What if the Red Sea doesn't part?

Last week I began Beth Moore's Esther~It's Tough Being A Woman, bible study. Right out of the gate Beth poses a question ... she asked "What if the Red Sea doesn't part?" What if when we are walking through a trial in our lives, or maybe it feels like our life is a trial ... and we can't see God's hand in the midst of it all? That thought has echoed in my mind since I heard it. A question like that really puts you at a fork in the road. You have to choose, one path over the other. Do you keep following the Lord or do you "lean on your own understanding"?

Through a number of changes in our family over the past year, I have pondered my place in life. I am very career oriented, but not in a corporate ladder mindset. My career has always been my family. My marriage, my children's well being, financial, health, and most dear to my heart, a sincere walk with Christ. Ironically, each area has taken a hit. Nothing that God Himself has not orchestrated or allowed, but my question continues to be, "Where do I fit in?"

I like clear lines, definative answers, very few surprises. I like to play it safe. Let's not rock the boat. You know, sort of like the child who covers her eyes and thinks that because her eyes are closed, you can't see her. Yep, that was me then, and in some respects, where I reside today. I think the Bible calls them "people pleasers". Christ doesn't care much for that mentality. Not because He is mean and rambunctious, but because He is truth. And when you walk in "the truth" of the matter, boats get rocked.

I found the answer I was needing, in God's word.

Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

God has a plan and a purpose, and it includes me! Just knowing that the One writing the bigger story, has my best interest at heart causes a sigh of relief.
And what is that plan and purpose??? Conformity! To remove the layers of me and replace them with His Son.

Romans 8:29 "For those whom He forenew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His son ... "

When I was a teenager I attended a Christian camp. A counselor pulled me aside one day and shared with me Romans 12:1-2. From that day on, those words have been my life verses!

"Therfore I urge you, brethern, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

When difficult times come, figuratively speaking, I pull my flesh off of the altar and yell, "Time out!"

Can I tell you a funny story? I will keep it short. I promise! When I was in the 6th grade, our school put on a Christmas program. I was one of hundreds of children who sang Christmas songs to an audience of doting parents. My seat was at the very top of the bleachers at the indoor highschool gymnasium. The bleachers were wooden with a thick coat of varnish (you know- the kind you sit on at basket ball games). Well at the very end of the program, like all the other 12 year olds, I slid across the bench to race down to the bottom, only I stopped just as quickly as I started. I got the biggest sliver of wood in my hiney! It hurt so bad that I sat sideways in my dad's truck on the way home. When we got home, my dad had me lay on my stomach across his bed, so he could take a look at what he was having to remove and then of course proceed with doing so. As a child, I was the biggest baby! If I had a splinter, I cried like it was a tree branch. And blood? Don't ask! Well, my dad no sooner grabbed his tweezers and my screaming and crying began. I could tell that he no more wanted to take this peice of wood out of my backside, than I wanted him to. But he finally did. With several words like, "will you just calm down I haven't even touched you yet!" Oh what a pain I must have been that night!

The reason for my story? I have since grown up, have a pretty good tolerance to pain, but in a spiritual sense of the word ... I'm still a big baby! God is in the business of lovingly shaping and molding His children. I being one of His, have jumped out of His hands more times than I care to admit. Remember how He describes the clay questioning the potter? Like a big lump of clay should talk in the first place! Well this lump of clay does talk, sadly, too much. So today I am resolving to be real before the Lord (He sees right through me anyhow) and to walk in truth (and the truth shall set you free - what a promise). Also, knowing that those around me who love me are also challenged with that very thing, and when the truth is spoken to me in love, don't be so quick to cover my eyes, but rather filter my emotions through the Lord and TRUST HIM!

That is what it all boils down to! Where my faith resides. I am in a peeling process and even though my flesh is screaming and crying out, I refuse to get off the altar! I am resolved to walk it through! I choose to honor the Lord with my meeger offering and count my blessings and sing praises to His name.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for stoking the fire. Thank you that You see areas of my life that need refining and You are pursuing me in Love to shave off those rough edges so that I will shine for you! To God be the glory.

Your beloved child ~ Tricia Anne

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

Martin Luther King Jr.