christineyountjones.com

Category: Blogging

  • When Mountains Don’t Move

    When Mountains Don’t Move

    Standing at the base of my mountain, do I believe that promise? Will I take Jesus at his word? Will I see the incredible power of God at work in my life through faith-filled prayer? Or will I shrink away from the challenge and miss seeing God glorified?

    I posted in January that our house had been on the market for six months and I was praying it would sell by February 10.

    It’s still on the market. And we’re still praying.

    I wrote “and, yet, I believe that God is calling me to pray that we will have an offer by February 10. Bold prayer. But Mark Batterson, in his book “Circle Maker,” says that God honors bold prayer.”

    Our house is still on the market.  And we’re still praying.

    Our church is in a season called Daring Faith. And we put our house on the market as a step of faith. Bold faith. Believing God. And then…nothing.

    One thing I’m learning: Just as important and powerful as Daring Faith is…so is Daring Trust. Trusting in our God who knows what’s best for us. Trusting in our God who’s more concerned about shaping us into the image of His son, than in closing a real estate deal.

    Daring Trust. Choosing to trust God when everything seems to say that I shouldn’t. That is Daring Trust and that is only by the grace of God who enables me to trust in spite of the “facts.” God can move mountains! Sometimes He chooses not to.

    What does my mountain look like? Honestly, there are times that it looks like this.

    It scares me. The last time I stood at a place like this, my husband was killed when his snowmobile fell into a moulin. These kinds of mountains terrify me. They remind me of how out of control I am. How anything–even the worst–can happen. Even if I pray at the edge of the icy crevasse that becomes a tomb.

    These kinds of feelings and thoughts don’t make me have faith–without doubting. No, they don’t.

    So I have to be honest with God about this but instead envision a mountain like this:

    Its serenity reminds me that God has called me to trust Him and see Him do beautiful and imaginative things in my life–so He gets the glory!

    Will God–does God–say no sometimes to our prayers? Of course. But if I walk in that icy state of fear and doubt, I will never again experience the wonder of seeing God act on my behalf with a big yes.

    I choose the second image today. And yet I know that icy glacier waits on the edge of my faith to move over it with tons of fear and worry.

    I choose the image of God can do anything. I choose to believe.

    God help my unbelief!

    Keep tuned in to hear how God is going to move this big mountain for us! May God be glorified!

  • Lord, Please Make Me a Donkey

    Lord, Please Make Me a Donkey

    When I was a young girl, Little John Saunders’ donkey lived in the lot next to ours. I liked to stand out by our backyard fence and sing to the donkey. Until one day, he jumped the fence, looked at me for a few seconds, and then bolted off into our small town of 300.

    So accounts in the Bible where a donkey (ass in KJV) talks, those intrigue me.

    In Numbers 22–23, we learn of two people and a donkey: Balaak, Balaam, and, right, the donkey.

    You can read these chapters so I’ll skip the historical detail and get to the nitty gritty. Balaak saw that the Israelites were going to destroy him and his people, so he sent for God’s prophet Balaam to come and curse the Israelites. This meant a bountiful reward for Balaam. So Balaam went to curse the Israelites but God told him to only bless the Israelites. Balaak’s people kept pursuing Balaam so he kept asking God if he could curse them.

    Finally, God told Balaam to go with Balaak’s people but to do only what God told him to do.

    Off went Balaam on his trusty donkey. Three times along the way, an angel of the Lord stood in the donkey’s way. So the donkey stopped moving and Balaam beat the donkey each time. And the donkey spoke!

    Finally, God opened Balaam’s eyes to also see the angel and hear God’s voice to not go any further.

    It’s easy to judge these people, thousands of years later. But perhaps we’re not that unlike them.

    Who am I most like in this Scripture?

    Am I a Balaak–wanting God to curse my enemies, doing anything to get my way, full of fear but not turning to God?

    Or…am I a Balaam–halfheartedly serving God but willing to go with the highest bidder for gain–ears open to God only when I want to hear Him?

    Or…am I a donkey–faithfully doing what God has put me on Earth to do, serving my Master, speaking His words, ears and eyes open to Him at all times?

    Yes, Lord, make me a donkey…make me an ass…make me whatever it takes to hear You say “well done, good and faithful servant”!

  • If We Would Only Grope for God

    If We Would Only Grope for God

    seeking God

    This photo is a macro photo of wood chipped for the pulping process. It is how we are to grope for God…examining every minute detail.

    I imagine a small child in the middle of the night,

    alone,

    frightened,

    crying out,

    reaching into the dark.

    Hoping someone will meet his searching hands.

    An insistent cry.

    A wail.

    Beseeching someone to come to his rescue.

     ***

    Do we grope for God with such insistency?

    As though everything within us depends on finding Him?

    I love words so I looked up synonyms for the word “grope” to gain more insight into what it means to grope for God.

    Search/Hunt/Seek–When a hiker is lost in the Rocky Mountains, the search and rescue teams don’t just run out and start looking. They lead with intention and strategy. They coordinate their methodical efforts. They also don’t just drop into any area of the Rockies; instead, they research the hiker’s last-known movements and start there. This is what it is to search for God.

    Delve/Pry/Probe/Scour–These aren’t words I use often, but they mean to carry on intensive and thorough research. I love cross references in my Bible with verses that lead me deeper and deeper into God’s Word. This is part of delving.

    Examine/Study–My daughter, Abby, who is in PA school is learning to do an hour-long patient intake to better examine a patient and understand how medical and social history might be contributing to the patient’s symptoms. This is how cultural context and how God has moved in the past matter today as we grope for God.

    Go after/Chase after–What’s the last thing you chased after? A good buy online? A research fact? A child? A love interest? Groping for God is active, intentional pursuit.

    Investigate/Explore/Question–Like a detective, we follow every lead and track down every clue to find God.

    Sift/Forage–When we sift something, we’re separating the unusable parts from the usable. Like a gold miner who pans for gold, we sift away everything but the treasure of knowing God. When we forage for food, we hunt for the things that’ll nourish us.

    Quest–In medieval romance, this was an adventurous expedition undertaken by a knight or knights to secure or achieve something. We quest for God.

    There’s so much to think about here…digging deeply into every aspect of our amazing God…relentless pursuit…leaving no stone unturned.

    And the opposite of grope? Leave alone!

    Are we doing life by leaving God alone, leaving Him out, abandoning Him? Or are we groping for God?

    May this be the year that we grope for God!