The thought that God would honor me had never crossed my mind. Why would it? I thought it was all about honoring God. Adventures in Honorville not only took me to a deeper place of honoring God, to my surprise my eyes were opened to see how God also honors me.
The time had come for me to decide if I would teach a second year in the children’s ministry at Bible study. Sheets were passed out at the leaders meeting asking us to pray about it, check the yes or no box, and return our sheet the following week. So I prayed, “Lord, should I teach another year or are we moving on to something else?” Right away I received an answer, but it didn’t sound like something God would say. With all the divine guidance it had taken to get me to go to Teacherville and to stay when things got difficult, now He says “It’s your call”? It didn’t make sense. That can’t be God, I thought. So I prayed again, and again, but each time I received the same answer.
When I didn’t turn in my sheet the next week, the Teaching Director came and asked me if I was going to teach the following year. I told her when I prayed, I received an answer, but I didn’t think it was from God, so I was still praying about it. She asked me to tell her what the answer was that I received. After I told her, I asked her if she thought it sounded like something God would say? Immediately she said, “Yes, that’s God honoring you!” “What?!” I blurted out, “How could that be?” She said that God was leaving it up to me, that I could choose. Either yes or no would be fine.
As much as I trusted the teaching director’s knowledge of God and her faith, I had trouble with the idea that God would honor me. I had accepted that God loved me, but that He would honor me seemed too much for me to accept for some reason. Yet, it was the only answer I seemed to be getting. So, I took what the Teaching Director said as confirmation and began asking myself, “What do I want to do?” Do I want to volunteer for another year in the children’s ministry? It was a tough decision. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I loved being in the leader’s group and learning from and serving with the women of faith there. But could I endure another challenging year with the children? It was an amazing experience learning and working with God, and I couldn’t help think there were more lessons for me there. Or should I move on to different lessons somewhere else? Was God telling me there would be lessons to grow my faith if I decided to stay and if I decided to go? Lessons did seem to show up wherever I was. So, as long as He was leaving it up to me, I decided I wanted to spend another year with the ladies I’d grown so fond of.
A lesson in honoring God came one Sunday during a local radio program Jim and I frequently listened to on the way to church. Back To The Beatles with Jim Carson on KRTH 101 shared history and played old interviews from the early Beatles days. This particular Sunday an interview with Paul McCartney was played. He told about having a bachelor pad where people would drop by and hang out. One day a guy came to the front gate and said he was Jesus Christ. Paul, thinking he probably wasn’t, but if he was, he didn’t want to turn him away. So he invited him in, gave him a cup of tea, and chatted with him until it was time to meet the guys for a session. He told Jesus he could come along if he promised to sit in the corner very quiet and not say anything. He said Jesus did come to the session and did sit very quietly. After that Paul said, he never saw the guy again. Jim and I both enjoyed the story and thought it was very interesting especially considering we were on our way to church.
When we got to church, the sermon was on Creation. As many times as I’d read and heard about the creation of the world, I was given a new way of looking at it when the pastor stressed that God created everything from nothing. My mind wandered at that point to compare how I create something. I normally look to see what I have, then go to Home Depot or the craft store and get whatever else is needed. But the Bible says in the beginning “the earth was formless and empty” which means God created everything from absolutely nothing!
On the way home I was still thinking about it all. Hearing the creation story in that way for some reason made me more fully realize just how much more capable God is than anyone else. Then my mind went back to the Paul McCartney interview, and the story of him having who he thought could possibly be Jesus right there in the room with him, yet telling him to sit in the corner and not say anything. As I laughed at Paul for not consulting with the Creator of the universe when he had the chance, it suddenly occurred to me that I have Jesus inside of me and do the same thing all the time! I’m carrying around the One who created everything, the most intelligent Being on the planet, and how often have I ignored Him, I wondered.
So, what was the lesson in Honorville? Was it to wake me to the value and worth of who I have inside me–the One to whom all things are possible? Could it be with all I’d learned about trusting and following God, I’d grown worthy of God trusting me? What it all meant and where it was leading me, I wasn’t quite sure. It was new territory. What I was sure of was that I was with the One who created this territory and was eager to see what He had to show me. I’m with You, Lord!
To be continued . . . see Faithville
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My faith in God had grown to the point of believing anything was possible. Following the teaching of Jesus had brought me to the better life I’d hoped for, but something He said had me suspecting there was an even greater life to be found. Jesus said, “Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works.” The possibilities of that excited me knowing the works of Jesus included healing people, some of whom had already died! I was also highly intrigued by what the greater works could be. In Faithville, a brave attempt to share my faith with a dying friend turned out to be my first step toward doing the works of Jesus.
I’d been reading the book All About Jesus, compiled by Roger Quy. The book combines the accounts from the four gospel writers; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, so they can be read straight through as one continuous story. Having all the details of each story together in one place made it easier for me to grasp the amazing things that happened without having to be looking up the accompanying story continually. The book was also written in an easy to understand interpretation with a reference chart in the back that showed where to find the same stories in the Bible if I wanted to compare.
I liked the book so much that I decided to bravely share it with my next door neighbor. Frances had spent several weeks in the hospital with complications from surgery. Jim and I had visited her as she moved around from hospital to rehabilitation to convalescent home, and finally to hospice. All we heard from her was how much she wanted to walk. She’d been through physical therapy and tried to keep her legs strong, but she’d been in bed so long that her muscles had begun to atrophy and was told therapy would no longer help. That’s when I got the idea to bring her the All About Jesus book, thinking it would give her something to do and might actually help build her faith for a miracle.
Even though Frances was a big fan of my blog, I wasn’t sure she’d be interested in books I was reading. When I gave her the book, she said she couldn’t read it because she hadn’t brought her glasses with her. I didn’t say anything but wondered how she’d gotten along without them for so long. Thinking it was her way of saying no, I decided not to pursue the idea. She then surprised me and asked if I would read it to her. I was delighted. She noticed the marker I’d placed in the book and asked me to begin there. Thinking it would interest her I had marked the story about the four guys who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed. The house was so crowded where Jesus was that they couldn’t get in. They ended up cutting a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down right in front of Jesus. After I finished reading the story, she said she liked it and said she believed anything was possible. Taking another brave step, I asked her if I could pray for her. When she agreed, I laid my hands on her legs and said, “Jesus, Frances wants to walk and believes that You can help her. So, I bring my friend to You to be healed so she can walk.”
After I prayed, Frances wanted me to read some more. So I read the story about the paralyzed man who had been at the pool for 38 years waiting for someone to help him into the water at the right time. It’s interesting how often I’ve read the Bible and noticed something I hadn’t before. And this was one of those times. In other stories, Jesus spoke about the person’s faith and said it was their faith that had healed them. But in this story Jesus only said to the man, “Pick up your mat and walk,” and the man did! The man later got into trouble with the religious leaders for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. When asked who had told him to pick up his mat and walk, the man didn’t know. Amazing, the guy didn’t even know who Jesus was and yet was healed!
Doubt started to set in with Frances. She didn’t think she would be healed because “You’re not Jesus,” she told me. “Yeah, but in my prayer, I brought you to Jesus just like the guys in the story brought their friend to Him,” I told her. She agreed, but then told me I didn’t pray right. She was so funny! She also said the stories in my book weren’t true. That’s when I told her they were right out of the Bible and showed her the reference chart which listed where to find the same stories in the Bible. She then said something that really surprised me. She said, “Next time bring your Bible, so we can read both and compare.”
During the next couple of visits, I read to her from my Bible the same stories I had read the time I laid my hands on her legs and prayed for her to walk. I wasn’t sure if she was believing she would walk or if she just liked that I was visiting her. That question was answered the morning Jim came home from next door and said that Frances’ daughter was there taking care of things. When he asked about Frances, she said she had caused a big commotion screaming for someone to come and help her walk. The nurses tried to calm her by explaining why she wasn’t able to walk but Frances got even more upset and kept insisting she could walk if someone would help her up. The daughter said they had to sedate her to calm her down. When Jim told me, I felt so bad, thinking I’d caused it all. Once I thought about it, I saw all of the commotion as an expression of her faith! Frances believed! I too then believed she would have walked if someone had helped her. It must have been scary for her daughter, and I felt bad about that for a long time, but I was happy to know that Frances believed. Frances may not have been able to walk during the short time left on this earth but I know she’s now walking on the streets of heaven!
Later I saw that the man in the Bible, the one by the pool of water, also demonstrated faith when he did what Jesus told him to do–he picked up his mat and walked. It made me wonder why I didn’t help Frances to walk after I prayed for her? Or perhaps commanded her to get up and walk like Jesus did? Was it because I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to? Could it be that I didn’t really believe like I thought I did? As much as I thought I’d grown, my journey through Faithville showed me there was still much to learn about the works of Jesus.
To be continued . . . see Restville
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