Oops….

I wouldn’t like to say that I am sometimes a little accident prone.  Let’s just say that our household was into that whole shabby-chic mismatched glassware look a lot before it was fashionable.  In fact, now I think about it, I grew up in a home where that particular look was a key feature. (Sorry mum!)  There do seem to be times when I feel I am going through life with the subtlety of a wrecking ball and this last week has been one of those times.  First I broke the car. Not entirely my fault.  In fact, not really my fault at all.  We both knew there was something not right in the whole gear sort of area (we’re pretty hot on car mechanical stuff in our family).  But I was the one driving it when, with a rather unhappy sort of clunking noise, the car stuck out its bottom lip, threw a major sulk and just refused to go into any useful gear. Again.  It did this six months ago and I was the one driving it that time. So, another hour spent blocking the road waiting for the breakdown man

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Then yesterday I broke the dishwasher.  We were going to sell it, so I thought I’d give it a really good clean before taking some photos to list it on ebay. I think I overdid the cleaning and somehow managed to get water into the electronic circuitry stuff – lights are on (sometimes) but definitely nothing happening. And just to round things off nicely, I broke an ice-tray, but Neil doesn’t know about that one….yet.  We operate on a strictly “need to know” basis on these things.

So I’ve been saying “Oops” quite a bit lately.  The children in church sang us a great little song on Sunday with the opening line “God never says ‘oops’…” And it’s true.  So much of our lives are reactive as we respond to situations, problems, people. Often we find ourselves looking for a Plan B.  Or C, D, E or F. I’m sure at times we feel that certain situations are taking us pretty much all the way through the alphabet. There is no Plan B in heaven. God never says “oops”.

The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.” (Isaiah 14:24)

We know the saying “belt and braces” – making extra sure of something.  You don’t get any surer than God.  End of.  And yet, to make sure that we really get that, the Holy Spirit prompts Isaiah to write “the LORD Almighty has sworn”.  The LORD, Yaweh, God eternal, uncreated, I AM, unchanging, from eternity to eternity.  Almighty, Shaddai, the sustaining God who meets all our needs.  And this is the God who has sworn.  For him to speak is enough, but our God has sworn that his plans will be, and his purposes will happen.  There is no Plan B because there is never a need for a Plan B.  God knows the end from the beginning.  Our Saviour is the end and the beginning, the Alpha and the Omega.  No matter what happens here on earth that takes us by surprise and leaves us feeling overwhelmed and unsure what to do, there is never even a nano-second of uncertainty in heaven.

A friend shared a quote with me yesterday. I’m afraid I can’t attribute it as I don’t know who originally said it, but this is it: “Where God leads, he feeds.  Where God guides, he provides.  If we do his will, he will foot the bill.” And he will, because he has sworn that his plans will be and his purposes will happen. We don’t always know where he is leading and what his plans are.  But God never says “oops”.

Getting those feet wet…

Some time ago I signed up for a daily devotional which gets delivered each morning to my email. Over and over again the verse and accompanying message have been amazingly appropriate and timely for what was going on in my life at that point. Isn’t it so amazing the way God does that? These devotions are written months in advance by total strangers and yet God in His infinite goodness and grace has them arrive in our lives at just the right moment.

This morning the verse was Joshua 3:15-16 : “Now the Jordan is in flood all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing… So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.” 

The river was in flood. I have no idea how deep the Jordan is for the rest of the year. Perhaps shallow enough for the people to have waded through, carrying children and belongings on their shoulders, and congratulating themselves on their safe arrival at the other side. “That wasn’t too bad.” “We did well.” But no, God wanted them to be in no doubt that there was only one way to the other side and that was by His mighty power, so He brought them to the river when it was in flood. Last winter the river here in Worcester flooded (again). Watching the water as it rushed along, covering not only the river bank but the whole of the race course, you would have had to be a fool to try to swim across.

The Israelites must have had that same feeling when faced with the flooded Jordan. Only a fool would attempt to cross. None of them would have remembered crossing the Red Sea between walls of water held up by the mighty hand of God. Perhaps some had heard the story from parents and grandparents. But there’s a world of difference between hearing what happened to someone else and facing the flood yourself. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would have quite liked to see the water stop flowing a while before I got there – just so I could see how this was going to work out. I guess some of the priests might have felt that way too. But God had other plans. Faith grows as it is tested. And their faith grew as they got to the river’s edge and the water touched their feet, before stopping.

Right now, we’re starting to get wet toes. We have pledges to cover about a third of our financial support. Which is amazing and we are so thankful to God for that provision. But it does leave us with another two thirds to raise in our target time of five months. In the meantime we have to decide whether to get our feet wet by applying for schools (including paying non-returnable place-holding fees), moving into a smaller house and pushing ahead with all the things that need to be in place when we get across that river. Our weak and human hearts would like to see the river stopped before we start walking. Our God tells us to trust Him and get our feet wet.

What is it that people always say once they’re the ones in the water and you’re still on the edge? “Come on in. The water’s lovely!” I don’t know if the river is lovely. But I have every faith that it’s stopping. I’m just not sure when. But that’s OK because I have a God who knows exactly when, and how.

…and breathe!

Saturday was some day.  We started with two emails from people pledging financial support.  A very encouraging way to start the day, reminding us that God will provide for us.  Then we accepted an offer on the house.  And then had a phone call from a friend offering a house to stay in if we need to move out of here before we have finalised the purchase on a new property.  That’s quite a lot to be thankful to God for all in one day.  It would be lovely to think that every day from here on was going to be that jam-packed full of excitement, but we know it won’t.  (Actually, I don’t think I could keep up if it carried on like that!) But days like that can help us on days like today when it looks like it’s going to rain all day and there seem to be no suitable houses around for us to buy.  The property market at the point we’re looking at seems to move incredibly fast round here at the moment, and it’s easy to get caught up with estate agent’s hype and start feeling that we have to jump at the first thing that becomes available – suitable or not.  We don’t.  Our God is sovereign over the process of property selling and buying, and in His abundant goodness He will provide. In His time.  I’m really happy with the idea of His provision… it’s the timing thing I find harder. I know I need to learn greater patience but it would be nice to learn it quickly!

“Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. ”  1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Last night we met with our elders at church to talk through with them where things are at for us right now.  We are blessed with a warm, godly, wise and fun group of men who lead our church.  They have all been talking to us regularly about how things are going, but this was a slightly more formal time with them.  We met with them in this way in July of last year, and they asked some challenging and thought-provoking questions, for which we are thankful.  Since then, a lot has happened and it was exciting to sit with them and review how much has happened in less than a year and how we can all see God leading us through this experience. We are grateful to God for these men, not just because of their love and encouragement to us as a family, but because of the commitment and servant-hearted leadership they give to our church.

Throughout this process, our pastor, Richard Lacey and his wife Carolyn, have been just amazing.  They have advised, questioned, encouraged, prayed and supported.  We are indebted to them more than words can say, and more thankful to God for them than we can express.

All of which just goes to remind me how much I am going to miss my church family here in Worcester.  We have been here 7 1/2 years and in some ways it feels lots longer.  We hadn’t been here more than a couple of years when people started saying to me “Oh, it feels like you’ve been here a lot longer than that.”  Given that time is supposed to fly when you’re having fun and drag by when things are tough, I’ve never been quite sure how to take that comment! Our girls have grown up in this church and it will be hard to leave.  But we felt the same way about our previous church in Nottingham when we moved down here.  So we trust God that in His goodness we will find a church family in Cape Town where we are faithfully taught from His word and where we can serve, worship and grow in community with a whole new set of brothers and sisters.  OK.. time to stop before it all gets a bit emotional!  I’ll leave you with a picture from some time ago when this particular “thing” was feeling rather impossible.