Have summer blessings and burdens kept you singing God’s praises at home, work, vacation, sports events, and church? When God sends showers of blessings and unexpected storms, we make choices that make a difference in how our lives will go… moving forward, stuck in neutral, or reverting to reverse! So, how have you handled summertime challenges and choices He has sent your way?
In Exodus 19, Moses was challenged by the people He was leading and by God who told him to go down the mountain and tell the people, “Every one of you has seen what I did to the people of Egypt. You saw how I carried you out of Egypt, as if on eagles’ wings. And I brought you here to me. So now if you obey me and keep my agreement, you will be my own possession, chosen from all nations. Even though the whole earth is mine, you will be my kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
In Exodus 15 Moses asked ‘Who among the gods is like you God”?
The Israelites sang, “The Lord gives me strength and makes me sing. He has saved me. He is my God and I will praise and honor him…there are no gods like you. You are wonderfully holy, amazingly powerful, a worker of miracles.”
We wonder why the people would revert to making idols to worship when God was taking care of them. Yet, do we also worship idols when He is showering us with blessings beyond measure? If we have things that come before God, take priority and pull us away from going to church on Sunday mornings (whether it be recreation, sports, staying home or other events), steal family time, bible study time, prayer time, volunteer time to help others, or me time necessary to keep us focused on Father, faith, and family, then these things are idols! Are we like unto the Israelites who loved God but loved their idols more?
What songs have we sung to praise Him throughout a wonderful summer with lots of rain and sunshine to grow our crops and bless the land we love in eastern North Carolina? Have we enjoyed His blessings with gratitude, keeping Him front and center during summertime work and play or left Him out, complained because of storms, and fretted over things that did not go our way?
In Exodus 6 God says, “ I will carry you out, deliver you, redeem you, and I will be your God!
God is the same God today as he was yesterday. Moses cried out to Him as we do. God answered Moses as He will answer us and expects us to trust and obey when He speaks to us in His own, special way!
In Exodus 14 God said, “Why are you crying out to me? Command the Israelites to start moving!”
When God says “Go Forward”, we should never stand still.
God longs for His people to listen, look, and leap forward in faith when He opens doors for deliverance and delicious days filled with blessings. Have you listened and leaped forward to be delivered from something that was keeping you captive and causing you to be distanced from the Lord and loved ones?
My summertime has kept me singing and enjoying blessings I never thought would come my way. My family all came together in June for a surprise 65th birthday weekend, God woke me up every morning before 5 a.m. to spend time with Him and greet His children at The Learning Station at 7 a.m., let me fall asleep every night in a skinny minute, kept me healthy, gave me children to train up in the way they should go and Christian teachers to help, sent people to help Tim’s Gift and people for Tim’s Gift to help beyond what we could have ever imagined, gave opportunities to share my love for Him and His Word in local churches, gave me energy to work in my yards and enjoy every day filled with surprises, sunshine, and even storms.
Yes, the storms come strong and suddenly…causing us to revert to reverse, sit still in neutral, or go forward in faith. Sharing my long list of summer storms would only make me sound like a clanging cymbal. Today’s thunderstorms hit our city hard. As I write this story, ambulances and firetrucks galore whiz by Tim’s Gift in heavy rain. I pause to pray for the people helping others and the people they are headed out to held. My fingers pause as I praise God for being with my family through many health storms this summer, for helping me today when I realized every story I had written ahead of time for the month of August was lost somewhere in cyber space, Kristy called with a deadline looming for this week’s story, children at The Learning Station and people coming for help at Tim’s Gift needed my attention, the hard drive in my computer crashed, and in the middle of the day (storm), the enemy taunted with thoughts of reverting to reverse, stewing in neutral, and saying, “Why me, why write, why, why, why”!
Wiping tears while telling the enemy to leave me along, that I belong to Jesus and He keeps me singing even when I can’t see the sun…it’s there and God is with me for He will never fail or leave me. I choose to move forward and write more stories that are what God wants to use to touch someone in need. So, get behind me Satan for I love Jesus and say, “Who is like You, O God”!
When I faced my storm and started writing this story a few hours before deadline, God showed up with showers of blessings that took my breath away. I can hardly wait to write that story and share with you next week. Hopefully, we can all choose to move forward as we enjoy sunshine and endure storms as summer days are about to end and a new season of challenges and choices will begin. Just remember, God is awesome, always with us, walks and talks with us as our Best Friend when we choose to stay closely connected to Him.
Remember, every storm that comes gives opportunity to seek God’s help in making a blessing bloom from a burden that could consume.
Nobody appreciates deliverance like those who have nearly been destroyed by things of this world. We must trust God and move forward while embracing the joy of deliverance.