Touchstones of the year gone by - life lessons learned.

It is almost a year ago since I started blogging. Since then I have learned some deep and priceless life lessons.

I have learned that God is faithful. His Word is true and He does not lie. On August 2, 2011 from His Word in Joshua 3:13, just like the priests had to walk to the river bed, before God parted the sea, I needed to take that step in faith and trust Him. I wonder did the priests feel and look foolish as they walked with the Arc of the covenant to the river bed? I felt foolish when I gave up a good job and the only reason I had was my season is over, because God had asked me to go.
Through the dark and lonely days that followed, I learned that God is trustworthy and caring. He sent me numerous and constant reminders of His love. As I walked through what seemed at times, to be a dry desert and sometimes a storm, His presence was always with me. I cried a lot. Had I heard right? Why did it hurt so much? I looked desperately for another job, thinking that this would be the solution. I went to so many interviews and got rejected. I hung on because of Jeremiah 29:1  “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I learned that my God is Provider – Jehova Jireh. The day after I quit my job my daughter received a contract for her new job. A fresh grad with a supervisor’s position – His grace and provision for my family at my time of need.
I learned that He is the Restorer. Psalm 16 says: Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. ⁷ I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.⁸ I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” The things that I thought I had lost He not only restored, He increased. My Church family – it grew exponentially. The boundary lines have indeed fallen in pleasant places.
I learned the cost and joy of discipleship. In Luke 14 Jesus said “...those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”  God calls us to deep and intimate relationship with Him – nothing less. I am leaning what total commitment means.
I learned that God delights in my prayer time. I learned the meaning of prayer – a time of deep and passionate intimacy with Him. Like an indulgent Father He listens to my rants, my praises, my questions, my woes, my laundry list of wants and thru it all He tells me He loves me so much that He sent His only son to die for me. He does not mock me or turn me away. He is always available – no need for appointments and he does not get angry when I am late in coming. What a friend I have in Jesus...
I learned that My God is a Healer. Ps 147: “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds” When my daughter was little she had so much faith in her father. Anything and everything that broke, she believed that “her Papa would ‘pair” (repair). I know that my Heavenly Father will ‘pair and heal every wound that life inflicts on me. He healed me of the loss of this past year.
I learned that my God is creative. Of course He is creative – He is the Creator. After 6 months of waiting, He got me the job He had kept for me. A friend from church, whom I had not seen in at least 6 months, needed an admin assistant in his office and God placed my name on his heart. He found my phone number in the church directory, called me and hired me! Don’t tell me this is coincidence, because it is not – it is the work and timing of a Creative and loving Father – my God.
Most importantly I learned the meaning of faith: Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. The writer of Hebrews describes the heroes of our faith – Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Jacob and many others.  He goes on to say: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
I know that He has prepared a city for me – heaven. In  Revelation 21 John describes the new city: Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
The Word tells us that only if our names are in the Lamb’s Book of life, we are guaranteed to have a place in heaven and we can have our names in this book only through Jesus, Our Saviour. What a glorious promise!! What a Saviour! What an amazing God!