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About Brenda

July 28, 2009

Listen to Your Gut

Filed under: Uncategorized — Brenda @ 7:39 pm

As Kerry was preparing for her week-long mission trip, Gene and I were giving her advice for what-to-d0-if situations. She was loving it. Well, maybe not loving it, but she listened respectfully. One thing I told her, “Listen to your gut. It’s the Holy Spirit. You may be the only one He is speaking this to.”

She gave an I-heard-you nod.

Not good enough for me. “Kiddo, I’m serious. Your gut is the Holy Spirit talking to you. Lots of times in the Bible only one person heard what God was telling him to do. Look at Abraham, Moses, and Mary.”

“Okay, Mom, got it.” This time she let me know she really did get it.

What about us? Do we “get it” when God gives us a word on the direction He wants us to take? Do we shrug it off or think I’ll wait till God tells me one more time to be sure.

Abraham heard God when He called him out of Ur (Acts 7:2-3). Abraham obeyed part way. He went as far as Haran then after his father died he went on to Canann.

Moses clearly heard God’s call, but didn’t want to obey. He was fearful. He didn’t feel qualified. Even after God guaranteed His presence and His power, Moses did not trust God enough to obey. Finally, Moses resisted so much that God became angry with Moses and then gave him Aaron to do the talking for him (Exodus 3-4).

However, Mary, the mother of Jesus,  responded differently from these two men. When Gabriel appeared to her and gave her the good news, she had only one question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” She just wanted to make sure she understood what the angel was saying. Gabriel answered her and she immediately responded, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:26-38).

Each of these three people heard God’s word to them. They each obeyed, but only one accepted God’s word and obeyed immediately fully–Mary.

Last week a woman shared with me her frustration of not knowing what direction God was taking her. She said God had been stirring her for two years and still no answer. Then she unknowlingly answered her own question. She said, “I guess I’ll have to go alone and do what He has been showing me to do. I’ve been waiting for someone to join me, but no one has.”

What has God spoken to you to do?

~Go back to school?

~Go back to work?

~Leave the marketplace and be a stay-at-home mom?

~Start a relationship with a cranky neighbor?

~Get out of a harmful relationship or situation?

~Readjust your priorities to be in line with God’s will and not your your friends’ or co-workers’?

What is God speaking to you about? Will you listen to the Holy Spirit? Will you take the first step with Him alone? I’d love to hear from you.

July 20, 2009

Picture Yourself There

Filed under: Confidence,Fighting Fear,New opportunites,adventure,confident living,next step in life,young adult children — Brenda @ 4:42 pm

“Kels, how are you feeling about going away to college?” I asked her last evening.

“I don’t know. I can’t picture myself there.”

In six weeks Kelsey will come a little closer to her dream of becoming a teacher when she moves away to college. For the past two years she worked hard in her classes at the local community college and now she is ready to move on.

We visited the campus a few times and the college staff made us welcome and comfortable on campus. Kelsey is having a hard time crossing the threshold from planning her dream to the reality of living it. She will be leaving the familar for the unfamiliar. Yes, she has been away from home many times for trips, camps, and mission trips, but the college experience will be different. She will be doing life away with people she has not yet met. She has only a sketchy idea what the next few months will look like. When she looks to the future much uncertainty is looking back at her.

 This uncertainty and a bit of fear are part of the exciting plan God has for us–no matter if you are a college student or a mature woman awaiting your next step with God. A dear friend has given me a front row seat on her next adventure with God. Fear and uncertainty tried to grip her as God made more and more clear His next step for her–use her Facebook page for outreach to friends and family who do not have a relationship with Jesus. She writes with humor and wit about everyday events and in doing so she creates a curiosity in the reader to know her God.  

My youngest sister recently told me that, with a bit of fear and uncertainty, she is going back to school. She has been a stay-at-home mom for almost 22 years. In the fall she will go to culinary school. “I will probably be the oldest one in the class,” she laughed. I am thrilled for her.

The Bible is full of accounts of people who faced fear and uncertainty when God called them to an adventure. One of my favorites is Gideon. In Judges 6 the angel of the LORD finds Gideon hiding out from the enemy in a wine press. The angel greets Gideon with a powerful word, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.” But Gideon responds with unbelief and tries to put the blame of his fearfulness on God. “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?. . . But now the LORD has abandoned us.” Gideon doesn’t even know what God wants him to do exactly (the title “valiant warrior” might have tipped him off) and he is already afraid. 

The next words to Gideon come from the LORD, “Go in this your strength and deliver Isreal from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” That is all God asks of us. “Go in this your strength.” Just do the thing I put in front of you. For my sister it was enrolling in culinary classes this fall. For my friend it is sharing her relationship with God through her every day life on her Facebook page.

What has God put in front of you to do that will take you on the journey He has put in your heart? Even if you can’t quite picture yourself there know that He is sending you. This call is from God. Go in the strength God has given you.

In the next six weeks we will have fun buying supplies for Kelsey’s dorm room and help her “picture herself there.” Then on August 29 we will take her to her new adventure. She will go in the strength God gives her. She will learn to know God in a way she never has before.

I would love to hear about the next step you are going to take with God.