OBEDIENCE... the missing link

Some moments in life are so powerful that they kind of get frozen in time...we visit them when our mind/heart/soul are at liberty to wander in the fields of rememberance...and when these moments are happened upon, they feel as fresh and present as ever...

I was a sophomore in college, trying to nurture a Bible study with 12 girls, and dig into their lives. Britt was (and is) one of those people who will always stick out in a group..not because she is flashy or loud or animated or attention seeking, but because her charm is that she is none of those things. She and I had met in the afternoon that day,..something we did regularly...we were sitting on these awfully awkward, square, blue chairs in the student union on the second level of the building. It was around lunch time and people were milling all around in the atrium a floor below us. But what I remember is how quiet the world felt in comparison to the pounding of my heart. I listened as Britt shared with me her distress...I had that feeling when God is tugging on you and you get scared and excited all at once..she finished and God brought me to a specific passage in the Bible. I read it to her and her beautiful, blue eyes took on a watery appearance. I urged her when I was finished to read the passage aloud. She did. Then again. She did. We read the words together and something broke in her and she wept. I knew I had just witnessed God speaking through the Power of His Word to someone. That moment is unlike any other memory I have...it still feels as enshrouded in awe to me as it did that day several years ago.

Since then whenever I read Romans 5:1-5, I am transported back to that day with Britt. So in a way things have come full circle with these verses....(I'll explain what I mean by that in a moment, first check them out):

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us

I have had 3 people share this passage with me in the last two weeks...and then I visited a church and the pastor preached on them. Someone once told me that in the Bible when a phrase is repeated 3 times, it means those words are literally being spoken loudly. I think God is getting loud with me. Which sometimes, let's be honest, He needs to do.

"...WE REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS..SUFFERING PRODUCES PERSEVERENCE; PERSEVERENCE, CHARACTER; AND CHARACTER, HOPE..."

That's what has been getting loud to me...

I started really trying to grasp that progression...suffering, perseverence, character, hope...and I came to the conclusion today that its not necessarily a natural progression from suffering to hope. I probably shouldn't name names, like I am about to do, but,...its really the best example I've got...

My maternal grandma, who has now gone to be with Jesus, probably suffered as much as anyone I have known. She was abandoned by her wild mother at the age of 4 and when her alcoholic father couldn't pull it together, she went to live with her grandmother, and then when she died, Grandma went to the orphanage with her 2 young sisters. She lived there until she was 18. Her sisters were adopted and she never saw them again. She was never adopted. She married young, had 8 children, and at least five miscarriages, and was severely ill a good portion of her life. She searched for her family only to find her father dead and that her mom and sisters did not want to see her. She lost her husband and inseparable best friend in a routine surgery when a doctor made an error... She suffered. But I mean to tell you that she was sweet and yes, even hopeful, until the very end of her life. I spoke to her on the phone the day before she passed and she could barely speak but she encouraged me in my marriage and then prayed the sweetest prayer over me. She taught adult ilteracy classes until a month before she passed and she was still cooking dinner at the church for the 'old people' as she called them. She went on missions trips and shared Jesus with her hair stylist. Suffering in her life did lead to persevernce and character and hope. But that is not always the case...

My husband has a great grandmother who also has suffered much in her life...losing her husband too young among other things...and I mean to tell you she is a crotchety old woman. Even her countenance is sharp...she is known for sayind demeaning things to her grandchildren and is the type of person who is never satisfied with anything. We love her, but she is always the Grinch of Christmas around here. Her suffering over time has begun to smell a lot like bitterness and closely resembles resentment.

So I have been thinking...what is the missing link? How does one embrace the suffering that is bound to life in a fallen existence and have it blossom into endurance and character? What is going on behind the scenes?

I have been in a season of personal suffering...we all have those times when things are just rough and weariness sets in...I am there. Don't worry- I am not depressed or anytihng- just feeling the heaviness that accompanies some seasons of life. I am doing an online read-through-the-Bible-in- year- thing (check it out: www.engagethejourney.com) and I was reading a couple of nights ago in Genesis. The stress in my body was staving off sleep and so I decided to read. I happened to be at the part in Genesis where Abram sleeps with his maid servant, Hagar, and has a son since his wife, Sarai, cannot conceive. After the child is born jealousy pushes Sarai to abuse Hagar and Hagar runs away. An angel of the Lord is sent to her in the wilderness and God basically says 2 things to her: 1.) I have seen your affliction and I will bless your son, don't worry and 2.) Go back and submit yourself to Sarai. Now, my situation is nothing like the whole Abram-Sarai-Hagar triangle, but God spoke to me and I felt him tell me to do likewise...to take note that He is aware of my situation and that I am to submit in the situation, even though it seems unfair.

I was thankful to be spoken to by God, but honestly I was hoping more for something along the lines of "I am getting you out of the situation right now" or maybe I was even hoping God would want to throw me a little pity party...gross, but true.

I was reading further on in Abraham;s story today and its a passage we are all probably somewhat familiar with...God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son on an alter...the Bible says that God was testing him to find out what was in him. He is willing to follow through and God stops him just in time...and then down in the passage it said something interesting:

"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (Gen. 22:18)

I read that and it stopped me dead in my tracks....the ramifications of obeying God's Voice....are...well...huge. Because Abraham had the HEART to obey God's Voice, even when God asked something nearly impossible of him, the whole earth receieved a blessing. We, as beleivers, are Abraham's seed and get to bless the all the nations of the earth in part due to the fact that Abraham listened to God. I am still stunned by that realization.

Listening FOR and TO the Voice of God matters...but OBEDIENCE is the missing link.

"...WE REJOICE IN OUR SUFFERINGS..SUFFERING PRODUCES PERSEVERENCE; PERSEVERENCE, CHARACTER; AND CHARACTER, HOPE..."

When we are suffering if we can listen for the Voice of God, then we will be able to persevere in what He has spoken, and when we press on in our OBEDIENCE of His Voice, character in us is formed, and character makes room for hope...

OBEDIENCE is the missing link.

Sure its hard. You know, I really didn't use to think so...wasn't that arrogant of me? When I was younger and life was frankly a lot more simple, I thought 'why would it be hard to obey God? just don;t cuss or drink or sleep around. peice of cake' But I tell you what, now when God speaks and says 'Yes, I hear you, Kate. I have come and found you in the wilderness trying to get away from the pain...and I know what you are going through, but what I need you to do is go back and submit yourself.'...well that's no peice of cake, friends.

So I ask you to pray for me as I strive to obey God's words to me. And I pray that God encourages your heart...to listen and to obey so that the pathway from suffering to HOPE gets well trodden as we learn to embrace our own suffering...well trodden so that others can easily find it...so that we can live out the blessing intended for our world...the blessing Abraham bought with his own obedience to our God...

g'night...sleep well...i pray you awake with fresh hunger...