Friday, September 21, 2012

Are You Adopted?

(I have been saving this for a few months, waiting for the right words to come.  I hope that it will be a blessing to you!)

I heard a missionary speak some time ago and it got me thinking. Wow, did it get me thinking!

Among all the chaos of life and the busy-ness of motherhood my brain has slipped away, a bit, from my love of language and linguistics. The missionary couple who spoke work in Africa, mostly in Bible translation.  One story they shared was of a student at the seminary who is studying the term that we translate to "adoption" in English Bibles.  (If I knew how to write it in Greek here, I would!)  So, in East Africa there is a tradition, or ceremony in which people are adopted into a family. But only adults are adopted in this particular culture. ???  Interesting!  This leads me down the path of adoption there being a fully cognizant decision, made both by the adoptee and the adopter(s).  Wow.  What an amazing biblical comparison!  God wants to adopt US and yet He allows us the right whether or not we want to BE adopted by Him.  Isn't that beautiful!

I love the topic of adoption since our two sons came to our family through adoption.  But while they didn't have a choice in their earthly adoptions, they DO have a choice about their HEAVENLY adoptions.

Have you chosen to be adopted?  I would love to hear about it!

A chisel

Along the line of "Blogging Without Obligation" it has been WAY TOO LONG since I have posted anything here.

Here is what God is speaking to me about these days:

In a blog He's telling me who I am: 7 True Things About You

In a song he's telling me it's ok to step out in faith: Something Beautiful

And my church closed down.

I heard an acquaintance saying recently that if a church does "x", it just should close down. If a church does "y", it should just close it's doors. Now she doesn't know me, or my church, and I chose to keep quiet and allow her to let out her steam. My church DID close down. Now, we haven't technically closed our doors, but we have no name anymore, and a small group of us are undergoing some training by our pastor in order for us to launch a new church. And God is speaking to me through that, too.

Now back to what God is speaking to me about:

In our training God is telling me that He'll never give up on me--in fact He's only just beginning to show me how much He can use me for His purposes here on earth. He's showing me that sometimes the chisel is large and heavy, and sometimes the chisel is small and delicate.

 In the past I have had pastors that wanted to do what this pastor is doing, but didn't know how. I have had pastors who encouraged me in my faith and walk with the Lord, but didn't know how to push me beyond my comfort zone to do the impossible with God. This pastor is leading us on a journey that will have huge ramifications that will last for eternity, and he is modeling for us in his own life what that will look like. He said that he wants to make things easy for unbelievers, and hard for believers. He's pushing us and equipping us for what is ahead and being the heavy chisel we need, while showing us that the gentle chisel will be saved for unbelievers, who need to know that God loves them, no matter what they've done, no matter how they've lived, no matter what.

If you need a chisel today, try reading the blog entry linked above at Inspired to Action. Then go live like you believe it.