“You must recognize the Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not- you are a stubborn people.” Deut. 9:6 (sidenote… I just LOVE God’s bluntness)
GRACE= getting something you don’t deserve
God’s grace= AMAZING
When we felt led to come to Joburg, we were totally open to the plans God had for us, well, I mean we did have our own plans, but I’m not much of a plan maker. I like to make “ideas” instead, because ideas are much more flexible than plans.
When we got to Joburg, we were so excited to find a church that we can go to and get poured into. John googled “churches” Saturday night, and found one called His People. We made plans to go to church, then go to lunch, then grocery shopping, then see the new Narnia, then come back to the hostel and eat dinner.
Sunday morning came, and we were all so excited to go to church! We got together and did our morning team prayer. We prayed for divine appointments, and that God would mess up our plans and lead us by His Spirit throughout the day.
We arrived at the church, and immediately were greeted with a smile and a friendly welcome by Marc. Marc then introduced us to Terry, who is from America. Terry just arrived to South Africa for a conference. He knew my teammate Sarah’s friend, because he’s a professor at a college in Indiana. He also knows Seth Barnes (founder of Adevntures In Missions, which is over The World Race).
We enjoyed a service in ENGLISH and music in ENGLISH, and I heard a song that had been on my heart for about a month so far. It’s a song by a small, family group called The Binions, and all I remembered was the chorus. I couldn’t for the life of me remember the verses, but I really wanted to…and the worship team sang it!
“In the glory of your presence, I find rest for my soul.
In the depths of your love, I find peace…makes me whole.”
Those lyrics couldn’t have meant more to me than in this point of my life… Divine appointment.
After the service.. Marc invited us over to his house for lunch, but there are 7 of us…no problem..Marc has an 8 passenger van.
We arrived at Marc’s house and had a WONDERFUL meal and talk time with him, his family, and Terry…Divine appointment
We don’t have means of transportation here, well other than our feet. And our budget doesn’t have much room for it either. Marc, in his kindness offered to take us to the largest mall in the southern hemisphere, to the grocery store, then he would bring back the food to his house and store it while we go to the movies. (btw, every time I heard Aslan speak I tear up…”you doubt your value, don’t run from who you are.” (sniffle sniffle)
We all said no at first, but he insisted, and we realized it was God’s grace and divine hand at work…so we humbly, and thankfully accepted.
We were able to get everything that we had “planned”…and more! And it was all divinely appointed!
See, I’m no different than the Israelites in Exodus, though I’d
like to think so. They saw God’s miracles first hand (the Red Sea
parting, Manna from heaven, water from rocks, the plagues on the
Egyptians), still they complained and grumbled when things didn’t go as
they “planned”. (clearing throat)…yea that sounds like me. I have seen God do some awesome miracles in my life, and we are at an amazing hostel this month, meeting amazing people. Still, I selfishly complained just the day earlier saying” I wish I could have gone to see The Victoria Falls. I wish I was on a road trip, I want to live in a Tikki hut, I wish I was back in NYC”.
Yet even STILL God brought the Israelites to the promised land, a land of abundance and overflowing blessings…Even STILL, our entire team felt God’s loving arms of grace wrap around us the
entire day…not because we are good..but because He is.
That’s GRACE.
January 2nd was another humbling day for me. A day of God not giving me what my complaining heart deserved, but of loving, and patiently being gracious towards me and my whole team.
It’s days like that, that make me fall more and more in love with my gentle Savior. His kindness and love draw me to Him. And then compel me to treat others the same way.
The God I live for is THE BEST!….really…He is.
I LOVE when God switches up my plans. They are always so much better, and so much more interesting.
So I’m gonna stick with making “ideas”… Yea..”ideas”… and be open to God’s plans, and His alone.
Agenda:Love,
Bethsaida
