What's Next, Papa?

Ever have a day where you feel something like this?

I COULD go on and on about the start to my week.  But why rehash what I'd really like to forget?  I COULD tell you all about a frustrating conversation at church or I COULD tell you how a tire on our truck came completey off on our way home last night.  I COULD complain about how me and the kids had to sit in the car for a very long time shining our headlights on the truck so Jim had enough light to fix it.  I COULD complain about the snow and the cold...Or I COULD tell you all my woes today as I spent hours at Children's Mercy w/ my cranked out/freaked out toddler...but nope, you ain't gonna hear it.

Good thing I went to Africa.

It is no coincidence that I started my week reading Romans 8.  {Go ahead, take a look at it.  Re-read it...in fact, wanna get really serious?  Go to www.biblegateway.com and read it in several different translations.  This site makes it as easy as a click of a button. } Do you know that Paul tells us that we should look at each day as an ADVENTURE?   

 This life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?"

You know what?  I'm not gonna lie.  Today I WANTED to complain.  I FELT like being crank pants.  But I FIXED my thoughts on WHAT REALLY MATTERED.  PRAISE the LORD.  And you know what Romans 8 tells us?

If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! 

 

MmmHmm...it's gettin' good...but wait, there's more.  Read on, dear friend.  Let these words from God soak right into your heart...like those ridiculous paper towel commercials!

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

 ^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. 

Really?  A MAN wrote this?  Wow, I'd say this man (probably Paul) was for sure "in touch" with his feminine side! Normally I'd smack any man who had the audacity to even TRY and "GET" what birth pangs are like! But re-read that again right now and then come back.  Ok, how can I not read and say, "WOW...Paul, you nailed it on the head, boy! It is obvious you were inspired to write that by a Holy God!"  Here's my most favorite line: But the longer we wait, the larger we become; and the more joyful our expectancy.  Boy, isn't that the truth? The longer I waited for my kids to "arrive", the larger I got.  I mean, LARGE.  Let's just say by the end my goal was to weigh less than my husband..who happens to be 6'1 and muscular.  To say I was "joyfully expectant" is putting it mildly.  Towards the end, I could tell you the weeks, days, hours and minutes.  I thought about it every day, all day long! Each time I waddled up the stairs breathlessly or struggled to buckle my seatbelt I praised Jesus it was soon...and begged Him to make it sooner.

This next part gives me chills like when I hear Mozart played by an orchestra:

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture...None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. 

 

Yes, I COULD say this and I COULD say that...but would my words turn your thoughts to Jesus? Would my words turn MY thoughts to Jesus?  Would my actions  demonstrate a loving, determined God who puts everything on the line for me? So I think I'll finish my blog today by leaving THIS picture in your mind...and I hope and pray that depicts the kind of person I was today...