Surprise!

Surprise…five inches of snow in Redding!  It never snows like that in Redding!

Surprise…on the same day it snowed, Amy was able to purchase tickets and hotel for our family to make a trip to Disneyland.  The best part is that our children don't know!  We have been saving up and dreaming for many years about taking our kids to Disney.  And finally…we are going!  Tonight we will tell them …and Wednesday morning we will drive south.  We ARE SO EXCITED!

Yesterday, Nathan (pastor at The Stirring in Redding) taught about being "Given".  He shared how we mush give ourselves, our possessions, and finances to God because He gave us Jesus.  It was moving and powerful to consider the generosity of our giving God.
And then I wondered….
I am so excited to tell my kids about the reality of our Disney trip…having planned and prepared and dreamed about it for years…I wonder if God gets as wound up excited as I over the MANY gifts He has given me?  Does He feel the joy and anticipation?  Does He plan in secret for the moment when it is right to release gifts to me?  Wow.
I am sure my enthusiasm about my children's joy is a reflection (most likely a dim one) of Father's heart.

I sat for awhile during the sermon and simply let this idea sink in.
How wonderful to comprehend the Father's joy when I receive good things from Him.  How amazing for me to comprehend the Father's excitement and joy when He gives them.
Surprise!
How many times this week will I be on the receiving end of some small token of the Father's love?  Will I see Him in these gifts?  Will I know His heart?
I pray today you will see clearly…all the wonderful surprises He has in store for you.  May your life be overflowing with grace to experience His love through the big and small gifts that come from Him.

Torrents

I love water…lakes, rivers, oceans, waterfalls…..etc.

Often I think of how this water will one day find its way to the ocean.  I like to imagine the journey from stream to river over waterfall into the ocean.

This morning I was reading 1 Peter 1 & 2 "…who have been chosen …through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience…" I always enjoy the reality of being chosen by God.  Who doesn't want to be chosen??  It is even better when paired with the concept that He (the Spirit) is working hard at my obedience and my sanctification.
Somehow I find myself forgetting I am chosen and wandering into the idea that it is my hard work that will get me sanctified.  It is a sneaky forgetting…a quick silent wandering away from truth that snags me.  I don't recognize it fast and I seem to "slip" into a lie that I have to do the work, forgetting that He already decided I was His and He already sent the Spirit to guide me into obedience.

Water just runs to the ocean.  It does not work hard…it is simply in its nature to find the lowest point and rush there.  Given time it will naturally journey to the ocean.  I wonder today how much more peace I could live in if I trusted the work of the Spirit and the choosing of God?  If I recognized that I am just like the water…rolling, falling, running towards the ocean not because it is my nature but because He chooses me and He leads me…He sanctifies me.

The truth of His choosing and His working can release me to be at peace and to trust.  The reality of His active work sets me free to cooperate with Him.

When it is about Him I believe Jeanne Guyon who tells me that I am to rest in His spiritual torrents of love.  I can relax as He draws me ever onward towards the oceans of His presence. It is not about my work but about His work.
I did not choose me.
I do not sanctify me.
I rest and I rush.

May you relax in His choosing today.  May you rest in His working.  May you find yourself in the torrents of His love running down the hills and rushing over the cliffs of life towards His presence.
May you rest and rush today!