A Week of Whispers

I've been learning that sometimes God may speak loudly in one occasion and sometimes God whispers throughout several. This week was one of constant whisper, and there were many lessons I was learning throughout my week. Let me to take you through them!

Sunday March 8th 2015
We (me and my parents) were heading off for my first job interview for this upcoming summer, for the role of Animal Handler and Educator down in Etobicoke. As it was scheduled for the evening at 6:30pm, we made sure we headed out without enough time to get there punctually. As we drove down the 404, traffic was good. We hit the Don Valley Parkway, which apparently is also known as the Don Valley Parking Lot (because of the poor traffic)?, we were still moving although there were many cars alongside us. We hit the Gardiner Expressway by the waterfront and behold! We came to a standstill. It was about 5:50pm at that time, and the GPS estimated our arrival time to be about 6:14pm. We were sitting ducks, and my heart started to race as I watched the arrival time tick closer and closer to 6:30pm. I could hear my parents discussing and contemplating to get off the highway in hopes to beat the traffic, but to me, no longer was anything under our human control, and it would be completely up to God and his doing for whatever would happen next. Although technology has advanced to the point where our GPS could estimate a time delay, but it definitely ended up being longer than it had stated. We had no idea when it would end, would I even make it to the interview at all? We ended up staying on the Gardiner, and thankfully traffic did eventually clear up after what-felt-like-forever and I made it to the interview on time. Looking back, it was a test from God; I can remember how difficult it was to remind myself that God is good, and that He would provide and deliver. And He did!

Wednesday March 11th 2015
It was Praise and Prayer night at ACF and we had spent some time looking through Matthew 16:21-27, which talks about denying ourselves, taking up the cross and following Christ. I was one of the leaders for the night, and usually when I help with planning the program, I often feel that I don't get much out of the program because I "already knew all of it", but that night it was different. This passage was quite a familiar passage as well, but I thank God that his Spirit revealed new things to me. There were three parts to the command, to deny yourself (your desires, your plans and your ambitions), to take up the cross (in willing obedience and submission) and to follow Christ. Following can sometimes be seen as a passive act; you just follow wherever the leader goes, but I realized that there is a big active component when it comes to following someone. With some, you may follow for a while but then choose not to for whatever reason, be it poor character, or a lack of trust/judgment, but with Christ, as believers we are committed to following Him wherever he takes us. I saw it like the new Escape Rooms that have been becoming more and more popular lately. Imagine you were following Christ room by room; but will you follow Christ regardless of what room He takes you into? If He takes you into a room with "illness" on the door, will you enter? If He takes you into a room labelled "the valley of the shadow of death", will you go? If He takes you into a room labelled "death", will you turn the other way? Do we trust that no matter what room comes next, that Christ is leading us to a much greater, much better place in the long run? Do we trust that Christ is sufficient?

Thursday March 12th 2015
You may or may not have noticed, but this past week I've become fascinated with this Live Bald Eagle Cam that I found. There's a male, a female and two eggs, and although there's no audio, or much action, the LORD has somehow used them to teach me. Most of the time, the female just sits there over her eggs, waiting patiently in the rain, snow and wind, but if you catch them at the right time, you'll see the male come back with a catch, and they switch places as the female eats. It is fascinating as they are magnificent and majestic creatures, but one epiphany I came across was that I was watching Matthew 6:22 unfold before my eyes;

"look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

These were two of the millions of birds that our Heavenly Father cares for, and though they may go without food for a day or two, when you see the male come back with food, you know that they have been provided for. We, the ones made in God's image, we are most definitely of more valuable to God than they! The LORD will care and provide for you.

Friday March 14th 2015
I had just sat down to eat dinner, and as my housemate walked through the door, I heard my phone vibrating downstairs, I ran down to grab it, and as I saw the unknown number, my heart stopped, I knew exactly who was calling. I picked up the phone and it turns out that I was offered a seasonal position for the interview I had earlier in the week! Praise the LORD who is good and who provides! Now for some backstory, this job requires me to have a car, as I would be driving all over the GTA for animal shows and presentations. We only have one family car, and although I know and am thankful that my parents would be willing to sacrifice it so I can go to work, I knew how inconvenient it would be for all of us. Excited and a bit concerned, I started searching the web for a potential car to buy, asked around for tips on how to know if an offer was a good deal, and surveyed if anyone would be selling theirs. It got me so distracted from the work I needed to do, and as I was asking around, I suddenly stopped and thought to myself, "is this my attempt at taking matters into my own hands?" "is this me doubting God's provision?"

I'm the kind of person that enjoys certainty, as I'm sure most of us are. I don't like having loose ends or else I'll have to worry about them, I like planning ahead and being prepared. Here was something I could easily take into my own hands, but rather I should have been surrendering it to the LORD, trusting that He would provide, regardless if it was through a way I preferred or not. It's ironic as I was just reminded of God's provision with the eagles earlier, and yet forgetful me was right back on the worrying train.

Sunday March 15th 2015
I met with a good friend the weekend prior, and one topic that has been on my mind this week is the idea of fasting. He shared that he was fasting to help refocus on God more, and for myself personally, I've never thought of it as something important, but I decided to try it and spent some time learning about this spiritual discipline. Reading through a few articles, two definitions I like are that "fasting can be an expression of finding your greatest pleasure and enjoyment in life from God" and that "fasting is designed to channel and express our desire for God and our holy discontent in a fallen world". As I let that stew in my mind, a few things come to mind. First, how blessed we are to have food in our fridge and food on our plates at three times a day if not more. Second, the revelation of food's mastery over us. Philippians 3:19 tells us that for some, their stomach can become their god, and we can see throughout scripture that food can easily take priority over God and cause one to sin. A prime example is in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve. It contrast instances such as in Genesis 22:33, when the servant placed God's mission above the food that was placed before him. We must not be mastered by food, or by anything really, our technology, our relationships, and our desires. Scripture tells us to train for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7-8), and Hebrews 12:1 tells us to lay aside any weight and sin (be that food or television) that may hinder us from running the race God has called us to run. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that reminds us our satisfaction comes from God and Him alone!

There were many stories throughout my week, more than just what was here, but as I look back on it all, I think one big message that threads through each situation is that God is sufficient, and that my satisfaction is found in the LORD. Not in finding peace in a planned out and certain future, not in a comfortable life, not in a secure career, not in food that is on our plates, but the LORD our God and wherever he chooses to take us. Fasting was an interesting and practical way to end and summarize my week. Maybe you should give it a try sometime too! Let us train ourselves in self control and in godliness as we live and wait for the coming of our faithful Father.

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."
Titus 2:12

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