so she went

Sorry I haven't shared in a while. I've had lots to say, but every time I came here I felt like I was being sidetracked from what was really important - seeking.

So I've been reading. A lot. Ordered a new Bible recently; an ESV with tons of room for me to scribble my notes. Okay, so those who know me know I don't scribble. =) It's so good to hear the Word in a different translation sometimes; you see things you haven't noticed before, get a fresh new pass at it that helps you build on what you've already found.

I've had lots of time to, and felt directed to, study and read in these last many weeks as I've searched for work (still haven't hit on anything. . . yet =) and I've been growing in my understanding of what it means to "delight yourself in the Lord" and in His word or "law," which is also translated "instruction." More on that in another post - but I'm loving the time I spend in it and the wisdom and faith I'm receiving from it ("faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God," Romans 10:17).

And now I feel like it's time to share something.

I received some money for my birthday that was given with the intention that it go toward getting a small digital pocket camera (I haven't had a camera since Ryan ran off with ours, God bless him =). But having spent a lot on training and having no income I've been considering just depositing the money and considering it as, well, income. Thanking God for it, of course, and the people who gave it, but thinking it seemed rather "nonsensical" (remember that) to go out and buy stuff when there's no money coming in.

I'd asked God yesterday if I should keep the money out and possibly buy a camera or put it in the bank (I'm suddenly thinking about Mary Poppins and the boy's tuppence =). And I woke up this morning with the story of Elisha and the widow on my mind. And God saying (and I don't mean I heard an audible voice, but I felt Him speak in my spirit), Go, in faith, and buy the camera. You're gonna want one where you're going. =) So I looked up the story. . .

1Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." 2And Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." 3Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside." 5So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest." (emphasis added)

The woman is widowed. On her own. She's got nothing. On top of that, she has debt and they're gonna take her sons as payment. See, she thinks she has nothing. Or she feels she has nothing. And rightly so. What she can see and feel says there's not much hope, if any. And in my case too, what I see seems pretty limited. But Elisha says, go and do a bunch of stuff that seems "nonsensical" (gathering loads of jars from everywhere she can think of. . . so she can pour her one little jar of leftover oil, what, into the bottom of another one?).

God's asking her to step out in faith - to prepare for what He wants to do! And it's as she does that that He's able to work for her and through her for her good!

He's asking me to step out in faith! To trust him even when it seems nonsensical - this is almost beginning to feel like a theme in my life. =) He said I'm gonna want a camera where I'm going. He's always got good reasons for why He asks/tells us to do things, but most important, as with the widow, is that we do those things! What if the widow had said, "You're crazy! What's borrowing all those pots gonna help? It'll make everyone think I'm crazy, that's what!" God wouldn't have done a thing. Her sons woulda been taken as slaves and she woulda starved! Or something.

But she had faith. Or, at the very least, obedience. So. she. went.

They got every jar they could get their hands on! She was preparing for what God was going to do! She did what Elisha said and look how God moved! They filled every jar! The oil in the little one didn't run out 'til they'd filled all the borrowed ones! She paid the debt and they lived off the leftovers!

I'm not saying God's gonna make me rich by my going to get this camera. I'm saying, "I'm going out there and I'm gonna prepare for what God is going to do!" God is bigger and better than what I can see.

So believe with me! I will be out there! Soon!

And I'll take pictures! =D