Off The Cuff

It has been incredibly too long since I've last blogged. Life is a whirlwind and that will never change! SHOOT!! I have no kids, nor a husband to add to the mix and I am having a difficult time keeping up with ME! (I think there's a prayer of thanksgiving hidden in there somewhere.)

I have been reading A LOT lately. Seriously. It's a tad bit out of control. Not even the reading several books just for information and not reading the whole thing. No sir! I am reading them all....and the plan is to complete them all!

Here's the list and my thoughts thus far on each one.

The Hole in Our Gospel: Richard Stearns
This book has challenged me. This book has in a sense made me realize that I'm not the only one God is calling out. Stay with me here. Rich, who is the President of World Vision, was CEO of, I believe, two larger companies before he felt God calling him to be at World Vision.
The way this opened my eyes is because in the past probably 6-7 months I have really felt like God has been showing me that I worship a "god in a box". I worship and serve what I believe to be God, however, it's not God at all. You see. My "god in a box" is very safe. Very predictable. Loves me. Wants me to be happy....no matter the cost.
Through various incomparable circumstances, HE is teaching me that I worship my version of Him because my feeble mind can't handle who He really is. Don't get self righteous too fast, because none of our minds can fathom the greatness of this God, but I was substituting The Real Deal for what I could understand!

My box for God was very small!

Through Rich's story, I began to see that I struggle with the same thing that every Christ follower struggles with. When we are called to step out in faith and do something completely unsafe and unpredictable we think that God has suddenly lost His mind and doesn't know who He's dealing with......US!
The truth of it is that God DOES know who He's dealing with, but we know our "god in a box" can't do squat for us if we move to Africa. Our "god in a box" isn't capable of providing for us if we move to another state and don't have our family around. Our "god in a box" won't make sure we have a job as soon as we graduate college and we're going to end up with all these student loans and no way to pay for them! HOWEVER, we MUST look back and realize that our "god in a box" didn't exist until we got scared! Until we started relying on our own means.
OF COURSE God would call us to go live in Africa and serve orphans. Of course he would have you adopt a child from another country when your age and your finances and everything else around you tells you it's a bad idea.
I can't help but think of Abraham and God told him to go and he went! Anybody else see the simplicity of that sentence? God said go. Abraham went. Seriously. If God told me to go. I'd be like....yeah, right, and who's gonna pay for my cute little red car. How am I gonna afford to go over there. Where will I live once I'm there. How long am I going to be there. What will I do when I come back? Will I come back?
I'm just being honest! Me and the computer right now....those are my thoughts!
I am learning......I am being TAUGHT more and more that God will provide. He will take care of His children. He clothes the flowers of the field. He has already taken care of all my needs!

(Whew! And that's just book one!)

Second Book
The Gospel According to Jesus: John MacArthur
Holy smokes! I am on Part 1 chapter 1 of this book and will be for awhile. I have been reading and re-reading it so much. Never in my life have I felt like this. The Lord has been showing himself to me in a way that I've never known Him before. Instead of me feeling like "Stupid! Why didn't you know this?" I feel like the Lord has truly become my teacher and just gently said "If you will follow me and stay close to me I will show you who I truly am." It has been a sweet time for me to just realize who He is and once again be reminded that the "god in a box" is less desirable than the Lord! Realizing the fact that I am not a servant but a slave to Christ could be a harsh realization, but to me it has almost made my understanding of Him so much clearer! I'm not anywhere near grasping "it", but I truly feel like the Lord has been teaching me so much and my desire is to soak as much in as possible.

Third Book
Forgotten God: Francis Chan
There's something that tells me I will be reading this book for a long time! I finished it. Underlined all through it. Then just the other night my brother text me and said "You gotta go look at these pages." That changed my whole attitude! I will cut down some in order to not write longer than necessary, but I will say, regardless of if you're a Chan fan or not, you MUST read this book! Seriously. Go to Barnes and Noble today and read it. You will not be sorry!

We are scared to make mistakes, so we fret over figuring out God's will. We wonder what living according to His will would actually look and feel like, and we are scared to find out. We forget that we were never promised a twenty-year plan of action; instead, God promises multiple times in Scripture never to leave or forsake us.

.....Jesus Christ didn't die in order to follow us!

I even underlined this and yet when I went back and read it meant a whole something different! Life looked A LOT different when I read this last month vs. when I read it last night. God is not predictable. He never promised us that. He said "follow me" and he promises he will never leave nor forsake us.
It is my desperate desire to live DAILY in that truth.

Book Four
Crazy Love: Francis Chan
I am actually listening to this book which is a whole new deal to me. I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of it. Mainly because I keep waiting for Chan's voice to change and him to get just a tad bit excited and he never does. Just sits there and reads the book. =)
I do not want to take away at all from the powful message that this book has. The chapter that has hit me the most is the fifth one "Serving Leftover to a Holy God". This will kick you in the gut! It is hard to think of the idea that our lukewarm christianity makes God want to vomit! He doesn't even want to be near us. Yet we are so self righteous and continue to look at the sinner next to us and say "Well I didn't do THAT!"
I cannot encourage you enough to read this book. It is more than a "must read". It will change your life!

That is all for now! Hope you enjoyed this "off the cuff" blog! There is much more that I want to share, but that will be for a later time. If you read all the way to the end of this, you totally deserve a prize OR you're just entirely too bored!