Showing posts with label faithful. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faithful. Show all posts

Friday, February 3, 2012

Manna

"May there always be manna and a promise for tomorrow," Chris prayed over me. He went on to ask the Lord to provide for me and for me to never know want.

There are so many things I want. A job that pays bills. Assurance that I won't go hungry. Fulfillment of God's promise for hope and a future. Manna.

Manna. It's what God provided for the Israelites during their forty years prior to entering the Promised Land, the land flowing of milk and honey. (See Exodus 16)

Each morning the dew became bread, manna, and each family collected what they needed. Those who collected a lot, did not have surplus and those who collected little did not run out.

It was always enough, exactly enough. If they tried to collect more than they needed, it spoiled overnight. Each and every day, God provided bread.

I began to pray for manna myself.

On Friday there was a campus-wide communion service. Even though I'm not a student, I looked forward to communing with my family. Afterwards, Anna approached me.

"I want you to have this," she said putting the left over bread in my hands.

Manna. Bread.

What she didn't know was that I'd been praying for manna but also that I had forgotten to buy bread when I went grocery shopping. God provided.

That night, Hank (my roommate's cat) got into our pantry. In the nick of time I stopped him from tearing open the bag and into my precious manna. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing what God had provided was once again safe.

God: Katie, what if he had eaten your bread? Would I not have provided again tomorrow? Did I ever fail to provide for the Israelites? They spent forty years in the desert; you've not been in the desert that long and already you've forgotten that I can and will provide for you, My child.

Ouch.

For forty-years the Israelites wandered as a result of their own disobedience and lack of trust. Yet each day the Lord led them with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.

They couldn't see very far. But they could see far enough.

Thus is my life right now. I can't see very far ahead. But I can see far enough.

I can see that God is providing manna, enough for today.

"So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." - Jesus, (Matthew 6:34 NLT)
The Israelites kept one allotment of manna to show future generations as a reminder of God's faithfulness even in the desert. I guess that's why I keep a blog: as a reminder of God's faithfulness in the valleys and on the mountain tops, His journey along with me day by day and night by night.

Lord, give us manna, enough for today. May we learn to realize that even though we cannot see very far ahead, tomorrow is not promised. Today is the most important day of our lives and You are with us today, right now. You are providing for us even when we cannot see Your hand, even when it doesn't look like we expect. Teach us to be content in the promise that You are here, wherever here is. May the only want we ever know be the want, the desire, the yearning to know You more.

Manna. It's the little reminders that God is enough for today.

<>< Katie

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Dear 2012

Dear 2012,

This year we welcome your arrival with New York. No waiting in the past to see how your first hour turns out before we take the leap.

But it's ok. I'm ready to welcome you, 2012. I think.

Your sister 2011's report card reads, "Not living up to potential."

She brought the change she promised but not the good kind.

Throughout 2011, the word I kept returning to was: faithful. Would I be faithful to the Lord even when life was less kind? Would God be true to the promise of His faithfulness?

Faithful.

Crossing into your realms, 2012, is an action of fear. An action of trust. A myriad of feelings. A juxtaposition of emotion. I am concerned about what you will bring.

Yet still I dare to hope. You bring with you new opportunities, renewed passions, and uncontainable excitement. While you may not look exactly like I would hope or anticipate, I step into you with confidence.

Hope.

That's what I feel when I look to you, 2012. I hope for many of the same things as last year: a job, a boy, a future. But, above all, I hope for the Lord. I hope to seek and to see Him in the good, the bad, and the ugly. Through tears of joy and tears of pain, I want to gaze into the eyes of my Abba Father.

I hope to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, to rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I hope to be calmed with His love and be delighted with His songs.

I hope. In Him.

And that is enough.

"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!'" Lamentations 3:21-24 NLT

With hope,
<>< Katie

Friday, May 20, 2011

Guest Post

Hey, guys, I made my first guest blogger appearance today at Jamee's A New Kind of Normal.

Make sure to check out the post on God's faithfulness!

Here.

Thanks!
<>< Katie

Monday, May 9, 2011

Yet I still dare to HOPE

Well, the semester is winding down and the to-do list is still long.  I have things to say but no time to process them into a way that is coherent.  My apologies.  All of my coherent thoughts are going towards my thesis which is one page at a time progressing into something worth turning in.  With that said, here's a scripture I've been reading and rereading a lot lately.

"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: the faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in Him.'" Lamentations 3:21-24

I hope all is well with you, cyber friends. 
I'll have a longer, more coherent post for you on Wednesday or Thursday.

Please let me know how I can best pray for you!
<>< Katie

Monday, May 2, 2011

God Could Vanish the Storm

As I'm sure you've seen on the news, Baptist Country has been pelted with storms over the last few weeks.

It seems every other day I see a facebook update from my sister (ten hours from here) that they're in the bathroom for another tornado warning.

Last week we were supposed to get really bad storms during the wee morning hours.  Unlike at my sister's college, my school doesn't have a good tornado plan.  That made me nervous.

I was checking the doppler to see what we should be expecting over night.  The storm covered the whole map.  It was more colorful than a sunset.  Yellow, red, green...

When I hit "play" to watch the storms roll over the bed where I wanted to be catching some zzzzz, something went wrong.  The entire storm vanished, leaving just the map.  The map was perfectly clear.

"I could do that, you know," God whispered in my ear.

I thought about it for about and realized how cool it would be if God did make the storm disappear.  He's done it before.

Later in the evening, I went out on the porch for some quiet time with God before I went to bed.  It was beautiful!  The pre-storm weather where the sky's getting dark and the wind is picking up, but there's no real storm yet.

When I came back later, Allyson and Nikki had two videos for me to watch.

Nikki's video was a terrifying video of one of the 150 tornadoes from the same storm.

Allyson's video was an updated doppler.  The green band of storms headed for our town had stopped moving.  The bands following it broke apart and dodged our town.  The first band disintegrated.  Nothing was going to hit us.

God had vanished our storm!

We got the beautiful pre-storm weather but no actual storm.  Sometimes I wish life were like that.  I'd be willing to take this beautiful pre-storm weather that is no real post-graduation plans as long as I knew that the actual storm of planlessness would vanish and a plan would appear. 

He could do that, you know.

And maybe He will.  But still I'm fretting.

I've seen God's faithfulness in the midst of storms.  Literal weather storms and figurative life storms.  Why am I having such a hard time trusting Him amidst this pre-storm chaos of a plan-less post graduation?

<>< Katie

PS: For some reason I do not understand, God decided against vanishing the storms elsewhere in the country.  Friends, our brothers and sisters are hurting.  Their worlds have, quite literally, been turned upside down.  There are organizations such as Samaritan's Purse on the ground helping to pick up the pieces; if you are able, please offer your help as well.  If you are not able, definitely be in prayer!

Monday, December 20, 2010

"You are Faithful"

Some families watch movies. Some families have a game night. My family goes to concerts. It's our bonding activity.

I think it's safe to say we are professional concert go-ers. We are armed with CDs to have signed and even bring our own Sharpies. We consider our seats good ones if we can see the performer's teeth. We know all the words and sing along, even if not invited. We've had artists talk to us from the stage, tease us in the Meet & Greet line, and remember us from concert to concert.

The other night, we went to a Peder Eide concert. Peder has recognized me before, but I was out of context so I wasn't sure if he'd recognize me again. At one point during the show, I was looking at the screen and he was looking at me. When I looked back, we made eye contact and he gave me an "I see you" look.

After the show, we made our way through the crowd and towards Peder. When it was my turn, he greeted me with a hug and said, “It’s good to see you, Katie.”

He remembered my name! If I ever gave him my name, it was six months ago in a very different atmosphere. Maybe he found eight seconds to facebook stalk me. I don’t know, but he knew my name! We could have walked away right then and I would have been happy.

But we didn’t. When he signed my CD, while teasing me about being old school for bringing a CD from 1999, he signed his name, wrote my name (which he spelled correctly), and then thought for a minute. Eventually he wrote, “You are faithful.”

Ok, Peder Eide addressing me by name and calling me faithful. That’s cool!

But you know who I really want to hear that from? God.

I want God to put His arm around me and say, “Katie, you are faithful.”

I don’t want my faith to be limited to Christian concerts and blog posts. I want my faith to be a daily experience. I want to always seek God more. I don’t want the smile on my face to be fake. I want to be filled with joy—even when I have a headache, even when I’m stressed, even when the world seems to be against me.

Through it all, may I live faithfully to the Lord.  After all, He's the one that gave me my name.

<>< Katie

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Flickering Lights

Not going to lie, the flickering lights last night were downright annoying. Likewise, life without God is down right annoying. Yet we all have flickers in life. Long, short, fast, frequent... they all exist. The good thing is that when the light goes back on it's brighter. Let God shine brighter in Your life today.

<>< Katie

PS. Like the shorter post? If you actually read this, let me know, please!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Brokenness, It's What You've Got From Me

Faithfulness,
Faithfulness
It's what I long for.
Faithfulness,
it's what I need.
Faithfulness,
It's what You want from me.

Holiness
Holiness
It's what I long for.
Holiness,
it's what I need.
Holiness,
It's what You want from me.

Brokenness,
Brokenness,
It's what I long for.
Brokenness,
it's what I need.
Brokenness,
It's what You want from me.

How often do we add our own verses?

Sleeplessness,
Sleeplessness,
It's what I long for.
Sleeplessness,
It's what I need.
Sleeplessness,
It's what You want from me.

Loneliness,
Loneliness,
It's what I long for.
Loneliness,
It's what I need.
Loneliness,
It's what You want from me.

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's sing the bridge instead

So take my heart and form it
Take my mind, transform it.
Take my will, conform it.
To Yours, to Yours, oh, Lord

We're only a few weeks into the semester and I'm already burnt out. As I look at what I'm doing as for extra circulars: they're all for Him. Most of them are Campus Ministries organizations. I'm quickly learning I can't participate in everything I want to participate in or I will probably die. I'd do better to listen faithfully to Him. THEN hear and obey the answers He gives, not the answers I want!

Oh, if only it were that easy!

In Christ,
<>< Katie

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ: He is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come." 1 Corinthians 5:17

(Add that to the board in the youth room... that was from memory! :-))

Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy Fourth of July

Thank you to all of the soldiers who have given up all of their tomorrows so we can be here today! Let us always remember that freedom isn't free! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE!

"After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone. And our children sift through all we've left behind. May the clues that they discover, and the memories they uncover, become the light that leads them to the road we each must find. Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful! May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey!" - Randy Vader, Camp Kirkland

In Christ,
<>< Katie

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Light of the World

I had written a blog about garbage men and trash pickers, but it really had no point, so I deleted it and started over with something more useful. Then I wrote a second one but didn't like it either... so now we're on attempt three, I hope you like it!

God calls us to be a light to the world. I want to encourage you not to be like the light over the sink in my dorm room.

This light turns on quite slowly so you stand in a dark room for a minute or two before it finally decides it'll light up. Don't be slow to answer God's call, but trust in Him whether you understand it or not. (Chances are, normally it will be the latter).

This light randomly goes out. My roommate and I will be sitting there and all of the sudden the room gets darker. The first time it happened, we thought the light was broken and put in a work order. When the maintenance man came, the light turned on and worked fine. We were embarrassed and he had less work to do one day. Don't go out when you need God the most. Don't hide behind a bushel. Stand firm.

This light also has a tendency to flicker back on then off again. On again, off again. Do you always follow Christ or do you flicker in your obedience? Do you follow today, disobey tomorrow?

Ok, maybe one of the other two blogs I wrote this morning was better, but I'm not starting over again. Sorry all. I need a job.

<>< Katie

"I [Jesus] have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." John 12:46