When our girls began their summer break, I was a little concerned about how the weeks would unfold.

Of course, each summer is different.  With my kids now 17 and 15, I wasn’t quite sure how things would play out.  It’s not like you plan outings to the park, the playground, or head to the library for story time.  A stop for an ice cream cone (while still welcome, believe me!) isn’t quite the highlight that it used to be.

Then there’s the fine line to walk between allowing them relaxation after a busy school year and pure laziness.  (Our 17-year-old has a job, which helps with that balance!)  And while it’s nice to hang out with mom some of the time, they also want to spend time with friends.  Between camps, piano lessons, and random cheer practices, there are a lot more moving parts than there were when they were 7 and 5.

When I filled out my monthly prayer list for June, my request was that God would “orchestrate” our days.

I’m not sure where I came up with that word.  It’s not a natural part of my vocabulary.  I don’t even know that I could have told you at the beginning of last month exactly what I meant by it.

But over halfway through our summer, I can honestly say that I feel like that’s what God has done.  And when I checked out the dictionary definition of the word, it fit perfectly.  It says that orchestrate means to “arrange or direct the elements (of a situation) to produce a desired effect…”

From Vacation Bible School being scheduled while my oldest daughter was gone to camp for two weeks (keeping my mind and body busy!) to her work schedule to the family times and outings with friends, I believe God is arranging our summer.

So if I can trust God to do that for our summer, can’t I trust Him to do it all the time?  I thought about areas of my life that need to be orchestrated, and here are a few I came up with.

Time.

“But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand…”  ~Psalm 31:14-15

God is not going to give me more to do than the time I have to do it.  Therefore, I want to ask for His help to arrange my time.  I need to scrutinize my day and see where I’m wasting time (here’s looking at you, Instagram!)  Then I can ask God to help me prioritize my tasks so that I use my time wisely.

Circumstances.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.”  ~Proverbs 16:9

I’ve always loved hearing stories from people about how God coordinated their circumstances so that something good and unusual happened.  Unbelievers would call it fate or luck, but how blessed we are when we recognize how God worked behind the scenes in our lives to accomplish His will.

Relationships.

God brings people across our path.  He will orchestrate better friendships for us than we could ever do for ourselves.  We still have to do our part by being friendly and reaching out.  Yet God can add to our lives people to minister to us, as well as people we can encourage.  He can do the same for our kids.

Spiritual Growth.

God knows what we need to grow.  The trials, the mountain tops, the struggles…they’re all tailor-made for us individually.

Remember Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12?  God used that to show Paul that God’s grace was sufficient, to reveal His power through Paul’s weakness.  So God works in our lives to teach us about ourselves and about Him.

So if we look back at our dictionary definition, what is the desired effect of this orchestration?  That we learn to trust God with every part of our life, and to glorify Him.  If that’s the goal, He knows better than we do how to accomplish it.

Which brings us to one of my all time favorite passages.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  ~Proverbs 3:5-6

I pray that God will not only orchestrate the remaining weeks of our summer, but that each of us will allow Him to orchestrate our lives.

Related posts:
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On Trusting God’s Purpose When I Just Want an Easier Life
What Ruth Teaches Me About Trusting God

Certain sins trip us up so easily.  Or maybe it’s just me…

Someone in our home (who is not my husband, lol!) has a tendency to complain.  Actually, there’s more than one of us that get caught up in griping and groaning.

I love the dictionary definition of complain, which says it means to “express dissatisfaction or annoyance about a state of affairs or an event.”

Oh, how easy it is to be dissatisfied or annoyed!  Those feelings can come from how another person acts, a situation that doesn’t go our way, or just random circumstances that we really don’t want to have to deal with in the moment.

We know from the Bible story of the children of Israel in the wilderness what God thinks about complaining.  Numbers 11:1 says, “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD…”

Often our complaints are about daily irritations.  We’ve talked before about choosing gratitude instead of complaining, because you can’t do both of those at the same time!

But sometimes, our “complaint” might be more along the lines of a personal hurt.  Sure, it could be physical pain.  It may also be an emotional struggle, like grief or regret.

I think that was the case with David in Psalm 142.  As I read those seven verses, I’d say part of his complaint may have been loneliness.  He also appears to be discouraged about people who are persecuting him.  So how did he handle it?

“I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.” ~Psalm 142:1-3a

Where David succeeded is where I often fail.  I want to share my “complaint” with my husband, my family, my friends – or, realistically, with whomever will listen.

Yet in most cases, they likely can’t do anything to solve my problem.  While they may care about me, they can’t provide me with peace or contentment.

Instead, I need to choose David’s solution.  Whatever my current complaint or trouble, I need to deal with it by taking it directly to God.

Don’t you love the words David uses as he describes “pouring out” his complaint before the Lord?  Let’s admit that sometimes we’re so full of our grievance that it just spills out of us.  What a relief to empty ourselves of it, and allow it to flow over to a God who can handle it.

David also “shews” God his trouble.  Yes, we can describe to Him every detail that is bothering us.  After all, He already knows all about it.  (And by the way, while my husband is a patient listener, I doubt he would have a problem with me taking these things to God instead of to him!)

Comfort comes as we realize that God knows our path.  He is aware of exactly what is taking place in our lives.  Not only that, He knows the end from the beginning.  Perhaps God is just waiting for us to lay it at His feet.

Can we share a trouble with a loved one and ask them to pray for us?  Absolutely!  But let’s also remember to take each “complaint” to God.  Trust Him to replace our “overwhelmed” spirit with His peace.  And then we can join David at the end of the Psalm, praising God’s name.

I. am. forgetful.

“Old” age, perhaps?  Information overload, maybe?  Whenever my daughters ask me to do something, I give them free rein to remind me about it as many times as they need to!  In the same way, if I don’t write something down while I’m thinking about it, it’s unlikely that I’ll remember it three minutes later.

Forgetting details like buying milk at the grocery store or what time I need to pick my daughter up from cheer practice can be inconvenient for us.  But today I want to talk about a truth that’s important for all of us to remember.

In Deuteronomy chapter six, Moses addresses the children of Israel as they prepare to enter the promised land. In verses ten and eleven, he shares the blessings that await them there.

“And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land….to give thee great and goodly cities….and houses full of all good things….when thou shalt have eaten and be full;”

Sounds like things are going well here!  But verse twelve follows with this warning.

“Then beware lest thou forget the LORD….”

When they finally reach the promised land…when they have plenty to eat, and are no longer surviving on manna…when they’re not moving a tent from one camping site to the next, but living in a house that’s “full of all good things”…that’s when they’ll be tempted to forget God.

In the wilderness, they needed Him for daily survival.  Yet when they’re living in the midst of abundant blessings, Moses warns them – don’t forget.

They needed to remember all that God had brought them through, the deliverance from Egypt, the miracles in the wilderness.  In a day when they might be tempted to look at what they had, and credit it to their own hard work, Moses says “no.”  Remember all that God has done, and serve Him.

How about us?  What a tragedy it would be, amidst all the blessings in our lives, to forget to give honor and praise to the One who provides it all.

I don’t want to forget how God worked through different situations this past school year.  He brought us through some difficult days.  He strengthened my faith, in spite of how weak it was in the beginning.  Yet how easy it is to let days slip by without expressing gratitude to God for His goodness.

At times we, too, may start to take credit for what has happened.  “It’s because I prayed for this” or “Since I’ve been living better, this good thing happened.”  Yes, God answers prayer.  Out of His mercy and grace, He moves in our lives.  He blesses us as we honor and obey Him.

But I deserve nothing.  And when the good and easy times come, I must remember to praise Him.  Psalm 147:1 says, “Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God…”

By verse 14 of Deuteronomy six, Moses is talking about the Israelites choosing to go after other gods.  If we forget to acknowledge God in our lives, we’ll have the same temptation.  We’ll want to honor ourselves or find something or someone else to follow after.

On the other hand, just as the Israelites would face many battles before they actually possessed Canaan, so we may currently be in the midst of a trial.  Despite all we’ve been given, maybe we just don’t “feel” blessed. On those days, may our minds be filled with the truths that God’s grace is sufficient, our eternal future is sure, and His power is limitless.

As we make this conscious effort to remember what God has done, we can then follow the command of verse seven.

“….thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children…”

In the day-to-day “busy-ness,” let’s remember to teach our children about the faithfulness and goodness of God.  We can acknowledge all of our blessings, and give praise to the God who has provided them!

So beware!  Be alert to the dangers of forgetting God and failing to praise Him.  Then we can avoid the danger of living our lives outside of His guidance.

Related posts:
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4 Tips to Help You Count Your Blessings
Let’s Just Praise the Lord

Have you ever found that you believe something to be true in your mind, but it doesn’t translate to how you’re reacting in your circumstances?

Recently I was burdened about a certain situation.  It came to mind often throughout the day.  Whenever it did, I tried to take it to God.  My prayer life became quite busy!

And while I’d like to say that I was a great woman of faith and trusted God to answer in His way and in His time, I wasn’t.  Rather, I still found myself fretting and worrying about this situation that was mostly out of my control.

I knew God could answer.  I prayed that His will would be done.  In this instance, it was fairly clear what the right outcome should be.

After a whole lot of praying, and more time passing than I wanted to, God answered.  And, as is often the case, I learned a lot through the hard days and in the waiting.

As I look back on it now, I’m sure this thought hovered in the back of my mind, even though I didn’t vocalize it.  “God, this one might be too hard for you.”

After all, there were people involved whose hearts needed to be changed.  It was beyond my realm of control…but not His.

We’ve probably all heard the term “fair-weather friend.”  Maybe you’ve even had one or two of these people in your life.

It’s a person who’s our friend when our lives are clicking along smoothly, and it’s convenient for them.  However, they disappear at the first sign of trouble or when it’s no longer easy for them to be with us.

Sometimes as Christians we can have “fair-weather faith.”  It’s a faith that loudly sings the words to “Trust and Obey” in a church service when we’re happy and circumstances are good.  But when a trial comes along, it gets pretty quiet.

When we’re seeing prayers answered, we give a testimony about trusting God, and how He came through in our situation.  Yet when we’ve prayed for relief from a hardship, and it hasn’t gone away, we may secretly doubt God’s faithfulness.

I see three men in the Old Testament who had genuine faith, not the fair-weather kind.

I’m sure you know the story found in Daniel 3.  King Nebuchadnezzar tells Shadrach, Meshach, and Abenego that they’re going to be thrown into a fiery furnace.  They’ve refused to obey the command to bow down and worship his idol.  Death is imminent.  I think this qualifies as a trial.

Yet their faith is not shaken.

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”  ~Daniel 3:16-18

BUT IF NOT.

In other words, “God, we know you can deliver us.  But even if you don’t, we’re going to keep on loving and obeying you.”

When a trial comes, we pray for deliverance.  In our humanity, we pray to escape the trial as quickly as possible.  And we have absolute faith that God can do that.

So, if you’re like me, we pray what we believe is best for us.  I’ll take the shortest route through this difficulty, thank you very much.  I think Cherie Hill says it well in her book, The Problem of Prayer and The Promise That Changes Everything.

“We want prayer to be our will that influences heaven, instead of praying that God’s will influences what happens on earth.”

And sometimes God answers that prayer, and we see a quick victory.  But other times, our outcome may look like what happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

You see, before their faith was realized, they had to go into the furnace.  God didn’t rescue them from being thrown in.  He only delivered them after He revealed Himself to them in the midst of it. 

God may not deliver us out of our trial, but He will deliver us through it.  He wants to show us how to endure it as a good soldier.  These three men submitted to God’s will regardless if it meant deliverance or death.  And it’s through those kinds of trials that we will come to a deeper, sweeter relationship with Jesus Christ.

Neither you nor I are facing a heathen king or a fiery furnace.  But maybe today we don’t have enough money to pay the bills or we realize a child is making bad life choices.  It could be a cancer diagnosis, a spouse who’s grown distant, or seeing the chance we had at a new and better job fall apart.

Here’s another thought-provoking quote from Cherie Hill.  “Sometimes, just as in the Garden of Gethsemane, our prayers will be crying out to God for help, and we’ll suffer through it, instead of being delivered out of it.”

If that’s where you are, hold on to your faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  It’s a faith that says, “I know You can…but you might not.”  Ask God to give you a faith that walks into the fire, still trusting Him.  Rest in His promise to never leave you nor forsake you.  And you’ll grow a faith that keeps you strong, no matter what the weather.

Related posts:
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