Is This for You?

Is this for you? I’m not finished talking about the heart response of a child, but I’m going to take a short detour.  I write about what God’s doing in my life – teaching, loving, correcting, healing and being.  But just because God is working something out in me doesn’t mean that He’s on that same thing in you.  Why am I stating the obvious?  Because God’s timing and the Holy Spirit’s preparation and leading is everything.  Without that, we are violated (or violating!) and the fruit is death.

My relationship with God is real.  He’s not an idea or principle or theory or doctrine or routine or law.  He’s a real Person, and every day brings something new for our relationship.  I see Him in a new way, or He shows me something about myself that I didn’t know—there is a steady growth in trust and love and knowledge of who He really is.  And my God does NOT violate me.  He’s ferociously jealous, He attacks every law I receive or create, He is uncompromisingly righteous, and He’s even thrown me in the deep end of the pool on more than one occasion.  But He has NEVER violated my will or my person. “He will not strive or wrangle or cry out loudly; nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets; a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering (dimly burning) wick He will not quench” (Mt. 12:19-20 AMP).

In my last post, I shared Scripture that the Lord exploded into my heart through a single incident in my life.  The Scripture is Truth, now and forever, and it certainly wasn’t the first time I read it.  Yet God’s perfect timing and the Holy Spirit’s infinitely detailed and mysterious preparation brought LIFE this time—and not before.  The Lord prepared me for a hard correction and an uncompromising Truth, and so His Word bore fruit.

I can hear or read things and say, “Gah! That’s me!” or “How wonderful – I want that!” and that’s all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t necessarily bear fruit then.  Maybe it’s a seed planted that blooms later.  Maybe it’s part of the preparation of my heart.  And maybe it’s not for me at all because that’s not my calling.  All I know is that when God moves, my life is changed permanently.  It is unmistakable!  And I’ve now reached a level of trust in my relationship with God that I’m more able to wait for His move.  I know Him well enough to say with complete confidence – born of actual experience – that He is a true and loving Father.

That said, the deepest and hardest surrenders I go through involve being willing to be parented.  Will I wait for God to move, or will I try to parent myself?  Will I go play, like the child I am called to be, and trust that my Father will correct and protect when needed?  Or will I run around trying to fix myself and save my life, embracing the insanity that says I actually can?

The very fact that we have a choice illuminates the staggering freedom that God endues us with—and the incredible safety found in His arms, and nowhere else.  So be free!  Hike through the woods, play in the sandbox, and jump on the trampoline.  Our Father misses nothing and has us well in hand.

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And [yet] not one of them is forgotten or uncared for in the presence of God. But [even] the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be struck with fear or seized with alarm; you are of greater worth than many [flocks] of sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7 Amplified