A Pea Coat, A Girl, And a Lesson in Trusting God

Posted November 30, 2013

Filed under Story

All of my adult life I have wanted a pea coat. So I was very excited when I finally was able to buy one. I loved it. It was brown, fit me perfectly, and was snuggly warm.

Not long after I bought it, I wore it to church. They were having a class that my oldest daughter (around 18 at the time) and I were taking. We were dropped off and were going to walk the mile or so home after it was over.

When we came out of the church I immediately noticed two things. 1) There was a full on blizzard happening. It was lightly snowing when we went in and was pouring snow (at an angle due to wind) on the way out.

My daughter and I were up for the challenge. We loved long walks, were bundled up, were looking forward to talking uninterrupted on the way home (something that is hard to come by in a home full of young children).

So we started our walk, but only got as far as the parking lot when we came upon, 2) A girl, who had been kicked out of her home at 18. She was barely making it and that day was just getting out her car, to meet with someone at the church. I immediately noticed how she was shivering from the cold.

“Where is your jacket” I asked (after the usual hellos).

“I don’t have one.” she replied.

“You don’t have one?” Are you sure?” I was just too shocked. How could anyone not have a jacket.

“Ya. I did have one but it got lost in the move.”

“I am so sorry” I said, and was just about to say goodbye and wish her luck, and potentially pray for her to get a jacket. When God stopped me and simply said “Give her your coat.”

I quickly replied in my mind, “But God I don’t think you understand, this is the coat I have always wanted. This is the coat I have dreamed of. This is the coat that I got on sale for 75% off and that I know there is no more of, this is the coat!”

“Give her the coat.”

“But God do you even understand that I still have to walk home a mile in this blizzard. I will surely freeze to death.”

“Lisa look at her, she is freezing. She needs to coat more than you do. Give her the coat. I will make sure you are warm.”

So I gave her my lovely brown Pea Coat (it fit her perfectly by the way), and after giving her a hug, started my walk with Megan home.

About five minutes into it I noticed how warm I was. It was like I had an internal heater and someone had set the dial up to toasty warm. I do not remember much about that walk home except that I kept saying over and over, “How cool is this. I am actually warm.”

It was a miracle! God kept me warm and taught me a lesson at the same time. That if I step out and do what He is calling me to do, He will take care of me.

I never did get another Pea Coat. But that is ok, because my friend bought me a winter jacket that is the warmest jacket I have ever owned. And every time I wear it I am reminded that God is trustworthy.

Photo – © Doug Baines – Fotolia.com

Keep Trusting

Posted November 26, 2013

Filed under Thoughts on Trusting God

So what do you do when you have done everything that you thought you were supposed to do, and you still don’t have success?

What do you do if you have burned all of your bridges and you can’t go back, but you have had a setback and disappointment, and it feels as if everything might just fall apart around you?

You keep trusting God!!!

If you know that God has spoken something to you, than hold on to it. Do not let go of it for nothing!! God does not abandon his own.

The bible says:

“If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?” (Matthew 7:9–11, The Message)

I am no stranger to setbacks, in fact I have recently had one of my own.

I stepped out, doing what I wholeheartedly believe that God called me to do, but I was rejected. It was a kind rejection, yet a rejection non-the-less.

So what am I, a person that has burned all her bridges, supposed to do with the fact that from the outside it looks like God has led me astray (or at the very least, he allowed me to lead myself astray)?

I hold on to that verse and so many, many more that speak of God’s love and heart toward me.

I hold on and believe the God did not lead me all this way to drop kick me to the curb.

I hold on and remind myself that God did not “call” me to England for no reason.

AND

Most Importantly

I hold on to the promise knowing that God did not change His mind!!!!

His promises are sure and trustworthy!!

I can trust Him!!!

And you can trust Him too!!

Credits

Photo: © creative soul – Fotolia.com

Jumping High ~ Part One

Posted November 24, 2013

Filed under Uncategorized

Once, back when I had first re-dedicated my life to God, I was listening to a radio station. They were talking about the subject of trusting God and someone said that, “trusting God is like jumping first, and then when you get off the ground, asking Him asking how high.” I never forgot that because that is exactly what it feels like most of the time.

I am a curious person. I love adventure, yet I do not like change. Really that means I want my base (home) stable and love to go out form it, experiencing things unknown. That to me is exciting. To explore places I have never been to, and things I have never seen, whilst still having a secure home to go back to, is what makes me feel alive.

What does not feel so exciting, however, is when the adventure means jumping to say goodbye to my home before even know where I will lay my head the day after I will move out.

I remember the last time I moved. It was under very bad circumstances and things looked very bleak, I remember thinking, we might be homeless. I remember being really angry with God and saying “After all these years of serving you, after everything I have been through with you, and everything my family has been through, Where are you? I thought you cared. How could this happen?”

Just then God had my Pastors send me an e-mail to me, saying that God had prompted him to tell me… “You ask God where are you?” It ended with, “He is going to set you on a high place.” This email was amazing because my Pastor was new at the time. Though he knew I was dealing with some things, He had no idea that I had just angrily questioned God or what we were facing.

I realized after receiving the email that I was focusing on my problems, not on the one and only God who could solve them. I repented then and there from focusing on myself and then I saw an amazing thing happen.

That very day day God put things in motion to “set me on a high place!” I now live at the very top of the same main street that I used to live on (about two or three miles up). Back then my vantage point was so low, that I never knew what the view from the top was like. I was amazed after moving in (to a beautiful new place the God had miraculously provided) to see such an amazing view of the mountains, right from my front door.

God is good because he can take our anger, our questions, and still love and lead us, as long as we are willing to follow Him, doing what He calls us to do.

That is the thing about God though. When He asks you to do something, he often makes sure that you do not have everything figured out. Because if you did, then where would the miraculous come from. God is a miracle-maker. Not us.

So the next time He asks you to jump be like the Nike commercial and “Just do it.” because you are not really jumping into the unknown, you are jumping into His arms so that He may carry you to where you need to be.

Go for it!

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:5

This old thing!

Posted November 20, 2013

Filed under Story

So the first story that I felt I needed to share was not about how God came through for me, but how God used me to come through for someone else. I was wondering why He wanted me to start my story telling in such a way when He responded to me that “Learning to listen to my still small voice is what it is all about.”

Listening to God’s voice takes practice. The more that we think we hear Him and respond by doing what He is calling us to do, the easier it gets to distinguish His voice from the noise of the worlds, or even our own thoughts.

So I share this story not because of what I did, but because of what I learned…

Once about 7 years or so ago, when I was working at J.C.Penny (oops can I say that) …when I was working at a major retail outlet (btw they are awesome to work for), I was approached by a little old lady. Now when I say “little old lady” I mean a very, very small woman (made smaller by the fact that she was hunched over holding a cane) who was not long for this world.

Anyways, she came up to me wanting to know the final price of a shirt for sale. I was about to send her over to the cash register when God told me “you do it.” So I grabbed the shirt (actually it was more of a long-sleeved comfort shirt) and found out that it was not marked off anymore then the tag price.

When I returned and told her she said, “Oh darn, I can’t afford it then.” She looked so sad that my heart broke for her.

I returned the shirt to the rack and told a co-worker about it saying, “How sad. I wish I could do something.”

God responded instantly in that still small voice “You can.”

“How I am working?” I asked…not keep in mind this convo was going on with no spoken words. Which is a good thing or I would have looked a lot more kooky than I already am.

“You are going to be off in a half an hour for lunch. Tell her to meet you here and you will buy it for her.”

“But she is gone by now. I will never find her in this packed mall.”

“You remember how slow she walked right? You know she hasn’t made it out of the store yet.”

“But I have no money. How can I pay for it?”

Note that often when God speaks to us we have a list of excuses why we can’t do what He is calling us to do.

“You just got a J.C. Penny credit card remember. Use that and I will make sure you have the money to pay the bill when it comes.”

Right then and there I had a decision to make. I could think of a million more excuses, until it really was too late to do anything. Or I could TRUST GOD and do what He called me to do.

I am so very glad that I listened to him. Because the result brought me to tears.

It did not take me long to find the woman and I told her my plan. She was a little late meeting me (I almost gave up and went to eat my lunch…I am glad I didn’t).

I bought her the shirt and she gave me a hug that seemed to last a lifetime. Then she, with tears streaming down her face, did something I will never forget.

She looked down, grabbed her worn shirt that she was wearing and said with joy, “Now I can finally change out of this old thing.”

I will leave you to decide what that meant, but it left me breathless.

Trusting God means to be his hands and feet in a world that sorely needs them.

P.S. that credit card did indeed get paid. Yet the amount spent cannot compare to the lesson I learned.

What an honor it is that God allowed me the privilege of such an experience.