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So first off, I forgot to explain why I didn't post until Tuesday last week... As it turned out, I didn't even type my message until Tuesday afternoon. My ex-husband, Rich, and my son, Ben, came to visit. My son ended up staying overnight with me while Rich stayed with a friend. When Ben had come down last time, back around Thanksgiving, his Jeep broke down. The work was just completed recently, and Rich was just able to bring him down last weekend. Then this past Friday, Ben texts me pics of an accident he was in!! It wasn't his fault, and no one was hurt, but he only had minimal damage to a rim while the entire front end of the other car was ruined!! He said, "This is why you buy a Jeep!!" Anyway, here it is Sunday evening as I'm typing, when it would have been earlier this afternoon. My daughter Carissa needed my assistance this afternoon. We had a great time together!! On the "home-front" this past week was fairly quiet. Rob basically bought an extra meal for me for St. Patrick's since I ended up declining his invitation to eat together, so that was sweet of him. Sheila has officially moved now. She and an aide were here on Thurs. to pick up her cat along with a few other items. The bulk of the apartment still needs to be packed, but I don't think she'll be back to do it herself; one of the family or another aide, most likely. Mike has two of his kids visiting today, so that's a nice change of pace for him. Continued prayer in faith for his situation.
As you can see by our title today, we're "back-tracking" to the previously skipped piece of our Prayer. Basically, Pastor Matt opened and did about half of the message, and then the guest speaker came up and told her story and Matt closed out the service.
Raise your hands if toilet paper became an issue for you nearly 2 yrs ago!! It didn't for me, I got smart and bought more washcloths. :D But for Pastor Matt's family of 5, it became a bit of a big deal. Long story short, the abbreviation, "TPASAP" turned into a "family-speak" thing for a while. His wife found a website and ordered what was supposed to have been 18 rolls. When the package FINALLY arrived, it was the approximate size of a medium manila envelope!! Needless to say, they were rather confused!! It contained about 1/2 a roll of toilet paper which had clearly been salvaged from the first 1/2... What does this have to do with our message?? Read on and see...
The fact is, scarcity can make us very fearful. It can cause some very "off-kilter" responses and actions. The TP story is one example of that. There are certain things in life that we have a hard-wired instinct to follow. If we are getting low on something and it may be a little extra time before we can easily get more, we stock up. Here in New England, and other northern regions, people tend to get panicky about bread and milk before a storm. We have "staple" items that are used every day.
Another instinct we are hard-wired to is that of belonging, of "fitting in" somewhere*. We crave significance. The World teaches us to think that money, status, relationships, and friends will fill that need; but it's all lies*. Money can be lost in unwise decisions, status can be lost on the whims of others, relationships and friends may require compromises, etc... All you end up with may be empty promises.
Jesus invites us into His provision and peace. Promises nothing but fulfilled.
Turn with me to John 6:30-35 for today's "supporting scripture". Oh, and mark a page for Psalm 42 as well; Pastor Matt actually paused the worship songs to read it...
John 6:30-35
New International Version
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[a]” 32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
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This passage follows on the heels of the Feeding of the 5,000*. Jesus is basically saying, "You think lunch was impressive, but I have something longer lasting." We are invited into God's Daily Feast of the fullness and richness of life that only He can provide.
The people who had come to hear Jesus speak that day were mostly Jews, so the old stories of their ancestors were deeply ingrained in their minds. They saw bread and fishes and were reminded of the manna* and quail from the years in the dessert when Moses had led the people out of Egypt. That piece of the story can be found in Exodus 16. These people were grumbling about poor provisions in the dessert after having been rescued out of slavery in the city!! (Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking about frying pans and fire right now??) lol Seriously though, how often do we grumble over some type of "scarcity" in our lives when the situation really isn't as dire as we think?? (TP, milk, bread) The lesson here is this -- God wants us to take life one day at a time. (great song, btw, I'll add it below) The other "take away" from the Exodus story is that nobody had too much, but everybody had enough for each day.
We need wisdom, joy, peace, and belonging every day. So we need to be seeking Him every day. We may think that God's system is inefficient; that He should "stock us up" and we'll let Him know when we're low, but as we should all know by now, that's not how He works. Literally everything about the Kingdom of God is counter-intuitive to what the World teaches. With God, it all comes back to relationship. If He "stocked us up" on things, we wouldn't have the need to connect with Him every day. I mean, think about your husband or wife. Your boyfriend or girlfriend. You aren't just "stocked up" on love or kisses, you have a desire to see them on a daily basis whenever possible, right*?? There's relationship, there's connection that needs regular maintenance or else it fades away. That's how God works too. That's why He designed it so that we would need Him every day. That way, there's no opportunity for us to stray and lose fellowship.
You've all heard the expression, "God will never give you more than you can handle.", right?? Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that is a complete load of crap!! It not only misquotes (or rather, "under-quotes) the Bible*, but it simply isn't true. What's true is that He will never give us more than He can handle!! I mean, seriously, think about it!! If He only gave us what we could handle, there would be no room or no need for faith, right?? The goal is not about us handling life; it's about walking with God no matter what happens.
The guest speaker was a woman from the congregation. She grew up in Detroit, MI and told about how God has been faithful to provide for her and her mother emotionally throughout life. Her mother grew up the youngest in the family and the father had left them destitute. They ended up in a Christian Mission where her mother learned to play piano. Later, her mother married a good, loving, Christian man. They were not expected to be able to have children, so Susan was literally a miracle baby. Sadly, her mother suffered and struggled with depression all her life. This made things very challenging for Susan growing up. She felt rejected, ridiculed, and judged by her mother. This led to anger and resentment on Susan's part. As a result, she grew up finding it difficult to connect with God. She grew up to find a wonderful husband and had kids of her own; but when it came to praying for a close friend at Church, she asked an Elder or the Pastor to do it. Later, when her husband asked about it, he wondered if she thought the Elder or Pastor had some kind of "extra magic" or something that would make their prayers more effective than her own. She agreed that they didn't; but it was just that she didn't feel like her prayers really connected. Her prayer life simply felt dull or uninspired. About 3 yrs ago, her father ended up dying as the result of a heart attack. She had always dreaded him passing first due to the rocky relationship with her mother*. But God always knows best. Her mother ended up in a local Senior Living facility shortly before Covid hit. Her skill at the piano quickly gained her a large following and she was able to adjust well. In the meantime, Susan had prayed for a smoother relationship with her mother, and God gave her the compassion she needed to navigate each visit successfully. This shows the importance of seeking God in our every day lives, because sometimes, we have things in our lives that are a daily struggle for us. But God is bigger than all of it!! Just remember John 16:33, "... in this world, you will have trouble, but I have overcome the World." As one of my former prayer partners would say, "God's got this!!" -- God Bless!!
Footnotes --
"Fitting in" somewhere -- I never really have, but I've come to embrace it. I found out a number of years ago that I'm basically a "thumb" in the Kingdom of God. Four of the five Spiritual Gifts in Rom. 12+14 are Pastor, Prophet, Evangelist, and Teacher. Each of these pretty much stays "in their own lane". There's not a ton of crossover. Those are the "fingers". And then there's me, an Apostle "thumb". Ours is the position of crossing all the others for the purposes of oversight, prayer, and correction. I've taken more of that to heart and practice over last few years, and especially this past year now that I have this blog as a platform.
The World's ideas of status and power are lies... Dennis DeYoung of Styx said it best in his song, "Grand Illusion". "... one day we'll stop and ponder, what an awesome spell we're under, we made the grade and still we wonder, who the he!! we are."
Feeding of the 5,000 -- this wasn't even including women and children, so even a bigger miracle than one might think!! Although I've also heard a theory that the true miracle laid in getting Jews to share anything and the generosity of the young boy inspired/shamed them into it. Idk, I wasn't there... LOL Pretty impressive either way!!
Manna -- "fun fact" -- the word "manna" literally means, "What is it??" I've heard tell it was like a honey-flavored biscuit-crumb substance. Again, I wasn't there... ;)
Desire to see your S/O every day -- So, I haven't entirely said this yet, but Mike and I are officially dating!! As of my FB status tonight, it will be "social media official" as well. One of his kids helped him change his status this afternoon. I'll change mine when I'm done here. :D Sadly, due to "wonky" internet, we don't actually see each other every day (face time), but we at least message some, so there's that.
Under-quote of the Bible -- 1 Cor. 10:13 reads, -- NIV
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it
7. "Rocky relationship with her mother" -- I haven't spoken about it on here yet, but my own relationship with my mother can be described the same way. I also pray that dad goes last so I don't have to deal with her. (If you know me personally, please don't tell her I said this!! ) She probably already knows anyway...
Music -- No rights in sight!!
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