More than Chance

“Each moment writes a story. Each day directs the plot. Our lives are interwoven by purpose and design.”

Loren Thornburg

I went into Apple to have my computer worked on. I overheard the girl sitting right next to me share about her computer problem. All of her pictures from Burma weren’t showing up. Having been to Burma multiple times I have a love for that people and country. You don’t meet many people who have heard of it, let alone have been there. Yet, there I was seated right next to someone who had been there and knew what I knew about the beauty of the people. There was an instant connection in our rare shared experience. I love connections like that; a surprise encounter. I can’t help but feel so seen in the midst of it. As I looked back on it I saw there was more to it. I realized I changed my appointment three times before settling on that time. It made me wonder what other events have been ordered in my favor? Is there more if I took the time to look for them? Some of them smack us in the face, so big, they can’t go unnoticed but then are there more? There must be and I don’t want to miss them. They’ve been designed for me and I want to see it and feel seen in them.

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.”

Psalm 103:19 NASB

The Lord is sovereign. He designs and purposes divine appointments. I can’t help but be reminded of that after my encounter at Apple. It’s amazing how God can interweave billions of lives together so that each writes His story that He is sovereign and rules over all. It hurts my head to think about how that is possible but I can’t help but believe it’s true when I look at my life and when I hear stories of those around me. It’s more than chance that my life tells the story that it does. It’s more than chance that I am where I am now. There are only so many things you can chalk up to chance before you realize there is something bigger going on here...God. Nothing is by chance. God is established in the heavens with rule over our lives on earth. I am so thankful that I can trust that He is in control. He gives us reminders of that daily. Do you see them?

New Appointments

“Don’t miss new appointments looking at disappointments.”

Loren Thornburg

Disappointment is something we would all love to avoid and understandably so. The effects of disappointment can cause much stress. Unfortunately, life is full of disappointments. This word originated with a literal meaning of removal from office. What one was once appointed to has been taken away. You can see how this easily came to its current meaning of a feeling of dissatisfaction when our hopes and dreams fail to manifest. The thing we hoped we would be appointed to has been removed from our reality. What I find now in this word is “appointment” and the opportunity for a new appointment. They say, ‘when one door closes another door opens.’ Yet, how can I see the open door when I am still looking at the door that closed and consumed by my disappointment over it. I am not saying we shouldn’t be disappointed. Disappointment is a natural response to things that don't turn out as we hoped they would. However, don’t forget to keep looking for the new appointment that comes when one has been removed. Don’t stop with that which has been removed, but look for what is and what’s coming.

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.”

2 Corinthians 4:16 Message

You’re not alone. It’s a common thing to walk through hard times. It’s part of the process of life and of following Jesus. Yet, for us following Jesus there is something bigger going on. We see disappointment but He sees opportunity to change us on the inside. Not a day, not a situation, not a thing goes by where His grace is not unfolding on us and through us. The hard part is that you can’t always see it. We have to trust that it’s happening because it’s true. So join with Paul in his encouragement to the Corinthians to not give up because we know that with every disappointment we face God is at work unfolding a new appointment for us, doing a work of grace in us and making us more like Him. He is making new life in us. That’s why we are able to not give up and that’s how we can trust Him for what is when we walk through the loss of what’s not.

Learn to Look

“It’s in the looking that we see; it’s in the seeing that we find; and it’s in the finding that we are changed.”

Loren Thornburg

I’m reading about the power of looking for gifts in your day (One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp). What I’m finding is that the author’s right...you see more when you are looking for it. It makes me want to look, but I’m like many of us and I get distracted. I find myself focused on other things and too busy to take time to look. Yet, what I’m finding is that they are like little treasures. I feel at times like a little kid on a treasure hunt wondering what surprise I might find. With each gift find I am also finding more hope and more joy. Oh some days are much harder than others to see through the hard stuff of emotions and circumstances into the change of truly being thankful and joyful. Yet, I’m intrigued and I can’t help but wonder, “What might I find today if I look?”

“Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf!”

Psalm 66:5 NIV

We’re invited to look. Look at what God has done and is doing so that you can trust what is to come and what He will do on your behalf. He loves to work on your behalf but often we miss it because we didn’t see it. We didn’t see it because we weren’t looking. It’s amazing what you see if you take time to look. One of my favorite parts of writing this Weekly Email (also known as my “WE”), along with sharing truth and encouraging others, is what it is teaching me. I am learning to look and see. I am learning to look at my week and see what it is that God has been showing me this last week. I find treasures of insight and revelation I might not have seen had I not stopped to look and ask. I find that there is something more going on in this story of my life and that changes me. It changes me when I see God is at work and is in the midst of things. In seeing more of God in the midst of my life, I also see more hope, more joy, and more freedom to trust Him for more things in my life and in more seasons of my life. He’s inviting us to come and see. Don’t you wonder what He might show you if you look?!

Steady

“It’s not a roar, it’s not a scream, it’s a whisper calling you forth, reminding you to steady.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s a sweet moment in the movie, “The Iron Lady” when Margaret Thatcher is stepping down from her role as Prime Minister and she is walking out through the crowds in her big procession of stepping down. In the emotion and unsettledness of it all her husband stands behind her saying, “Steady.” One word is all he said and one word is all it took to steady her heart and mind to move forward. Steady means to be firmly fixed, supported, not faltering or wavering. When the crowd surrounds us and the emotions fill us we need someone behind us reminding us to stand firm and not to waver from that to which we have been called and has been set before us. We have all been there in that place in need of someone behind us reminding us to steady. It comes as a whisper. Hear it now as you walk forward into what’s next...steady.

“For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.”

Romans 11:29 Amplified

God is steady. Even with all the ways God’s chosen people have turned their backs on Him God has not changed His mind about them. For His gifts and His call are irrevocable. They are not capable of being changed. He never changes His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call and He hasn’t changed His mind about you. He is the One who stands behind you whispering steady because of this very truth. He is firmly fixed on you and His plans for you, He supports you, He is not faltering and not wavering from the things and dreams He has called you to. He is steady and can steady you. As Kari Jobe sings, “Even when it hurts, even when it’s hard, even when it all just falls apart...You steady my heart.” When you’re walking through that place that feels overwhelming and seems you can’t move forward listen. He is behind you whispering to you, “steady my child.”