Questions. Answers?

Who? What?? When? Where? How?  WHY?!

So many questions.  Some are harder than others.  Harder to ask; harder to answer.

Some are impossible to answer.
When questions are asked people are looking for information…knowledge…truth…a response.

I listened to a series of questions recently.

They’ve been stuck in my head.  I guess that’s because I was once asking the very same questions from a place of great loss and hopelessness.  Yet even though I had found answers and know The Answer with all of my very being - when I went to answer these questions I struggled to answer them in a way that would adequately communicate something that is more than just knowledge, information or a response. 

Let me ask YOU –

“Who is God really? What is He? What is He to me? Who am I to Him?”

 

Sometimes an answer in response won’t truly provide what a person is seeking.

Sometimes an answer needs to be discovered… together. 
Sometimes an answer needs to be witnessed… experienced… felt with the heart before it is truly known by one’s being.

So –

“Who is God really?... What is He?... What is He to me?... Who am I to Him?”

Let’s Stand Still together over the coming time. 

I know we will experience the heart felt answer because we’re going to go straight to the source together.
It’s my prayer for you that it will be an experience that will provide you with what you seek.

I will start with I AM not me…

Psalm 3:4 - I call out to the Lord, and He answers me from HHHhhhhhis holy mountain

Psalm 34:4 - I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 38:15 - Lord, I wait for You; You will answer, Lord my God.
Psalm 65:5 - You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.
Psalm 17:6 - I call on You, my God, for You will answer me; turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer.

Process of Decision

It seems to me that I’ve been going through a period of time that has required serious decision making in quite a few areas of my life.  Quite honestly I have found it to be at times: tiring; troubling; a time of doubting; upsetting; a struggle; distracting; and divisive – just to list a few feelings.  I find myself also being impatient, indecisive, short tempered and unsettled.

In my quiet time as I stood still with the Father this morning facing yet another decision, I commented out loud asking “why can’t it just be an obvious and clear answer?”
A clear, obvious answer came!

The process is just as important as the decision.

By examining all the aspects and the way an answer fits (ie. the process) – there will be:

-a better awareness of pros and cons
-an awareness of potential issues that could arise
-a willingness and readiness
-a better awareness of my own feelings, biases and how I communicate
-a clearer awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses
-a stronger foundation on which to build
-the knowledge I’ve grown; individually and together with others on joint decisions
-in joint decisions there is mutual understanding and purpose
-a personal clearer purpose

This time has reinforced that as I make life decisions I need to be in prayer, be in the Word, and seek the counsel of Godly mentors.  It has also reinforced the need to stand still. 
A couple of these decisions have reinforced that there are times in joint decisions when the process is more than what I feel has been laid on my heart or whispered to my spirit. It is rather listening to the whispers spoken to the family – what is weighing on the hearts of all. 
This time of decisions has also reminded me I need to intentionally let go of my anxieties, fears and wants; let go of my plans in order to be able to have what God has planned.

I’m sure there is more for me to realize here – but I trust I will learn or eventually see His purpose – sometimes things take awhile for this kid to learn…ha!

I continue to learn to be able to let go and let God – to say willingly (not begrudgingly) “Thy Will be Done”.

Psalm 119:105  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight
Proverbs 15:22  Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 16:1  To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue.
Jeremiah 29:11  “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Matthew 6:33 Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

One Thing

It seems as though as of late I’ve been a part of quite a few “in depth” conversations -   the type where someone just drops their walls and barriers as they talk from the heart.  My prayer list is a little longer these days.  It’s given me plenty to think about as I stand still.  I’ve realized that quite a few of these conversations really boil down to each individual’s inner most yearning.  On the grander scale of things, I think that every person – if honest with themselves – finds that there is a need, an emptiness… a yearning that needs to be met in order to find fulfillment and feel whole – complete – at peace.  Call it ‘purpose’, ‘the secret to life’, ‘happiness’ – it’s that One Thing.  It reminds me of a pivotal scene in the movie City Slickers between the characters played by Jack Palance and Billy Crystal:

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
[holds up one finger]
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean @#*!.
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: [smiles] That's what *you* have to find out.

Going back to those conversations as of late… I can identify the One Thing each person seems to be longing for:  letting go, simplicity, balance, self-discipline, boundaries, security, relationship (friendship or romance – basically acceptance and unconditional love), peace, truth, control, comfort, and assurance. 

As I think the concept of One Thing through I realize several truths.

1.  Relying on others to provide that One Thing will lead to continual disappointment and emptiness – people are imperfectly human.  Relying on possessions, wealth or status will lead to continual disappointment and emptiness – they are all fleeting.  Relying on self will lead to emptiness and frustration – you too are imperfectly human – your point of view is limited and perceptions are skewed.

2.  A person’s One Thing may seem conditional or relative – changing with situations, time, and life. 

But it actually isn’t…

3.  Each of these One Thing needs; each of these One Thing secrets or purposes can be met and fulfilled completely with THE ONE who is was and always will be. 

There is a firm foundation on which we can stand anchored against come what may  - One who provides purpose, meaning, balance, boundaries, self-discipline, security, peace, truth, comfort and assurance.

Having that One Thing simply comes from THE ONE.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus”.  Philippians 4:19