Before the race, and up to now on my journey, I have been praying that I never grow weary and tired of seeing the Lord’s blessings daily. I made the commitment to read through the entire bible from Genesis to Revelations. Through that, I wanted to get a deeper understanding about the Bible and all that happened chronologically and how everything flowed from one book or event to the next.
By the time I got to Exodus, I was wrecked. God had been speaking, moving, showing me things, calling me to go deeper and asking me to step out in faith. He was also showing me that I needed to see and recognize all that he had done, was currently doing and will do in my life. Through this, I was stuck on the Israelites. Not only did God use Moses to rescue them from Egypt through the ten plagues, protecting their first borns and parting the Red sea to get them all out of Egypt, but then God is providing food daily being rained down from heaven! How stinking cool is that?!
At each step of the way the Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron about God and their circumstances saying, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!” (Exodus 16:3). In Exodus 16:4, “Then the Lord said to to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.’”
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I read this and the whole time I kept thinking OH MY GOODNESS… I am an Israelite. How many times has God performed a miracle or brought me out of a circumstance or situation and immediately when I was out of it, I was going to God saying that was great and all, but could you do this differently or maybe I should go back into the situation you just brought me out of. Or, I totally ignored or completely forgot about the blessing all together. I was so convicted to not continue on like an Israelite.
God brought to my attention that it became a normality because they got to see God’s miracles and blessings daily and through that became complacent with the miracles. COMPLACENT! All I can say is I never want to consider God’s blessings or miracles as normal. How freaking awesome is it that God literally provided for them every day with food rained down from heaven, HEAVEN!! How many times has God rained down my “food” from heaven and I didn’t even notice it? Talk about convicting. But thank goodness the Lord convicts with the opportunity to learn, grow and see His mercies rather than condemnation.
So instead, I have decided to remember the manna. I have decided to remember, or at least try, to give God the glory for all He has done and continues to do. Because let me tell you, feeding complaining Israelites for 40 years is no small feat! I am making the conscious decision to remember the prayers that have been answered, the miracles God provided where I didn’t even ask and just to see His hand woven throughout my life and the lives of so many others. I am deciding to give God all the glory and know I wouldn’t be where I am without Him. I wouldn’t be me without Him. He saved me, redeemed me and loves me unconditionally. So thank you God for being you. Thank you for never tiring of my forgetfulness or attitude. Thank you for loving me through it all and sticking it out with me. Thank you for reminding me, guiding me and teaching me oh so much.
Below are just just a few sprinkles of my manna’s for my mannas so far on my World Race!
