šš«š¤ Christās peace be with you. Weāve all been there. You experience the same basic message in multiple ways in a short period of time, just to make sure you get the message, His message. My husband calls that getting hit upside the head with a 2×4. Prepare, prepare, prepare keeps surfacing. But what am I preparing for? Many times, we donāt have a clue or if we think we know, the end results turn out to be not quite what we expected. And its all about Godās timing. So many times, it comes down to a combination of events stitched together that we couldnāt have planned. What is He bringing to your life today? Why is He specifically bringing that at this moment?
Being that we didnāt have our planned big family gathering at Thanksgiving, we had a frozen turkey and all the yummy side dishes that were just sitting around waiting to be prepared. We started thawing the turkey on Thursday planning to have our meal either Saturday or Sunday. Okay, stick with me on this, because Iām going to stitch a few things together. Saturday morning I was working through a backlog of personal emails and came across one in my spam box from a friend. She sent it to me on 12/14/2020. I sent her an email thanking her and letting her know that I would take a look at it. I went back to her email Sunday morning. It included a link to āChristmas with The Chosenā. In her email, Buffy wroteā¦āThe whole program is wonderful, but the best part starts at 1:18.ā God couldnāt have made it any clearer. Dallas Jenkins shared a little of his story about how āThe Shepardā and āThe Chosenā came to be. On the heals of a big failure, it was presented to him that āItās not your job to feed the 5,000. Itās only your job to provide the loaves and fish.ā How often do we feel responsible for the end result and do all that we can and sometimes in a not so nice way, to try to make everything perfect? Faithfully prepare and be obedient to only what you have been called to.
Sunday afternoon as Brian and I were preparing this big meal for just the two of us, Brian ran to the store for a couple missing ingredients. Upon his arrival back home, he said āWe should call your mom and dad to see if they want to join us.ā So, we did and they accepted. An interesting fact that they explained to us was that Saturday evening they were debating between two restaurants to eat at. At the first, they were going to have a turkey dinner and their second option was hamburgers. They chose the hamburgers. You see, God was planting that seed in them about the turkey dinner, before they knew what it was all about. Sure, you may say that was just a coincidence. I donāt believe in coincidence, but I do believe in GODincidence. The meal was just the mean, because He was once again using my Mom to carry a message to me as she spoke about repairing relationships one touch, one invitation at a time. Preparing the groundwork for all the goodness He has planned. Tuesday morning I was listening to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Daily Readings Reflection video by Deacon Arthur L. Miller from the Archdiocese of Hartford. Itās a short 3:47 minute video that I shared below. The whole message was thought provoking, so I suggest you take a few minutes to watch it. One line in particular stood out to me was, āIf we donāt transform, we will transmit what we were.ā Which brought me back to preparing and moving forward. About 30 minutes after listening to this reflection, I read 84 Packing Your Saddlebags in the devotional book Unbridled Faith by Cara Whitney, which is about preparing for the journey and āpacking your saddlebagsā for the unforeseen what-ifs that are just beyond your line of sight down the trail.
Do you see what I mean by experiencing the same basic message in multiple ways in a short period of time? So, tell me how are you experiencing these multiple touches from God in your life? Seriously, I would like you to share with me what God is doing and how He is moving in your life. Iām not one to say āLook at me.ā Actually, Iām one of those people that would rather blend into the crowd. But a small part of what Iām getting from the messages God has been bringing to me is that I have to faithfully trust Him. I know itās not about me and I shouldnāt view it as a prideful thing to invite you to share what God is asking me to share. After all, itās for His glory, not mine. So, if the Lord has touched you in some way with His message today, I ask that you pay it forward by sharing this message, so that He may also bless others.
Bless others and be blessed.
#Unbridled Faith ā Cara Whitney
#United State Conference of Catholic Bishops Daily Readings Reflection
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/video/2021-01-12-reflection-306
#Christmas with The Chosen
Third Day Devotions 