Oh the Lord works in mysterious ways!! I was all set to start writing this post with one thing on my mind, listening to Pandora on my iPhone, and sitting down to the computer. Nowadays I listen to Contemporary Christian music mostly but I just love, love Randy Travis (thank you for that to my college roommate, Heather, from so many years ago!). So I have a station on Pandora that plays mostly him and other great “older” country songs. Now they don’t seem that “old” to me really, but I think they are starting to get there 🙂 Anyway, a song I haven’t heard in a while came on, just as I started to write, and I had to laugh at the irony! Today we are talking about Relational Strength (and friendships) and the song was, “You Find Out Who Your Friends”, by Tracy Lawerence – click here if you want to watch the youtube video. And if you’ve never heard it, here’s a great excerpt:
When the water’s high When the weather’s not so fair When the well runs dry Who’s gonna be there? You find out who your friends are Somebody’s gonna drop everything Run out and crank up their car Hit the gas, get there fast Never stop to think, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Or ‘It’s way too far’ They just show on up with their big ol’ heart You find out who your friends are, yeah yeah You find out who your friends areSo I got to thinking about…who are my friends? Who would come through for me, if I called? Who would I drop everything for? I remembered that, in Kindergarten and Preschool, friends are often called “neighbors”. Mr Rogers came into millions of homes, every day, for years, and he taught about how to be a good friend to other people by word and example (this shout-out to Mr. Rogers is especially for my sister-in-law: I know how you loved him, girl!) and he always asked, “Won’t you be my neighbor?”.
Jesus said we are commanded to love our neighbors and He told us how to do it well. An expert in the law asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply, Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘˜Look after him,’ he said, ‘˜and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” asked Jesus
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (NIV, Luke 10:29-37).
Sometimes, I have been the Samaritan sacrificing time, money, and a little piece of my heart. Sometimes, I have been the one who was abandoned and in desperate need of help. And sadly, sometimes, I have been the Levite, just passing on by. What I have learned, from having walked a mile in each pair of those shoes (sandals?), was best said by Mordecai to Queen Esther (please forgive my paraphrase/”poetic license” of the NIV): if you do not help, relief and deliverance will arise from another place…just think, who knows but that you have been put here for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).
For the past two years we have been studying various stories dealing with missionaries in our homeschool curriculum. But what God has been teaching me, personally and painfully, for a very long time is that He has called me to minister right here, to the people that He puts in front of me. Amazing confirmation: our Pastor touched on the very same thing this past Sunday. You, too, are living in your very own mission field. Like a real-life missionary, sometimes the environment feels hostile or, it feels like you don’t have all the resources you need to accomplish the task at hand, and you must rely on God for protection and provision. Sometimes those you serve don’t see your service as the gift it is. And sometimes you wonder why the LORD has such a high opinion of you, that He would think you could accomplish these difficult tasks He has given you. But certainly, He knows better what we are capable of than we do. Mostly, what I try to remember is that Jesus promised: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). He will be with you and give you the answers/resources/strength when you need it. He is the friend we can always rely on, the One who sticks closer than a brother (Prov 18:24). It is important to keep God’s Word in our hearts by reading scripture (the Word) and being in relationship with Him (the Word). I am still trying to learn to be quiet so I can hear Him, be quiet so He can comfort me, be quiet so He can reign in each situation and direct my path. He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (NIV, Micah 6:8).
In Chapter Two’s message, did the LORD encourage you, convict you, comfort you, call to you? Please share!
JustAgirl…just like you!
http://www.womenoffaith.com/blog/2012/01/dont-get-bitten-by-lisa-harper/
I heard this this morning and it made me thing of this lesson..just wanted to share!!!
Relationships….I love them & after becoming a SAHM 4 years ago this month I realized just how more important they would become to me for many survival reasons 🙂 Relationships can also be a funny thing…how they come and go; how they can fade and then one day they pick up right where they left off as if a day was never missed. I grew up in a very small rural Texas town…the one where everyone knows where everyone is going and you don’t have to use your blinker town with only 1 blinking light. When my class graduated high school, there were 30 of us. Six of us had been together since kinder. My bf from kinder and I still keep up with each other to this day. The other 4 of us?? Thanks to Facebook, we all keep up now and being from that small town, really taught me about relationships – the good & the bad, unfortunately. I feel blessed that I get to keep up with those friends from kinder cause they are the ones who were my first friends and we learned from each other about relationships and how they worked.
All relationships take work from both sides. Very much like a marriage you could say. As we see in this lesson, there is so much scripture to guide us on these relationships and how we are to act. When sitting down to write this, I realized the word ‘˜relationship’ encompasses a great deal. Last year, I read this wonderful book that I personally think could be read over and over again. The title, “Extraordinary Women, Discovering the Dream God Created for You”. One of the weeks in this book is devoted to relationships. The introduction to the week discusses the different relationships we have: God, work, friends, dating, marriage, family, parents, roommates & church. Wow, our lives are all about relationships.
Relationships with family is actually our first encounter of how relationships work from an early age. These are the people that we have to love us know matter what!! Right?? These are actually the relationships that make me laugh the most, make me crazy/saddest, but to me can also be the most treasured. For example, I was always a Daddy’s girl, but due to my Daddy’s line of work and work schedule, he was gone a lot. And that formed part of the person I would grow up to be‘¦.Good, bad & mistakes I would make even though I knew better. This is probably why I am so hard on my husband to be the Daddy to our girls that girls need. And I’m proud to say he is. My Dad and I have a great relationship now, but it took lots of work. My Mom is (even though she has passed) another relationship that formed me. She became later in life my original bff. She is the reason I had such peace & faith when she passed and was able to deal with it in a way that I have been told was so graceful. Today, my most treasured family relationship is with my husband & our girls. See, I truly believe God sent my husband and I each other because we needed each other to deal with outer family relationships and to help each other rise above and be the people He intended for us to be.
I think the Lord brings people in and out of our lives as a part of His plan for us. He knows what our needs are before we do, therefore He knows the relationships we need. Have you ever looked at the friends you have and realized each one of them have a purpose? I finally realized the Lord gave me not just one “bff”, but a handful. He has blessed me not just with a group of girlfriends, but a group of diverse friends (guys & girls) that I can call on when I have a specific need. I use to think, “why can’t I just have that one bff that I can just be raw with?” It wasn’t until recently that I realized that is not His plan for me. Once I embraced that realization‘¦WOW, I am lucky!!! He has sent me relationships that have gotten me through dealing with my Mom fighting breast cancer, He sent me relationships that got me through my divorce right after college from my HS sweetheart (believe it or not, it was a group of guys that are actually my BFFs to this day), He sent me relationships that many years later helped me to deal with why my divorce happened, He sent me relationships to help me get through my husband traveling all the time leaving me as the primary parent to two small children; He sent me relationships that took me to a relationship with another friend that I am truly blessed that she is my “sister” from another Mother; He has sent me a relationship that helps me get through those days of being a SAHM because her kids and my kids are exactly the same age, He has sent me a couple of relationships to help me get through my Mom passing a few months ago at this “young” age which in turn has helped me, I hope, be a better friend to my friends that are facing parents with illnesses.
Now for the most amazing relationship you can ever have is with God & His Son, Jesus Christ‘¦..WOW!!!! In order to know God, you must accept His son as your savior. What A Friend We Have In Jesus is a song that I heard both my Grandmother & Mother sing. I also am fortunate to say that I got to hear my mother play it a lot at church (she was the church pianist). What an amazing song. And to say you have a friend who laid down his life for your sins & so you could live‘¦wow, that is a true friend I want to talk to and to be for me. And then to know our Father God wants nothing more than to constantly hear from us and to hear our prayers, our wants and our needs!!! Thinking about that, makes me think about the movie, “Bruce Almighty”. There is this scene where Bruce is now playing the role of God and he wakes up to hearing everyone’s prayers at once. Wow ‘“ we have a God that wants to hear from everyone even if it’s all at once and He wants to hear from us all the time, all day. We have all had those moments when we see that email, that caller ID or that text and we think, “oh, I just can’t deal what he/she has to talk about”. I have unfortunately been that person, but not God. He is there 24/7 to listen to whatever it is that you need to say and get you through it. Praise the Lord for that relational strength‘¦‘¦‘¦