Eden 2.0

 Started off perfect. Two people plus God. In slithered Satan. Two people plus Satan. Now it's world 2.0 filled with hate, evil, God's presence only a memory for the miserable couple, now lured from love by greed, barred from their perfect relationship with their Creator. God's world, God's rules! The world still groans from its loss of Eden. We live in the carnage left from this broken family, yet some of us still search for God and, as He promised, Seek and you will find Him, and H, unwilling to make a choice will help you avoid pitfalls created by the fall.

True to our fallen nature, there have often been opportunities to choose Life or various failures-- always with great consequences. Other times we flipped that coin of choice and gambled on the coin landing on edge (what are the odds, really?) 

His chosen people, the Jews, knew their history and yet believed in being broadminded and chose to divide their worship of God with other false Gods. The resulting weakness and discord led to their being conquered time and time again, enslaved by their enemies. Their sorrow led them to repent, return to their true God and being restored in His fellowship--not once, but repeatedly throughout history. You might call it a "repent and repeat" philosophy?

Remember when Abraham offered his nephew first choice in quality pasturelands and Lot chose the lush land near a town where heathen gods were in control. He was saved by his uncle by the skin of his teeth--without his wife, left behind because her longing gaze went back to the easy life they had enjoyed there. Enjoyment of evil lasts only for a time, and then the judgment.

Egypt quickly went from a sanctuary to slave master and Israel gladly followed God's servant Moses who freed them to return home, feeding them daily through the desert, their very clothes never wearing out during their long journey. However, their gratitude to God soon wore thin and they again rolled the dice and gambled, splitting their loyalty with an idol, resulting in all those adults, who had shared this heresy, were doomed to die in the desert, leaving their children to enter the Promised Land. 

Similar accounts abound throughout the Bible, recounting the frequent failures and renewals of this Yo-yo people. 

We're too smart to fall for that, right?  We're sophisticated; we can safely juggle morals and desires, vacillate between faith and fun, right and wrong, temporary happiness and soul-deep joy. We're NOT weak; we're broadminded. Problem:  deep inside we have a moral compass, a small spot in our spirit designed for God's residence and leadership, which He uses to keep us on our walk with Him. We absolutely cannot travel in two directions at once and get anywhere; we cannot have it both ways. There is no neutral goal. Heads or tails?

Every day, you flip that coin, choosing Who you will honor, follow, obey, serve, love. 

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”            Luke 16:13

 Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.        Matthew 7:7

Growing Pains

 Have you ever experienced a loss so painful you described it to yourself as "That just knocked my props right out from under me and where do I go from here?" I have, a few times, but somehow something better followed the devastation, sooner than later. Often the something better came quietly, without trumpets and flashing lights, but quietly, gently, unnoticed unless you're expecting it and watching for it.  So, Child of God, lose that "rained on, poor me" attitude and watch, wait for your Father to show you the next step, but don't sit waiting for a roadmap from where you sit all the way Home.

God has given me a few extra years and a long memory, enabling me to sit, looking back over time and see the path I blindly followed, not knowing how things would end up.  I found a few surprises that gradually increased the strength of my faith and understanding of the God I was born to serve.

The term "double trouble" hardly describes my early 40s--losing my 62-year-old mother to cancer while struggling through a 7-month-long divorce, not something you bounce back from, but gradually I realized new independence and confidence going forward with two daughters in high school and college and then their marriages, then continuing not quite alone, with God. 

I had always been reluctant to quit a job, never trusting the unknown for a better future--sort of a bird-in-hand rule. I had left my first adult job when I married and moved out of town, left the next when my first child was on the way, and post-divorce, I certainly depended on the job I had, despite the worldly culture and unfairness there, so my next test a few years later was being laid off right before Christmas, along with a couple of other over-40 ladies, replaced with younger girls we had trained! No Panic!

As I cleaned out my desk (after the past 14 years), I remembered God had once solved another unsolvable problem. We three had needed a more dependable car but had no room in my budget for a car or for repair bills--and found a 3-year-old Dodge Charger, only 12 miles out of warranty. Needed a new car, couldn't afford one, got one--and somehow it was paid for before having a single repair bill. Can you say blessing? 

Clutching that last paycheck in hand, I deposited it and went directly to the unemployment office, then to a temp agency, where I worked for several weeks until they sent me to Abbott Labs, who offered me the position, at a slightly lower salary than I was used to, but in faith I took it, and began moving toward a debt-free life, finally achieved before retirement at 65.5, including home mortgage!  One day I thought I was knocked off my feet, a few weeks later was safely ensconced in a dependable job where respect, trust and security reigned. 

My future turned a new page as I followed blindly, trusting my gradually increasing faith, even today, approaching my 90th birthday joyously. I began this praise devotional series to my Father in Heaven in 2015, which will continue so long as I can get to the computer and record what I know of His thoughts and His presence. Of course, I look forward to the end of this journey, but even now He is present with me every day. Blessed!

No matter the future, whatever circumstance or mischief from our enemy Satan, never give up. Plant your feet, stand on God's promises, count on His love, and leap over any obstacles in your path, because His path will lead you Home at last. 

Never give up. Give it to God. 

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”   (John 16:33)

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”–Psalm 91:2

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” - Philippians 2:13

Piecing Things Together

 Enjoy jigsaw puzzles? A while back I had a neighbor in Assisted Living who spent her afternoons bent over jigsaw puzzles, day after day, month in and month out, humming hymns as she worked. I wondered why she found them so gripping, week after week. Simple bits of colored cardboard in peculiar shapes that somehow became identical to the tiny photo on the box top. This took dedication, perseverance and patience, and she never gave up until her job was complete--and then she began again on the next one!

I remembered when as a child I had struggled to complete even a single puzzle; I often found there were a few pieces missing and once found a few leftover pieces that had no place in the puzzle. and I marveled at her skill. 

Even today I sometimes feel lost, as though something is missing in my life because I can't see a solution to my current problem and I'm fearful of finding answers to my many questions about my future. Also, I occasionally see extra pieces of my life I should change--they just don't fit my picture of what a Jesus follower should be, and I despair--until I remember I know Someone who sees the whole picture of my life from His perspective and He carefully, fits together my life in living color and He has laid aside a pile of extra pieces that didn't fit His picture of me, off to one side. 

I know I can trust my Heavenly Father's work in choosing only those pieces that perfectly match His picture of me.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe" (Ephesians 1:18-19).