The Providence of God :)

     I remember listening to a question and answer session by John MacArthur and I forget what the question was but I don't think I will ever forget his answer.  "My whole life has been one big providence of God." (Might not be an exact quote but that's what I remember!)  Friday, July 20th was one of those days where I can clearly see God's hand guiding and directing my steps and opening my mouth to speak His Word and listening to others and Him providing the opportunities as I TRULY learn to listen to what others' are saying.  (I CAN learn Mom!!!!)  I've heard the saying, "God has given us two ears and one mouth for a reason...we should listen twice as much as we talk."  Confession time: I am HORRIBLE at truly listening and am working on not interrupting (so "call me out" on that one if I do it to you!)...just ask my brother.  ;)  Anyway, God used Friday to show me how much more He can use me when I listen and pray instead of worrying about "telling everyone MY story and using that to bridge a gap to share the Gospel."  God really DOESN'T need MY help???  Nope.  Friday is a prime example of that! 
     My morning started off with a walk with my hubby.  Praise God for the little things...I have not felt well enough in the mornings to do this since June 3rd so was truly a blessing to be able to start our day off that way together.  :)  We came back from our walk to find out about the horrifying events in Aurora, CO.  Our world is full of sinners chasing hard after sin and this is just another example of where sin unchecked can lead.  I came across This Blog Post by a Christian woman who was in that theater with her two teenage daughters.  Praying for all of you and yours who are affected by this horrible tragedy...for those of you in Colorado that know the Lord, I pray that He will comfort your hearts and give you faith to continue to place one foot in front of the other.  For those of you that are not Christians, I pray that God will use this shocking sin-filled event to remind you, not only that we never know when death will come to meet us, but that you would recognize your desperate need for a Savior in Jesus and run to His Everlasting Arms...that is the ONLY refuge when death comes.  The only other option is enduring the wrath of a Holy and Righteous God for all of eternity to account for every single one of your sins.  I urge you--REPENT and flee to Jesus while today is still called today!  Psalm 103 reminds us of God's steadfast love, but it also reminds us that God will not bear with sinners forever--there IS a Day coming when Christ will come back to claim His Bride--the church and His judgements will be poured out on the earth through the tribulation.  Read Revelation to learn more about those days.  Read the gospel of John if you want to know more about Jesus--He is the ONLY One that will NEVER leave you nor forsake you...every other human will disappoint you at some time or another.  Praying for those reading this right now that don't know Him...I don't know who you are, but God does and He has you reading this by no accident...don't harden your heart yet again, but pray for His Spirit to give you a heart of flesh as He says in Ezekiel 36:26.  You will NEVER regret your repentance...it's the ONLY road that leads to heaven.

     Anyway, off that passion/tangent! (I go there all the time because as I said in a previous post, Jesus is my life...not just a part of my life.)  :)     I had DirecTV coming to install the dish and transfer our services so we can WATCH DA BEARS during football season with NFL Ticket...quick side tangent: I started watching football with Jordan when we were first married and now its one of our favorite things to do together...wink wink to wives that desire to spend time with their hubbies...you might find out you really enjoy it...just ask Mark and Carol Kronwald from our church...they are a GREAT example of learning to do things the other loves just because their spouse loves it...and if you go to GBC just ask Mark about his RC car hobby when Carol was pregnant with one of the girls. :)  Girls, you don't have to love football like I do...Jordan jokes that I love it more than him, but you might be surprised at some of the hobbies you never thought you would enjoy.  ;)  Anyway...back to the DirecTV guy coming.  ;)  We got to talking (I was a bank teller for 4 years...I'm good at asking questions and making small talk!) and it turns out that it was possibly his last day and he was dealing with a lot of stress in his life like preparing to move out of state and trying to figure out relationships with his teenage kids.  (Parents and teens alike know how complicated and yucky that can sometimes get!!)  I was able to listen and empathize where I could and offer him water as he was outside in Phoenix in July...anyone that has experienced Phoenix in July knows you avoid being outside unless you are in a pool at all costs.  But alas, his job required it so at least I had some cold water to offer him!  :)  Anyway, by the time he left we were friends on facebook so he could get to the blog and I will be praying for his move and his relationship with his kids...and you all can join me!  :)

     There were some "technical difficulties" so he was here extra long and I was late to meet a friend of ours to talk car insurance.  We met David and Ashley Schexnayder several years ago at Sovereign Grace in Tucson.  We were in the same small group and got to know each other well.  They are "following" us to Phoenix (ok they grew up here...I suppose they were here "first") and he is starting out selling insurance so Ashley can stay home with their little boy, Christian.  Anyway, while David was waiting for me at the restaurant, who walks in and sits down near him....Donavan McNabb...yes see above sentences about how much I LOVE FOOTBALL!  David respected his privacy and didn't say anything to him and because I took so long, we ended up not even meeting at that restaurant.  We met for about an hour and we got all situated insurance wise, and I joked about "I guess talking about eternal things is more important than seeing a celebrity here." I was out by myself for one of the first times in a couple months and I was enjoying the fact that I could run my own errands!  Since we had switched restaurants I was close to a Home Depot and we desperately needed extra keys to the house we are living in...4 adults and 3 keys doesn't work for the person that gets locked out.  ;)  I needed to be home to take some meds and do my treatments by three so I had a limited amount of time to run in and get the keys made, check out the fans, and run back out.  As I'm checking out the fans, a guy walks past me then another guy comes up and both mentioned something to me so we started talking while I was waiting for the guy in plumbing to come answer a question about the fans.  Any of you that have been to a Home Depot or Loews or any other store there are times when they are available and respond right away and there are times when they take forever.  Church came up and they started trying to "logically convince" me of things that are contrary to Scripture.  At first I was nervous and felt cornered as it was "two against one" but then I remembered that as a Christian I have the Spirit of the Living God in me...it's not about ME or my clever rebuttals, but about proclaiming the life saving, albeit, simple TRUTH of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: "For our sake, He made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin that in Him we might become the righteousness of God"  2 Corinthians 5:21  I am simply HIS ambassador.  I prayed for the Spirit to give me boldness and to give me the words to speak.  Forty-five minutes later they casually ended the conversation and I went back to get my keys...the plumbing guy never showed up, but it was very obvious that God had ordained that meeting...Chris and John needed to hear the Gospel.  I gave them our church's website and my blog and I sincerely pray that they will read my story and God will somehow use it to open their eyes to His glorious truth!  :) 

     Being much later than I had planned, missing one dose of vitamins, and still needing to get water because there was none in the house, I headed to the water store for a "quick stop" then on to home.  I "bumped" into a girl who was also getting water jugs out of her car and we started chatting as we filled up our 5 gallon jugs of water.  Turns out, she is friends with a girl that goes to our church that I don't know and has invited her to our church.  I was able to share how incredibly well Jordan and I have been served by our local body of Christ--GBC.  I know I continually mention our church family to you over and over but it is a sweet thing to be a part of a local body that truly desires to glorify Christ in all they do through the humble, expository preaching of His Word.  They preach the truth "in season and out of season" and we all long to glorify Him with all that we have until Christ comes back or calls us home!  She is a single Mom and I shared about the ministry that I learned about through a God ordained open Elder meeting where a friend shared her need and the elders shared about a group of older women that our church has that desires to come alonside the younger women of our church and be the "Titus 2 women" God has called them to be.  I can tell you right now that some of those women have served me tremendously: Chris Evans, Jamie Siegle, Sarah Demarest, Janie Brotherton, Suzanne Blevins, Dena Iserman, Hilarie McCoy...(my mentor through our ladies discipleship ministry) and so many from my small group (Mandy, Alex, Pam, Sarah...and all the rest!).  :)  

     The point of my Friday...and all the days before and all the days God has for me in the future: God has people for you to talk to--to encourage, share the Gospel with, love with the love of Jesus.  We never know how God is going to use a simple day of running errands.  I was exhausted after spending that extra 45 minutes sharing Christ with Chris and John when I "really" should have been home taking my vitamins and resting...but there are some things (and my hubby agreed!) that are far more important than the plans we had for our day.  I may not have gotten to see Donavan McNabb (which would have been really neat!), but I saw and talked to the people GOD had for me to talk to and that my friends, is what the Christian life is all about.  :)   

   Run the Race He has called YOU to!
Rachelle :)  

P.S. Celebrate with me:  I made it to my first whole church service since May...praising God for the little things!!!!!  :)  Was so sweet to be able to worship corporately, pray corporately, and do all those things Christ calls His people to do...what a sweet foretaste of heaven...come quickly Lord Jesus!!!!