God’s House, Talking Donkeys, and Rain

How’s that for a title?!?!  ;)

I got up this morning to do my daily bible reading.  I started again this year reading through the bible chronological like I had done a few years ago with an online group and have been so blessed that Jack is doing it too.  While we don’t read together, we can discuss some of the things we read that day in the evening and it’s been a special thing to me.  I also see how God started out this year on Jan 1st growing us closer together in Him and with each other to prepare us for the heartache and uncertainty this year would bring that at the time we had no idea about.  Anyway, today’s story was about Balaam and Balak and the donkey that speaks.  Not sure if you’ve read it so to recap, this guy wanted another guy to go and curse the Israelites (God’s chosen people).  God sent an angel of the Lord to stand in his way but only made the angel clear for the donkey to see at first.  The donkey keeps going off the path and the man beats him because he knows the way he is supposed to go and the donkey is veering from the trail.  He knows exactly the planned path.  Finally God opens the donkey’s mouth to speak to the man and opens the man’s eyes to see the angel of the Lord that the donkey was protecting him from and he realizes that we may not always know what lies ahead of us and how God can direct our path in very different ways.

In praying after my reading I was reminded of a situation Jack and I were in right after we moved back to Indiana.  We were living with his parents and trying to find a place of our own.  We finally found this beautiful piece of land that we loved and decided to build a house on it.  We contacted the realtor and he said it should be no problem and we should get a good price because the land had been on the market for five years with no interest or offers.  So we made plans and started talking to builders and figuring out if we could afford this.  We placed an offer on the land and waited and ultimately ended up getting out bid.  After all that time of no interest in the property, someone came along at the same time as us and took it.  We were so upset and went on to live with Jack’s parents for an entire year waiting for the ultimate plan God had for us which was for us to stay and buy their house and for them to build a new one.  Every time I drive past that property I look at the house that is built on it and every time I drive by one of the many, many houses that we walked through with our realtor I am so thankful and can see clearly that God directed out path.  We love our house and would want nothing else!

What I’m getting at here is that there are so many things whirling around in my head and we have so many possibilities before us with this adoption.  We could wait in the Africa program with Holt, we could switch agencies to someone who already has waiting children in their Africa program,  we could go with a different country in Holt’s waiting child program, we could start fostering again, we could be done with all of this completely and be happy with the three kids we already have.  Here’s the thing:  I don’t want a house that’s not mine, I don’t want a path with a talking donkey because I can’t see I’m going down the wrong one, I don’t want a child that God has not planned into our family.  I don’t want to miss out on God’s blessings for our lives.

So there’s my ramblings for the day.  No real news to share just had a few things to get out this morning.  Also, I’ve plagiarized below a few notes from my Beth Moore bible study I’m doing on the book of James.  Some good stuff but it might not make sense to you if you weren’t there but I needed to get it written down to come back to.

James 5:7-11  “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸ You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

 ¹⁰ Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

BETWEEN THE RAINS

1.  Accept the beauty of the process.  God’s building a foundation.

2.  Actively acknowledge God’s faithfulness.  Every reference to “early and later rains” in the OT occurs in a context affirming the faithfulness of the Lord.  As surely as the sun rises, our rain is coming to bring us the fruit of our life.

Deut 11:13-14So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴ then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil.

Hosea 6:3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;
   let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
   he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
   like the spring rains that water the earth.”

3.  Avoid a caustic undercurrent (James 5:8-9).  In a long wait, if we lose our faithfulness we’ll turn on each other.

4.  Ignite fresh resolve through stories of others. Do you want your great story or not?  Persevere!

James 5:11

See, we count blessed those who have endured.

5.  Ask of God like much is at stake.

James 5:17-18 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

God will bring our rain (his plan for us) in the perfect time, in the perfect season for us and all for His glory.  Lord, I trust you and will praise you.