"Hebrew (meaning) 'Gift of God' "
I looked up the meaning of "Matthew" while I was walking through Borders Books today to use the restroom. "Hebrew: Gift of the Lord." I looked in another book. "Hebrew: Gift of God." I called my friend Marilyn. She said to me, "Oh my! Doesn't that just thrill you? You must have been overwhelmed when you read that!" Well, for a micro-second I was thrilled and overwhelmed - until my mind (of unbelief) kicked in and minimized that initial thrill - kind of like on a computer. Just a little note-tab remained in my brain with the heading something like "could just a coincidence that I was just reflecting that Matt was a gift to us and that his name actually means what it means."
So, I asked my friend Marilyn why she thought it was thrilling, to see if I could change "minimize" to re-enlarged onto the forefront of my brain and change the name of the data label. She said, "Well, he didn't pick His name, right?" and we spoke a bit and for the remainder of the day the minimization tab in my brain read, "Matt is our gift from God," and its content would periodically enlarge. But sometimes the old, "Coincidence" replaced the tab's label. Then my brain would send a new message to the computer desktop: "Be still and know He is God." Then I would momentarily worry about paperwork (ugh!) requirements. Then, anxiety. "I think I am getting anxious." Calming myself and changing my thinking to "Be still and know He is God." And so it went.
Later in the evening my youngest daughter asked about if there were other kids in addition to Matt to adopt. I told her a little about Brent. Then she wanted to go to the website and I took her there. After a while, I heard, "Oh, he's so cute! Can we adopt him too?" Jeremiah is an 18 months old African American boy who has a cute smile for the camera. She read about his story. "What does developmentally delayed mean?" After a couple sentence exchanges, not knowing how to move off of the emotion that Jeremiah was having upon Kayleigh, I said, "I'm going to pray for Jeremiah." I looked up after the prayer and she had tears whelling up in her eyes. I thought to myself that this may be a life altering/shaping event in my soon-to-be 12 year-old. Then she read about "Appreal" who has a whole heck of a lot of problems and will need 24 hour care the rest of her life. I shared with Kayleigh that these people have God's image in them that He gave them when He created them. "It's not like they're animals or something, just because they need a lot of help and don't seem to understand." She nodded in agreement and clicked to some other stories.
BTW, no biopsy results yet. Wouldn't it be great if the entire home study report is fully completed before any bad news, if present, comes out regarding my health? The reason why I say that, rather than checking out what the health news is before proceeding with the adoption is because God has shown me in a couple of clear and specific ways that I won't be dying anytime soon. That is, to me anyway, the bottom line when anyone says the "C" word, which I probably don't have, but could have, after all. Also, He is showing us in specific ways that the adoption is the way we are to go. So I am going and He will be working it all out. And if there gets to be more drama. How exciting. More ways to see Him work it all out for our good and His eternal glory. Life is fun in Christ.
Remember when Jesus said to the disciples to go to the other side of the lake? He was sleeping while the storm was seemingly out of control. But it wasn't out of control. Jesus knew the purpose why He came to earth and where He was going. God the Father told Him to go to the other side of the lake. (Jesus said that He does nothing except that with the Father shows Him to do.) The others were frantic. They forgot or didn't know who Jesus was. No need to fret. Just stay in the same boat as the Savior. (That last paragraph I wrote? It doesn't mean that I will not necessarily be frantic any time soon, once again. But thank goodness, He has mercy upon me and knows that I am but dust.)
So, I asked my friend Marilyn why she thought it was thrilling, to see if I could change "minimize" to re-enlarged onto the forefront of my brain and change the name of the data label. She said, "Well, he didn't pick His name, right?" and we spoke a bit and for the remainder of the day the minimization tab in my brain read, "Matt is our gift from God," and its content would periodically enlarge. But sometimes the old, "Coincidence" replaced the tab's label. Then my brain would send a new message to the computer desktop: "Be still and know He is God." Then I would momentarily worry about paperwork (ugh!) requirements. Then, anxiety. "I think I am getting anxious." Calming myself and changing my thinking to "Be still and know He is God." And so it went.
Later in the evening my youngest daughter asked about if there were other kids in addition to Matt to adopt. I told her a little about Brent. Then she wanted to go to the website and I took her there. After a while, I heard, "Oh, he's so cute! Can we adopt him too?" Jeremiah is an 18 months old African American boy who has a cute smile for the camera. She read about his story. "What does developmentally delayed mean?" After a couple sentence exchanges, not knowing how to move off of the emotion that Jeremiah was having upon Kayleigh, I said, "I'm going to pray for Jeremiah." I looked up after the prayer and she had tears whelling up in her eyes. I thought to myself that this may be a life altering/shaping event in my soon-to-be 12 year-old. Then she read about "Appreal" who has a whole heck of a lot of problems and will need 24 hour care the rest of her life. I shared with Kayleigh that these people have God's image in them that He gave them when He created them. "It's not like they're animals or something, just because they need a lot of help and don't seem to understand." She nodded in agreement and clicked to some other stories.
BTW, no biopsy results yet. Wouldn't it be great if the entire home study report is fully completed before any bad news, if present, comes out regarding my health? The reason why I say that, rather than checking out what the health news is before proceeding with the adoption is because God has shown me in a couple of clear and specific ways that I won't be dying anytime soon. That is, to me anyway, the bottom line when anyone says the "C" word, which I probably don't have, but could have, after all. Also, He is showing us in specific ways that the adoption is the way we are to go. So I am going and He will be working it all out. And if there gets to be more drama. How exciting. More ways to see Him work it all out for our good and His eternal glory. Life is fun in Christ.
Remember when Jesus said to the disciples to go to the other side of the lake? He was sleeping while the storm was seemingly out of control. But it wasn't out of control. Jesus knew the purpose why He came to earth and where He was going. God the Father told Him to go to the other side of the lake. (Jesus said that He does nothing except that with the Father shows Him to do.) The others were frantic. They forgot or didn't know who Jesus was. No need to fret. Just stay in the same boat as the Savior. (That last paragraph I wrote? It doesn't mean that I will not necessarily be frantic any time soon, once again. But thank goodness, He has mercy upon me and knows that I am but dust.)
posted by An Ordinary Christian | 8:40 PM
1 Comments:
Amen girlfriend, your getting the hang of it!
Another thing to remember...when Jesus walked on the water, Peter did it too until he took his eyes off Jesus, then he began to sink. Keep your eyes on Jesus!
Coincidence...I think NOT....there is no such thing as coincidence with God (He knows the beginning from the end) there are only divine appointments!
Oh, on your last post, I added another comment. I found a Blogger help link with the format on it. So I gave you the link.
God Bless...the biopsy results will not be a surprise to God...just go with His flow and you'll have an awesome testamony!
Post a Comment
<< Home