14 Sep Whitewater Ahead
But not only did He strip the fire of its peril, He made it a blessing. At that time, we were getting ready to put our home on the market. The playroom needed work, but we were reluctant to spend the money needed to replace the tired carpet and fix the banged up walls. Because the playroom had suffered sufficient smoke and water damage, the insurance company wrote us a check to cover brand new carpeting, repair of the sheetrock, and fresh paint not only for the playroom but for the bathroom below.
God saves. In its broadest sense, this means that God strips the perils that lie before us of their danger, forcing them to serve His loving intention instead.
Always, for all of us, there is whitewater ahead. Even now, I hear the booming of another stretch not too far ahead. Is there danger? Peril? Yes. But coming to terms with our limitations, forcefully entrusting Him with the outcome of what we refuse to fear, we enter into that invincible collaboration where we find ourselves capable of receiving His saving power into our circumstances.
That fire of years ago is not a fading memory of the past to which I cling, but a clear and present call to be diligent in the unfolding future.
This is The Divine Dialogue. This is God making Himself real to me. This is understanding what He is saying to me. This is the sublime mystery of God moving on me, moment by moment, so that I can mirror Him now. This is not religion. This is relationship.
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Lord, create a hunger in the one who is reading this now, a hunger that will not settle for anything less than a real relationship with You. Holy Spirit help this one to make the connection between where they are and what You need them to see, in order to bring them to where they are meant to be. Help them recognize all of the varying points of information coming to them from multiple sources, working together to speak one timely personal message. Convince them right where they are, of the realities that elude them, achingly unapparent until You cause them to burst forth. Quicken each one to believe, to yield to the persuasion that even now raps lightly on the door of their hearts, though they have no name yet for what they know waits just beyond their reach.