we don't know how the story will end.

We don't know how or when

deliverance

will come.

But, we read the story of Joseph for encouragement and hope.

We know who sent Joseph to jail,

even though it may be hard to accept.

Genesis 45:7-8

God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth,

and to save your lives by a great

deliverance.

So now it was not you who sent me here, but God;

We know it was meant for good.

Genesis 50:19-20
 Joseph said to them,
“Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, you meant evil against me;
but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day,
to save many people alive.

By faith, we know
deliverance
will come.

Until
deliverance
comes,
we must live by faith.

God Doesn't Always Deliver

In the past year
deliverance
was always on my heart and mind.

Thousands of Christians were praying for the Innocent Man.
I received a small mountain of encouragement,
verses sent in emails, texts, Facebook and  recited in person,
repeating promises of
deliverance.

This YouTube video by Selah blasted from my computer many times.

We all believed God was going to
deliver
in a mighty way.

When the jury foreman said the word guilty,
we were stunned.
Older believers, whose faith that could move mountains,
were speechless before a holy and mighty God.

We were humbled to realize there was a plan we could not fathom.
Deliverance
was not the plan for January 20, 2012.

 

I read Hebrews 11 last week in my morning devotions.
I was stunned again.
How had I missed this message for almost 30 years?


¹³ These all died in faith,
not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off were assured of them,
embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  


Somehow, I always thought of Hebrews 11 as a chapter of victory,

recording great deliverances and miracles.
I guess I didn't read too clearly.

My heart is beating a different rhythm these days,
 trying to beat in tune with the heart of a God,
whose ways are not my ways and thoughts are not my thoughts.

Clearly, in Hebrews, not all of His  people were delivered on earth.
Instead, He reminds us we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth.

In other words,
we don't belong here.
We belong with Him.


Deliverance
might not come when we think it should,
and sometimes not until we pass from this world.

Life on earth is hard for believers.
The Lord doesn't keep that a secret from His people.

Hebrews 11:35
Women received their dead raised to life again:
and others were tortured,
not accepting deliverance;
that they might obtain a better resurrection:

36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings,

yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,

were tempted, were slain with the sword.

They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,

 being destitute, afflicted, tormented

38 of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and mountains,

in dens and caves of the earth.

Until eternal deliverance comes,
and we get to be with Him,
we know how to act, thanks to Hebrews 11.

v. 5 Enoch pleased God

v. 7 Noah moved with godly fear

v. 8 Abraham obeyed

v. 11 Sarah received strength

v. 27 Moses forsook Egypt (this world!)

If you've trusted Christ as your Savior

 and your name is written in His book of life,

write your name in another book.

Literally, I mean.

Open to Hebrews 11 and pencil in your name and your trial.

Then think how you want your life remembered by others.

Will your faith be recorded,

even though you lived a life of suffering?

Can you walk by faith until you receive eternal

deliverance?

Because God's plan for our trials isn't always

deliverance

on earth.

But, MOM, I Neeeeeeeeed a Horse!

Like most young girls, Beka longs for a horse.

More than longs, she begs for a horse.

Her Daddy, being the kind and kinda' crazy man he is,

once promised her a pony if she never got married

 and lived with us forever.

OK, she was five at the time,

but he doesn't understand the power of words.

She heard the promise of the horse.

At five, she wasn't interested in marital status,

so pledging to be single to be a cowgirl meant nothing to her.

As she grows up, she  now realizes that maybe,

just maybe,

she might want to get married after all.

She wants kids, and she knows she needs a husband,

so the dilmena is pretty big in her 9 year old mind.

But, she really, really, really wants that horse Dad "promised."

"But, Mom, he promised!"

Like wives occasionally have to do,

I had to step up to the plate for my hubby.

I tried explaining to Beka that Daddy was just kidding.

"He promised."

I tried explaining there wasn't enough room in our backyard for a horse.

"Uh, huh, we can get rid of the trampoline."

 I tried explaining there were rules against having a horse in the city.

"Then we can move into the country."

I tried explaining and explaining and explaining.

That girl just wanted a horse.

So, like all good moms,

I got her a horse.

I found this lovely thing on the curb.

For free.

Who in their right mind would want this?

Then I bought this for $2. 

The stick was broken in half.

Who in their right mind would want a Stick Horse with a broken stick?

Combine those two things,

with this little Hubby Dun Did the Honey Do Thing....

and a little spray paint and you have

a

horse.

Can you believe,

I don't have a picture of the horse?

You have to use your imagination,

like I did to make it.

I assure you, it looks real.

I'm sure the neighbors might call the city on me

for unlawfully boarding a horse in the city.

With some boards and two folding chairs,

the horse pulls a wagon.

With a gun and a bandana,

the horse helps catch Bad Guys.

With a little spiritual dreaming on my part,

it's a tangible reminder of a great promise.

Proverbs 21:31

 The horse is prepared for the day of battle,

But deliverance is of the LORD.

Seriously, when I see horses,

I think of this verse.

I'm not just trying to cram a spiritual lesson into a boring blog.

We like to think our own talents, abilities, wisdoms and even

our spiritual understanding and prayers bring  victory.

We're wrong.

Victory or deliverance, is from the Lord.

I don't know about your current situation,

but  some trials have made me cry to the Lord for

deliverance.

We have the easy part,

we prepare the horse.

The Lord's responsible for the hard part,

the deliverance.

Do you need deliverance?

I'd love to pray for you.

Share your heart,

the battle that's raging,

and allow me help prepare your horse for battle.

I'm good at

preparing horses.

God Delivers, But Not Pizza

Maybe it was the pizza delivery boy that spoiled life for me
and corrupted my ability to wait. 

In college Dominos had an amazing policy.

If your hot pizza wasn't delivered to  your doorstep in 30 minutes,

your pizza was free. 

Then, drive-thru's were added to my life. 

You ponder, pay, pick-up then pork-out. 

It's almost that fast.

Now, we have Amazon. 

I can choose almost anything I want and have it on my doorstep in days.

We no longer have to wait very long for anything. 

Service and goods appear at our demand.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that prayer doesn't work the same way. 

Deliverance

 is promised,

but God is NOT a delivery boy. 

 He doesn't answer our prayers on demand like the Dominos driver,

He answers in His perfect timing.

 Deliverance

 isn't always immediate.

Our Heavenly Father makes us wait,

according to His good and perfect will.

Waiting isn't bad.
  An uncooked cake is a puddle of raw ingredients.

A house with one side painted is an eyesore.

They're both unfinished works.

For those who've trusted Christ as our Savior,

we're also unfinished works.

Philippians 1:6

"Being confident of this very thing,

that He who has begun a good work in you

will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

The Lord will complete the good work,

He will bring

deliverance,

in His timing and His way.

Lately, my heart has been crying out for

deliverance.

Several trials in our lives have been on-going

and some have no end in sight.

I remember very few times in 30 years of being a Christian,

when I have felt so burdened.

Many of you have followed and prayed me through

the case of the Innocent Man.

His trial date is set for October 11th and we desperately need prayers.

A believer falsely accused of a crime, he could spend the rest of his life in jail.

I have to be honest and let you dear friends know,

I'm having a hard time trusting the Lord for the outcome of the trial.

I'm longing for

deliverance

and I really wanted it Dominos style, not perfect work style.

The Lord brought this song to my heart and mind

and it made me cry with tears of relief and joy.

Deliverance

will come.

**********

If you care to read some of the story behind the Innocent Man,

I'd love to have you follow these links back to when the heartache began.

Flowers, Chocolates and Tears

When It Rains, It Pours

Project Isaiah 61:1

Lose the World, But Gain Your Soul