God and I_Lessons

 In 2023, God has time and time again sat me down to teach me some important lessons. 

My first lesson. At some point I was going through a phase where I was feeling unproductive. I kept feeling that I need to get up, get out and go get something done. Monday's, no Sunday nights were the hardest for me when I did not have anything planned that I felt was productive enough for the week. And like a good Christian, I felt that I totally needed God to give me a sign on Sunday nights and let me know what to do for the rest of the week. In my expectation of God to do this for me, I of course complained that he was not sending me this sign. I remember a thought coming to my mind so clearly and directly, ' I have given you life and given it in abundance'. And there was my answer and my lesson. That God has graciously given me life and now the ball is in my court. To go find and do what I was created to do not to wait around wanting to be spoon fed with ideas because with the gift of life so is the gift of freedom to make choices and decisions.

The next lesson that stood out for me is that God will sometimes deal with each one of us differently. That someone has offended you and you are walking around with this anger in your heart and believing that you and God are on the same page. That you and God are equally angry at this person and that you as a Christian have then left the vengeance part to God. And you are comforted that God will totally deal with this person in a way that will please and appease you. The crazy thing is that this person might make it right with God and he in his glory and mercy will forgive this person. The crazier thing might be also that God was using this to pull you closer to him. And if then in your anger and disappointment you have drawn closer to God then a good part of his purpose has been accomplished. A person may be corrupt and cut corners and you look at that and think to try it and then it backfires on you while they seem to be thriving. The lesson is that Gods' agenda and purpose will sometimes be fulfilled in a way that we will not understand. And so when you try and act as a particular person, in a similar situation God deals with you in a way that might leave you feeling frustrated or like the unloved child.

The other lesson is that God will sometimes take you through the wilderness because he needs you to grow a certain muscle. That God has looked at you and seen a certain softness that needs to be hardened. Not only to deal with the specific issue but that it will come in handy in future. It could be for you or for other people. That then you will be able to comfort others with the comfort that was given to you. It will sometimes feel unfair right? That I need to go through this fire so that next time I will be in a position to pour water on someone going through the same fire. And you want to ask, why me? Then God takes you back to the lesson on his purpose and his agenda.

The most recent lesson is about God's favour. That Mary is/was called highly favoured. And yet Joseph planned to secretly divorce her and yet her child was born in a manger. If an angel of God just appeared to me and said to me, 'you are highly favoured'. I would in my humanness translate that to what we call 'good vibes only' . That the inn keeper would not turn me away and say there is no room, what do you mean? I would be expecting the inn keeper to say, you know what the presidential suite is ready for you. But in Gods' lesson he says, that you can be highly favoured and still face rejection, that you can be highly favoured and still go through pain. And yet God still looks at you and says, you are highly favoured.

There has been many lessons that I might not exhaust. The last one here being, that you can ask Jesus to take the wheel and he turns off the car. Because rest is what you need. That he can take the car off the road, because you are not to meet him in the highway. Rather on the rough road, you with dirt and mud, he with his clean and white gown with open arms. He can take the wheel and do a U turn, because he was not done with you where you are coming from. That he can take the wheel and say we are walking, because he needs you to get out of the comfort zone.

I know. The lessons are hard but the teacher is gracious and merciful. He can be fully trusted because he knows what he is doing. And he does it with love and the best intentions. I am still learning and looking forward to more lessons. I want to be anxious but he has time and time again said, be still.

What is God teaching you in this season? Are you listening, are you taking notes, are you learning?