I was reading the other day when Jeremy, my four year old, came up to me and said, "Mommy, I know how to spell McDonalds. (This I had to hear.) I looked at Jeremy and asked him, "How do you spell McDonalds?" He said, "You make an M and you color it yellow!" My smile was huge and I thanked Jeremy for enlightening me.
I was just on Facebook where a friend posed the question if you have ever pictured your life turning out one way, and (clearly by her statement) it not turning out the way you wanted it to at all? I don't answer every Facebook comment, but that one I did. I wanted to post, "Sister! Take a number!" or " Do you think these worry lines are from smiling too much?!" I thought about my options, but in the end there really is only one option, God.
Sometimes I think we have a "yellow M" mentality about life. I'll just... then it will all...! Low and behold, it turns out there is more to "spelling McDonalds." You have your c and just where you think a space should be there is no space at all and you go straight to the capital D (and so it goes)! Life is rarely predictable. If you have a predictable life, don't tell me. Coveting is a sin and I would surely sin.
Take my life for example. 19 years ago I said "I do" to a youth pastor. We were going to have kids some day (probably two) and live happily ever after (yes that was my big master plan). :) Fast forward 9 years and we are three kids into married life and just starting a church. Fast forward eight more years and we now have four children and our church plant is a satellite of a larger church... add a little over one more year and said satellite's future is shaky... and many months later my husband is bi-vocational, finances are tight, our children are still beautiful, and our main church is building out a new building for this satellite and we see excitement we haven't seen in a long time and people have vision and are starting to invite others! Don't make me relive that... instructions for where to send a donation for a three hour massage will be at the conclusion of this blog. Yes nineteen years of marriage, children, church, and finances. Let me be VERY CLEAR I could not do this life alone! I NEED GOD LEADING EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!
Why is life so hard?!!! That is what my friend was asking. Why can't we just spell McDonalds with a yellow M and be done with it? I don't have an answer for that, but I do have another question. Why is God so good? Money is more than tight as my husband and his business partner start their own company and I am ashamed to admit I worry more than I should, but we are making it. We tithe and last week God (yet again) proved that he honors faithfulness. Last Wednesday my friend said meet her at the gas station. She filled up my car (a total surprise). That gas allowed me to drive back and forth buying supplies for fixing up the church, going to and from the church as I spent many hours driving around town getting ready for each night last week for painting. I would not have been reimbursed that gas money. I did not have that kind of gas money. God made a way. Someone else surprised me with money that I used to buy food. Not glamorous, but there was zero time for cooking and that yellow M came in handy last week.
In the midst of the God privilege of fixing up a church building and inviting so many more to come, and seeing what for me has been a ten year journey of a calling to come to San Marcos and start a work that will lead to a building that helps lead 1000's to the Lord; a light has been given. Honestly, I close my eyes and I don't know how I have made it or why God trusted our family with this particular mission. I just know He is faithful. Life is hard. Life rarely turns out the simple way we want it to be. But we are refined by the fire. We are at war with sin that seeks to make us less than what God intended. Yet we are more than conquerors through Christ; the defeater of sin. I am brought to my knees when I think of all I have gone through, and I am flat on the floor when I think of all God has done, given, and answered that makes me who I am today. God will answer. He has made a way, and that is as easy as spelling Mickey D' with a yellow M. Ask Christ to be your savior. It is a gift. Make room for God to make a way to guide you and protect you. "I'm lovin' it!" God is faithful!
Philippians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (NAS)
