He is faithful.

I entrust my spirit into Your hand. Rescue me, Lord, for You are faithful. Psalm 31:5

I am leading our kids ministry in the "Experiencing God" study for 8 weeks. I led kids in this teaching many years ago and felt this group of kids would grow from it. The main concept of the study is that God is working all around us and wants us to join Him in what He is doing.  In each of the series I bring to the kids, I try to ask God to show up in my life with practical experiences I can draw from to show the kids how He works.

Yep. I did just that....

I prayed for God to move in a particular way about 4 weeks ago. I've been struggling with a piece of my life that needed correction and I couldn't fix it on my own.   I knew that He was going to do it, too.  I figured He was going to use me in that move, but I had no idea how that would look.  He is faithful through it all.

Oh my! The way God was moving became particularly difficult on my part. What was happening hurt so much. It was so hard to understand and follow. I continued to ask God to move and I got a bit of vision regarding what He was doing. I felt His peace, that He had the entire situation in His plan.

But the next time I was to face this situation, I think the Earth stopped rotating for a moment and  my rotation accelerated about 10 times. Boy, I hit the ground and wall over and over again. I was devastated by what was happening to me. I called out to the Lord, "I've been faithful. I've done all that You have asked of me. I can't believe how You are making this turn out, Lord. I asked You to move...." and then it hit me. God can do whatever He wants to to make it work out for His good.

After the Earth's and my rotation got in sync a few hours later, I had a visit with counselor. This meeting had been scheduled 2 weeks prior to the day of devastation. I sat in the waiting room and a Bible verse came across the monitor: "I pray that God, the source of all hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him-Romans 15:13." Just so happens that one of my favorites. I said it to myself and tried to embrace this truth Paul prayed 2 thousand years ago.

Then the counselor came out to meet me. The counselor talked to me about how this was a God-scheduled moment. From the scheduling of the appointment, to the timing of her life schedule, to the similarity of my experience to an experience she had...the whole thing was set up by my Papa. Oh, how He loves me! She talked to me practically and helped me to see the reality in front of me.  I left the office with red eyes, but a heart that would make it to the next beat and the next beat....

The following day my heart was still in immense pain and I would have loved to live under the covers for the next portion of my life. Alas, I had an early morning appointment for a nerve test at the hospital. Up and at 'em!

There weren't many cars in the parking deck this early in the day. As I got out of my car to walk toward the hospital, a woman got out of her car and said, "Could you help me?" I looked around to see if she was really talking to me. Then, I looked around to make sure I wasn't about to be accosted (I usually have no fear, but I was not walking in my full strength.) She asked me to help her hook the back of her shirt by her neck. The hook had turned around.  I helped her out and she talked to me as we walked toward the hospital in safety. :)

She told me she was a hospital chaplain and began to ask me some personal questions. I felt my heart hurt as I tried to stay out of this conversation. All I wanted to do was get back in the car and drive home. She noticed I was a bit shaken up and changed the direction of the conversation. She shared the church she belongs to and my mind drifted back to the conversation. I replied that this was the church where I gave my life to Jesus and got the call to ministry. And then I broke a little more. She stopped and pulled me in so tight. She prayed a simple, powerful prayer over me that caused the Heavens to open up and I had a new peace flow over me. My heart still felt broken but I knew that God was working in me.

We parted ways and I headed up to my test. Oh....the test was horribly painful. I got home and took action to deal with physical pain. It was a good thing this test happened the day it did because it caused me to forget all about my heart ache as I felt the physical pain from the test.

The next day was better. I had a bit of clarity over the situation. My physical pain was a little less. I asked God to show up in all of this-to help to turn what Satan wanted to use for evil and destruction and make God's faithfulness shine so bright. I was able to spend a previously scheduled day with my mom.

I didn't share with her what was happening, but a mom knows when her kid is hurting. I shared about life not looking like I thought it would. Discouragement had shown up but I was going to practically try to walk through it.  Then, we picked out new carpeting for her house and I got her a beautiful begonia for Mother's Day.

I got home and was exhausted after my long day with her. I laid on the bed for a few minutes before I had to face this situation again.  Just then, I know the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and gave me clarity and new vocabulary to define the situation.  This made all the difference! This gave hope to my situation. It brought blessing instead of death. It gave me a way to see a different end to this story.

When I shared the new vocabulary with all who were involved, a light went on.  A peace entered the room and the strife disappeared. God is faithful. He can illuminate a hope during the trial and bring healing to the hopeless.

From the counseling appointment and counselor to the hospital chaplain to the pain of the nerve test to my previously scheduled day with mom, God had it all in His hands. He was comforting me through it all even though the pain was all around. He is faithful.

The situation isn't completely resolved at this time. It is a process for all involved. I know that God is working in this situation. He is faithful.

I am not interested in sharing all the details with you because the details don't matter What matters is that God is always working around us and wants us to join Him in what He is doing.  He hears our prayers. We need to be looking all around to see where to join Him. He wants to work it through us. He chooses us to be part of His great big plan.  He is faithful!