WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN – INSTALLMENT TEN

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN – INSTALLMENT TEN

         God uses us as we are, meets as where we are at the moment. We are God’s creation and he made each of us in his likeness but with individual strengths, talents, personalities.  At one time in my life I decided I wanted to be like a woman I knew – soft-spoken, quiet, gentle and kind.  I told myself I could change and be that way.  I got in trouble in school my throughout my entire school years for talking.  The only thing that saved me was that I was a good student.  I decided I would speak slowly and quietly and try not to talk often.   Yes I can learn to be quieter and listen more to others rather than talk all the time.  I can learn to be gentler and kinder, but I’ll never be soft-spoken and quiet.  God didn’t make me that way.  I tried, Lord knows.  But I tried on my own.  An example of different personalities that the Lord used was Peter and John.  Peter was impulsive and quick to speak, often without thinking first.  John was more thoughtful and saw deeper into Jesus’ ministry.   I am impulsive and  more of a Martha, the busy one who was upset with her sister Mary because Martha had to fix the meal for Jesus and the disciples by her self.  Mary wasn’t helping.  She was sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him.   So, unless  our Lord decides to zap me and make me different, and I I don’t believe he’s going to do that I’ll probably be more like Martha.  But I can also learn to be more like Mary and sit more at Jesus feet than just be doing and doing and doing. We can all change and become more Christ-like.  When Jesus walked on this earth as a man, the people could follow Him and listen to Him, but when He died He was resurrected and went to heaven to be with His Father.  So that He would not leave us here on earth to be alone and fend for ourselves, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide, our comforter and our teacher.  It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that we can really change.

        This bike ride was only a small fragment of my journey – a part intended by God to “grow me up”!  I’m still not there yet nor will be in this life but at least I’m finally out of the “high chair” and running along side of Him who sustains me.

         Monday will be the last posting of the bike ride journey.  On Tuesday, I will tell the story of how God healed the hearing of a small child that I am acquainted with and how he impressed upon me the need to learn sign language and teach Bible Study to the deaf.