A Question of Love ~ Valerie Ronald

 

“Why do you argue when all I want to do is bless you?”

The question dropped into my mind fully formed, almost audible. After years of struggling against a flood of numerous personal crises, the tide had turned, bringing resolution and happier prospects. The let-up of relentless negative pressure felt strange, causing me to doubt the possibility of better days to come. So I argued with God. Can this truly be your will? Am I to marry this man and start a whole new life or is it just my own desires taking over? Then He asked me the question above, which changed everything. I quit arguing and answered yes to His overflowing blessings.

The questions of God have a way of making those He queries look at their situation in a different way. God doesn’t pose questions to find out the answers. He is omniscient, all-knowing, the One who looks into the heart and sees the end from the beginning. His questions are always succinct, probing and worded to get us to examine ourselves and our present thought process.

The first question asked by God in His Word is still relevant to us now. Our reply to this question determines our present journey and our eventual destiny. Adam, a man previously free and unashamed before God, disobeys His command then goes into hiding. But God does not abandon Adam in his sin. He comes near, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, calling to him, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9 NIV) God knows exactly where Adam is, physically and spiritually. He asks this question because Adam needs to see himself where he is. God’s question makes him realize he is hiding in shame ˗˗ avoiding God for fear of punishment ˗˗ making excuses. Thus man’s first conscious awareness of guilt is exposed in the revealing light of God’s query.

If He asked you the same question, where are you?, how would you answer God? The answers could be numerous but there are only two that really count. If you answer, “I am far away from You, not even sure You exist,” then remember how God walked in the garden to draw near to a man whose sin distanced him from perfect love, and know He provides a way through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, to bring you close. If you answer, “I am here, Lord, close to your side as your beloved child, but You know how easily I wander away,” then remember He will never leave you or forsake you. No matter how fickle your heart is or how easily your eyes stray from His face, He never loses sight of one He calls His own.

Perhaps God is querying you about your writing. Do you enjoy getting lost in your own fictional world? Are you writing for recognition, to see your name on a book cover or a blog post? Or are you truly doing this out of love for others and a desire to see them grow in their walk with God?

Think about another significant question God asked, which turned the trajectory of Moses’ life in a new direction. Previous to his encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3), Moses lived in isolation, tending sheep in the desert. Now God was calling him to lead the captive Israelites out of Egypt. But first He asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” Moses held a long wooden staff, his most essential tool for herding and protecting his sheep. This staff becomes an instrument used by God to achieve His purposes through Moses.

Not only is God asking, where are you?, He also queries us specifically as writers, “what is that in your hand?” What we hold in our hand is our gifting, ability, aptitude and desire to write. Your writing craft is the tool God wants you to use to speak the truth in love. (Eph. 4:15)

God asks questions to help us see ourselves in light of where we are in relation to Him. Self-examination can be painful but when done in the light of God’s redeeming love, it reveals areas of our life needing a touch from Him. We don’t have to find the answers alone, for He walks with us through the process, providing guidance in His Word and by His Spirit. God already has an answer for His own question. He just wants you to search and find it for yourself.

 

Valerie Ronald writes from an old roll top desk in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, with her tortoiseshell cat for a muse. A graduate of Langara College School of Journalism, she writes devotionals, fiction and inspirational prose. Her purpose in writing is to encourage others to grow in their spiritual walk.

Beautiful Disruptions ~ Take 2 ~ Valerie Ronald

 

This post is a repeat of my first guest post published by InScribe Writers Online, back on October 31, 2019. It so perfectly fits this month's writing prompt that I decided to post it again. 

 

One day on a beach walk with a good friend, I told her about an e-mail I received that morning from a man I did not know. It seems I knew his brother and sister-in-law a long time ago. I watched the waves beat their way to shore, scuffed the sand with my shoe.  

“He asked if it would be alright if we wrote to each other.” When I glanced at my friend, she was smiling. She said, “I have such a strong sense that from this day out, things for you will change for the better. God is up to something.”  

My heart gave a hopeful little leap, then settled back to the cautious beat of one familiar with pain, disappointment and struggle. For several years all I had known was the war zone of a messy divorce and a life-threatening illness. Hope was hard to come by.

But now when I look back I recognize that moment on the beach as one of God’s beautiful disruptions. Sometime later I married the man who e-mailed me and moved on to a whole new life full of love, joy and fulfillment.  

Webster’s dictionary defines disruption as causing something to be unable to continue in the normal way: interrupting the usual progress or activity of something. A disruption is at first stressful because it throws things into disorder, putting us off the course we were used to. But God has a way of disrupting lives that opens up possibilities never imagined, even if at the time the disruption is unwelcome.  

The scriptures are full of beautifully disrupted stories where God suddenly steps in to redirect the current path of someone He wants to use to fulfill His purposes. In Exodus 3, Moses has spent many years tending his father-in-law’s flock on the far side of the desert. God captures Moses’ attention when He speaks from a burning bush. He sends Moses on a mission back to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery. As a country herdsman spending days on end with only sheep for company, Moses’ life is beautifully disrupted when he becomes God’s chosen instrument to lead His people to freedom.  

As a lowly shepherd boy on the hills around Bethlehem, David was unlikely to be chosen for any significant role. But God changed David’s life by sending His prophet, Samuel, to anoint him as the future king of Israel. God’s beautiful disruption caused David to become a mighty king, a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV) and a forefather of Jesus, the Messiah.  

In the most glorious disruption of all, a Jewish peasant girl is visited by an angel announcing she is to give birth to the Son of God. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34) Through the power of the Holy Spirit, she becomes the mother of Jesus, God in human flesh, whose life, death and resurrection provides salvation for all who believe in Him.  

Sometimes God reveals Himself to me in subtle ways. To be honest, I would prefer He direct me slowly and gently. But when I think of the mountaintops of my spiritual walk, it is the beautiful disruptions that stand out. Those times when God breaks suddenly into my mundane life speak of a love so great He would do the extraordinary to capture my attention. 

Such beautiful disruptions cause me to exclaim, only God.

Only God could orchestrate so many details to fulfill His purposes.

Only God interrupts by making me breathless with His beauty and majesty.

Only God beautifully disrupted time by stepping down from eternity to live among us. 

Valerie Ronald lives in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. She is a graduate of Vancouver's Langara College journalism program, and has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance writer, public speaker and bookstore employee. She writes devotionals for her home church bulletins and her online blog. Her current book project chronicles how God's faithfulness saw her through the dark valleys of divorce and cancer. Along with her husband, Valerie enjoys spending time with their blended family and six grandchildren. She is a nature photographer, water colorist, cat lover and Scrabble addict.

More of her devotionals can be read on her blog https://scriptordeus.wordpress.com

What Is That In Your Hand? ~ Valerie Ronald

God is the master of re-purposing. In His hands, everyday objects become tools to bring about miracles.

~ a jar of flour and a jug of oil never depleted, keep a poor widow of Zarephath and her son from starvation. (1 Kings 17)

~ a scarlet cord hung in a window spares the life of a woman of Jericho, who turns up in the lineage of Jesus. (Joshua 2)

~ when He sends Moses to lead his people out of captivity, God turns his simple shepherd’s staff into a snake, as a miraculous sign for the Israelites of the authenticity of His message of deliverance. (Ex. 4)

But before Moses witnesses this miracle, God asks him a crucial question.   

“What is that in your hand?”

This simple yet profound question is an essential determiner of my purpose as a writer. Through meditating on the story of Moses’ staff, I continue to learn how God wants to use the gifts and talents He has given me to fulfill His purposes.

God never asks a question that He does not know the answer to already. He asks questions for our benefit, or in this case, for the benefit of Moses. Moses had a staff in his hand, his most essential tool for herding and protecting the sheep in his care. It was an extension of his own arm, used in multiple ways in his duties as a shepherd, and for his own support and comfort during long desert treks. God’s question was meant to help Moses see the simple tool of his shepherd’s work as instrumental in realizing God’s ultimate purpose of freeing His chosen people. In God’s hands, the simplest of things can become useful beyond what we can think or imagine.

My “staff”, the tool I have in my hand, is writing. God stirred my desire to write in my early childhood. Through all the twists and turns of my life, it has never left. At first I wrote for my own enjoyment, then I pursued education to become a professional writer. It wasn’t until I became a believer in Jesus Christ that I realized my writing was a tool, a gift from God to be used to glorify Him.

In the Exodus story, God tells Moses to throw his staff to the ground. What was once a dead piece of wood miraculously becomes a live snake. Until Moses released the staff from his grasp, he would not realize God’s power to use him in the task ahead.

I don’t think I’m alone in being rather obsessive about my own writing. Every page is like a child, labored over and birthed from my own creative core. If I keep it clasped close to my chest, trying to steer it to where I think it should go, it will only go as far as human limitations can take it. I may want to hold onto it, control it, claim it as my own, but when released, it comes alive by the power of God and can be instrumental in changing lives.

Knowing my writing is for God to use as He sees fit does not excuse me from applying consistent effort in diligently practicing and improving my craft. As a co-creator with God in developing my talents, I still need to do the research, develop my vocabulary, read more experienced writers, and write as much as I can. Just as Moses’ staff was just a piece of wood without his skills as a shepherd to put it to use, I need to bring as much ability and training to my writing as I can, so God has good material to work with. Then I need to release it to God to use it the way He wants, taking it places I can never imagine.  

Over time God has spoken to my heart about the purpose of my writing. I find I am not so much seeking after recognition or readership, although those can be positive bi-products of my writing life. Now my purpose is to take delight in God, who gives me joy when I write, thus His desire in now the desire of my own heart. Because I know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according His purpose.   

If God can use a shepherd in the back of the desert, equipped with only a simple wood staff, to bring His chosen people out of bondage into the Promised Land, then He can use me and what I have in my hand as well. Simple words.


For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:36 NIV)

Standing in the Gap by Sharon Espeseth

The Golden Calf

While Moses was meeting with God on Mount Sinai, the Israelites thought their leader had been gone too long. In his absence, the people asked Aaron to make them gods who would "go before them." They didn't think of speaking to God, the one who had rescued them from the hand of Pharaoh and led them safely out of Egypt.

Complying with the people's wishes, Aaron asked them to bring him their gold jewellery. From this jewellery, Aaron fashioned a golden calf. He then built an altar and announced a festival on the following day.

The Golden Calf

Aware of what was happening, God told Moses to go down and deal with this corruption. Calling the Israelites a "stiff-necked people," God had had enough of their disobedience and rebellion. He was ready to destroy them and start a new nation with Moses.

Moses Stands in the Gap

"But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God." On behalf of his people, Moses reasoned with God. Wouldn't it look evil to the Egyptians, he asked, if you brought the Israelites out of Egypt " to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth?"

Pleading with God, Moses asked, "Wouldn't the Egyptians consider this evil on your part? 'Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.'" Moses reminded God of his promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Israel about making their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. What about the promised land? (See Exodus 32:1-14.)

Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments

The psalmist summed it up: "So he said he would destroy them--had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them." (Psalm 106:23 NIV) Because of Moses' intercession, God relented and  he did not destroy his people.

Standing in the Gap--What Does That Mean?

The phrase "standing in the gap" is more familiar to me than " standing in the breach" or "stepping into the breach." What does it mean?

Researching this phrase online, I found more information than I could put in my blog. Without degrees in theology, I would summarize that God is holy and finds sin intolerable. On the other hand, his love for the each person, including the sinner, is perfect. There is a gap between God's intolerance for evil and his all-encompassing love for each person.

By talking directly and openly to God about how things were going with the Israelites, Moses was standing in the breach, or pleading their cause. If you wish to read more about Moses standing in the gap, you may find this article interesting.

* https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2008-10/standing-breach

In ancient times, cities were often walled for protection from outsiders or even from flood. Without getting into archaeology, one can imagine these walls needed maintenance and repair. In this context, someone would stand in this gap of the wall, perhaps even armed, to stop an unwelcome guest or a wild animal while the wall was being repaired.

How Can We Stand in the Gap for Others?

Reading InScribe blogs this month, it is obvious that many of us InScribers have our own struggles for none of us is flawless. Nor are our families. We have concerns for our loved ones who may be prodigals from our families, or prodigals from their faith, who may have physical and/or mental health problems. We or our loved ones may be agonizing over financial shortfall, mismanaged funds, marital problems, or addictions.

Standing at the Breach for Others

We, as people of faith, may need to stand in the gap for our writing colleagues or our loved ones. The best way I know to do that would be by intercessory prayer, which means talking to God on behalf of others. Like Moses did.

Without knowing all the details about other peoples lives, we sometimes know when they could use support. We cannot fix our love ones' problems, but we know someone who loves them even more than we do and has more answers and more power than we do.

To stand in the breach, we need to arm ourselves against the foe and Satan is the foe. The best arms we can use our God's Word, God's love, and the time we spend with God in prayer. To read more about the full Armour of God, read Ephesians 6:10-18.

* https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206:10-18

Following this scripture, it is good to remember Paul's saying, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." (Ephesians 6:19-20

It may sound folksy to say that God specializes in things thought impossible, but St. Teresa of Avila has said, "You pay God a compliment by asking great things of him." We need not be shy.

At Easter time we may be more aware of loved ones and neighbours who need to hear or read the gospel story. Or maybe they need to see us live the story by showing our faith, hope and charity.

Happy Easter to all!

With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption. (Psalm 106)

For your listening pleasure.

With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption - YouTube

▶ 5:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMTfesE-0Qw

Mar 21, 2011 - Uploaded by pompeyo1951

Psalm 130, this lament (a Penitential Psalm, some takes it as the other "Miserere" ) in its entirety (Ps 1-2, 3-4, 5 ...

Postscript

I missed stating clearly what Mary Wand put in her comment below. (Please read.) Although I was implying and leading up to the fact that, as Mary said so beautifully, "Christ . . . breached the greatest gap of all" between God and man by sending his Son to die for us on the cross. "And this is what Easter is all about."

Jesus is our greatest Intercessor between us and our Heavenly Father. Although we can pray directly to God the Father, Jesus say, " . . . I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Jesus intercedes for us, but we can also intercede for others.

Step Boldly by Karma Pratt

I am often reminded that God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called. How thankful I am for that! I realize I have created many of my own challenges by walking through life saying, "Who? Me?!?" every time God calls. I often feel like Moses at the site of the burning bush.

 Moses asked, "Who am I that I should go?"

The response: And God said, "I will be with you." (Exodus 3:11-12)

There was no question that Moses needed to go; God was ready and willing to do the heavy lifting, and would give Moses everything he needed for the journey. I imagine Moses wondering, "Who on earth am I to lead this charge?" And God patiently nudging, "Who are you not to?"

My own journey took a turn into the unknown just over a year ago when I had the great nerve to ask God what debts I owed.

The response: "You owe me your life."

Deep breath. Take courage, dear heart. 

"What does that look like?"

"Quit your job. Follow me. Write the words I give you." 

Deeper breath. Keep breathing. You are loved, beloved. Your Jesus wouldn't ask you to do something he wouldn't be willing to walk through himself. 

Gulp.

So, that was that. All the dreams that God had placed in my heart many years ago, all the snippets of hope he had gently wrapped in tissue and tied with ribbon, all the moments of clarity, came blazing into the light and I started down a new path. (You can read about that journey into entrepreneurship in a previous post.)

The past year has been one of great courage: trial and error, stepping, stumbling, falling, getting back up again. I heard an inspirational speaker, Ian Green, once say that Christians can't fail; they can only learn how not to do things. 😉 I've learned a lot of the best ways to not do things over the past year!

Through it all, God has remained steadfast. He continues to provide opportunities for me to grow as a steward in his kingdom, all the while helping to support my family. He has taught me that it's his timing, not mine, that I must defer to in every circumstance. He has shown me that it is my job to take the first step, to step boldly, and - when occasion warrants - to wait on the Lord.

And I've learned a thing or two about waiting on the Lord. I have always assumed that waiting on the Lord meant I needed to sit back and wait for the next step, the next directive, the next nudge. I've recently learned another perspective: to wait on the Lord is to serve him, serve his holy purpose in your life.

Wait on the Lord. Wait, as in, serve. Cultivate a servant's heart.

Focus on the task at hand, but never forget that the purpose in doing the work is to wait on the Lord.

Mind. Blown. (well, mine was anyway) 

Can you imagine? If we approached every task, every to-do, every word written as an act of service to God, how great would his love and light shine in our lives? If we said, "YES!" boldly, convicted in our faith that God is with us, how much of an impact would our Christ-centred lives have on the world around us? 

Just like Moses, we can lead and be led. We can make it through the wilderness. Because God said, "I will be with you."

Karma Pratt is a faith-driven mom of twins, a communicator, a writer, and an encourager from way back. She offers professional writing and editing services at redraincoatcreations.com. 

A Distant Green — Lynda Schultz

Sometimes we don't see the fulfillment of our dreams or the results of all our work. In the end, it doesn't really matter. The best is yet to come. Take Moses for example…

A DISTANT GREEN

Horeb, Sinai, Nebo—I’m glad this is the last mountain I’ll have to climb.

The old man chuckled to himself as he picked his way through the rocks. His breath was ragged, but anticipation gave him strength as he took the last step that would bring him to his destination at the summit. Tomorrow would be a new day and he wouldn’t be complaining about mountains. He doubted that he’d even have to worry about coming down off of this particular one. He sensed that this would be his final trip, as surely as he sensed the presence of God around him.

The day was clear. He looked out, shading his eyes from the glare of the sun. He could see it all—all that Yahweh had promised the Hebrews from long before he was born. It was so…green.

Ah, now I know I’ve spent too long in the wilderness—to be so impressed by something as simple as a colour!

A millisecond of regret clouded his thoughts. The impatience of his youth, that rashness he’d thought had been left far behind him at the foot of a dead Egyptian, had caught him unprepared as an old man. Two blows, and unwise words that were an affront to God’s holiness, had cost him his walk through this beautiful land another generation would now enjoy.

Still, it would have been something to walk over there in all that greenery, to touch the ground You promised to give to our Father Abraham’s children.

“Moses, my friend.”

The old man wasn’t startled. Once upon a time he would have jumped at the sound of God speaking to him. Not anymore. After all this time he heard God’s voice even when Yahweh wasn’t speaking out loud.

“Yes, my Lord.” Moses waited. It was not for mere man, even the friend of God, to speak before his Maker had his say.

“This is it. This is the land I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were all men of faith, my friend, in spite of their frailties. They roamed around, living in tents, all the while believing that this day would come. I told them their descendants would return to this land, build houses, plant crops, found cities.”

His audience of one nodded his head slowly.

“I wanted you at least to see it, even though you won’t cross the Jordan with the others.”

“I appreciate that, Lord, I honestly do.”

It was an end, but it was also a beginning.

“So, they’re going to make it this time?”

Israel’s soon-to-be-ex-leader could almost hear God chuckle at the hint of doubt in His servant’s voice.

“This time they will.”

With just the tiniest twinge of envy, Moses thought about two men who had been with him from the beginning of this journey who were going to be especially delighted to see the end of this journey.

“Caleb and Joshua are finally going to get their vindication. They told the others that giants and fortified cities wouldn’t be any problem for You,” he remarked as he mentally annexed: And now those “others” won’t get the chance to find out how true that is.

“I heard that, Moses.”

The old man smiled.

It was as though two men stood side by side perfectly attuned to each other and each comfortable in the presence of the other. Anyone observing would think he saw only one old man who seemed to be talking to himself. Moments passed in silence until…

“It’s time, Moses.”

A wind, like the breath of angels’ wings, stirred around the old man’s head. He took one last look at Canaan and then turned his eyes toward what he couldn’t see, but what he knew was there. The brilliant green of the Promised Land faded and gave way before the overwhelming glory of another place.

Face to face this time, Lord?

"Truly face to face this time, my friend."

Preparing for His Coming—Janet Sketchley

I’ve been working through Beth Moore’s A Woman’s Heart workbook with my Bible study group at church. Gotta say, it’s challenging in places.

Right now we’re looking at the detailed instructions from God—to be followed to the letter—for preparing and consecrating the Tabernacle and its contents and the priests and their garments.

Repeatedly we see reminders that Moses and his workers did exactly what they’d been told by God to do in regard to the Tabernacle. Leviticus 9:6 (NIV*) says: “Moses said, ‘This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.’”

God, in all His holiness and majesty, wants so badly to be with His chosen people. But the gap between His holiness and human wilfulness is so great that Exodus 33 begins with God saying He won’t travel with them anymore “because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” (Exodus 33:3b, NIV*) (This is right after the golden calf debacle.)

Moses pleads for God to stay with them, and God agrees. He gives Moses a new set of the Ten Commandments, along with instructions on how to build the Tabernacle.

The people of Israel have a lot to do to prepare for God’s coming. And when He comes, it is terrifying as well as exciting.

Here in 2010 we’re working through the Advent season, preparing to celebrate Jesus’ coming into the world as a baby.

There’s something about reading the Scriptures detailing the preparations for God’s coming into the Tabernacle, with the people freshly under his Law, that makes me wonder about the preparations for Jesus’ coming as the Son of Man to fulfill the Law and to inaugurate the rule of Grace.

On the surface, we see the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, and before that to Zechariah about the birth of John the Baptist. But God has been planning since the beginning for this moment.

We’ve heard about the birth of Baby Jesus so many times that we can get kind of blasé about it—especially when we’re overwhelmed by the non-faith aspects of preparing for the holidays.

The Old Testament is a good cure for blasé-ness about God. Perhaps it’s a reminder of the mystery of this Unknowable One who reveals Himself to us.

Let’s pause this Advent season to remember just Who it is that we’re preparing to welcome. We don’t have to fall down in fear at the manger, may the Spirit nudge us to our knees in awe and worship.

Praise God, and “let every heart prepare Him room”.

© Janet Sketchley, 2010

*New International Version, ©2010 (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica

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For devotionals, reviews and conversation, stop by Janet Sketchley's blog, God with Us: Finding Joy.

Classifieds - Pam Mytroen

Are you looking for a fulfilling job? Here’s some recent postings:

WANTED:

Somebody to confront the mightiest and most powerful King on earth, Pharaoh Amenhotep, and challenge him with a display of the greatest God, Yahweh.

Qualifications:

Public speech experience: not necessary
Confidence: it gets in the way
Muscle: you really think you can out run Pharoah’s army?
Wealth: just the clothes on your back
Obedience: Absolute necessity
A nervous, stuttering sheep-herder who proclaims Yahweh as the only true God will do just fine


WANTED:

Somebody bold enough to confront the Persian King, Ahasuerus, without permission, to seek protection for the Jewish people

Qualifications:

Dancing ability: Will learn on the job
Experience Hosting Royalty: You’ll get lots of that here
Beauty: Nothing six months of soaking in oil and myrrh can’t fix
Wealth: you’ll be lying on golden couches sipping royal wine; leave your faux pearls at home
Obedience: Can’t do without
Prayer and fasting might help too

A young orphan girl who trusts in her God would be ideal



WANTED:

Somebody to confront the Power of Darkness, the Prince of this World, to demand the release of souls for eternal freedom

Qualifications:

Power: Actually, weakness is what I’m looking for
Confidence: I prefer to start with brokenness
Spiritual gifts: First I ask for obedience.
Training in conflict resolution: If it starts on your knees
Goal-setting ability: I’m thinking perseverance
Good-looking: On the inside only

A child is really what I could use right now, or anybody who realizes how small they are and how big I am.

Challenges:
Team work
Lonely and dark at times
Death
Surrender of reputation, possessions, time, and your highly trained self


Pay: Joy that finds no bottom, peace that carries you through every difficulty, and an investment that is guaranteed to grow in spite of market fluctuations

I get lots of applications with long resumes listing their training, and demands for high pay. I understand; it is after all a daunting task to take on the Power of Darkness. However at this time I need only two words on your application: “Yes, Lord.”

Please drop your applications off at the intersection of Greed and Surrender and leave them with my Son. He keeps me posted.

One more thing, if you find the demands of the job overwhelming, remember that I will be your business partner. I will give you all the training you need, and I’ll be working side by side with you. If you have any concerns, ask Moses or Esther.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28, 29, 30).

Love, God