God Bless The U.S.A

                                                    

 God Bless America

Last year 2024, was definitely an iconic year for America and Americans. According to the “Big Four” traditional news sources, America is not well. I’m glad that they aren’t the only source for news! I’m especially glad that my hope and vision relies on God, as do other Americans. He is the One who truly knows everything and while we wait for outcomes, he gives peace, power, rest and blessing to His children. Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end and He determines the details of a life, a country and its government. 

 

Today President Donald J Trump was confirmed as the 47th president of the United States of America. I continue to pray for our nation, knowing that God has his hand on us and has a plan for us. I’m praying that we Americans can be grateful for his mercy and be intentional about redeeming the time so that we can see revival in our great nation. 

It was a rough year. One full of contention and accusation. Yet, in this republic,  land of the free, Americans rose up to exercise their liberty with a clear and strong stance. With a vision, determination, perseverance and much sacrifice during the campaigning months, Americans made their choice and God turned the tide in America. 

With a new year and a new president we rejoice and are hopeful in America. There is much work to be done, but God is for us and he will continue to help us. Please pray for America. 

Expect God To Fullfill His Promises

 

This post might be all over the place as I separate things in my head. These thoughts come from a very real need I have and I am approaching my very real God, knowing that I can. 

Expectation:

What can I expect from God? Expectation is a strong belief that something will happen. What is your expectation based on? On facts? Is your expectation resting on the past? Is your expectation based on your accomplishments?  My expectation is based on Gods promises. God promises many things besides eternal life. I expect salvation, deliverance, miracles, healings, breakthroughs, peace, provision, protection and joy. If I’m asking God to provide for me financially, I expect that he will. However, if I’m limiting God to a way, a time, a place, a specific pay or job, then I’m not basing it on his promise to provide all my needs. If I expect God to fulfill His promises, then I will completely trust him.

Entitlement: 

Entitlement is a right to a particular privilege or benefit granted by law or custom.

I am nervous to even approach the examination of this word because I’ve always seen it in a negative view, until just now. 

When I believed and accepted Christ as my Savior, this entitled me to be Gods child. His daughter! This is huge! I know that as a mother I give my children access to me and in my limited resources when they with son/daughter privilege come to me I do all that I can to help them and bless them. Now God, the omnipotent God of the universe gives me access into his kingdom?! He does. So long as my faith is in Christ, I can approach my Abba Father all day long. However, entitlement gets twisted and knotted when I believe I actually deserve all the gifts God gives me. Then follows the attitude of ungratefulness. Yes, as Gods beloved child I can ask him for anything, I can expect good from him, but what I, a sinner, deserve he doesn’t give me. Instead He gives me mercy and pulls me out of the path to hell. He gives me grace and helps me choose His Narrow Path. 

Hope

Faith is believing what I cannot see, like Almighty God.  As I seek Jesus, my God my faith grows and it fuels my hope. Now, hope sees the ugly and prays for beauty from the ashes of destruction. Faith fueled by hope will pray for the impossible, expecting God to do his good will, in his perfect time. It is only when my eyes are on the blessing, the thing I’m praying for. When I’m praying and hoping for a certain outcome, and I hold my breath until this thing happens but it doesn’t, that's when hope is deferred. At this point my hope has been placed on something. But all is not lost, God is merciful, and he helps me look past the “desired thing” to Him. When my ultimate hope is in Christ and his plan I will rest, yes rest in Gods promises. 

Then I can confidently conclude that I should expect God to fulfill his promises, as I am his daughter, part of his family and house and legally entitled to his treasures because of the sacrifice of Jesus. Therefore I will hope in God and be grateful for the Resurrection.

Sarahs Journey

Sarah is quite an outstanding character in bible history, yet such a normal almost common woman. I find myself thinking it's wrong for me to see her so human…like me. Wait! I don't want that to sound as if I think I could have worn Sarah's shoes.  It's just that these heroes of the faith seemed supernatural, extraordinary, almost heroic. there's a whole hall of fame in Hebrews 11 dedicated to them...Yet, God let us see their raw, unedited experiences. Desperate ugly defeating failure and pain that did not destroy them.

The account of Sarah lies in 11 chapters of Genesis. I'll share only a few the things that have jumped out and arrested my attention about Sarah:

Gen 12: 

-Sarah went with Abraham when God called him to a separate, different life, a fruitful life. I wondered how that conversation took place? They must have been married for sometime if Abraham was 75 years old! What an incredible relationship this couple must have had! Abraham must have been an amazing talker to get her to pick up and leave everything behind. They went with nothing but Gods promise for a new life, one that included children.

-Yes, Abraham obeyed God, but when things got tough in the new land, the one God sent him to, like not enough money or non at all! With the cost of living being so exorbitant, he did things his way and moved to Egypt. He resorted to hiding and lying. What in the world was this couple thinking?! Abraham put his beautiful wife in incredible danger. She was what? 65? What kind of organic products did Sarah use? Living in the harsh desert heat couldn't have been so good for her skin...yet she was beautiful. I wonder and am amazed that at 90 years old she was still turning heads of kings. What was her beauty routine like? I grumble about simply applying moisturizer. Her personal care mattered to her. Did Abraham think nothing serious would happen to her? Did she really believe she was helping him by agreeing to use her beauty to protect them? Did she imagine she was safe? Thank God for his mercy, he did protect her, despite their foolishness.

Gen 16:

Quite a few adventures happen and they prospered, but still had no children. Wanting a baby when you're young and not having one is like an impulsive nagging hurt that comes and goes. You want a baby, you worry you won't ever have one, you convince yourself that you're silly and you go on. Then, not having a baby when you're older is harder, but you hang on to faith and the promise, like Sarah did.

 (I Must do a disclaimer, that these are my speculations) Then Hagar, the beautiful fresh Egyptian slave girl came into her life. Sarah couldn't help but notice her youthful beauty and Abraham must have too 😕. Sarah, Abrahams soul mate, beautiful loyal Sarah was now older and tired of waiting. She allowed the circumstances of life to rule her actions. She knew her body was probably already too old to conceive a baby in her own womb and most likely so was Abraham. In an emotional state of confusion, after 10 years of waiting, Sarah suggested the unthinkable in marriage! Abraham complied, it seems like there was no hesitation on his part. Probably without warning, Hagar faced her old master and conceived. That seed that Sarah yearned for was in another woman. What ugly accusing regret Sarah must have felt. What betrayal.

Hagar is another confounding character in this story, thoughts for another post. Here I'll simple acknowledge that this young slave girl alone and away from her family, now had no respect or fear of her mistress, Sarah felt her disdain. It seems, perhaps it's my hope that Abraham never touched Hagar again, but out of this slave girl came Ishmael.

More than a decade passes before God remembered Sarah. By this point Sarah laughed at the idea that she could bare children, her faith had almost dried up.

Gen 20:

She’s still gorgeous! The bitter pain and inconsolable yearning in her soul did not destroyed her. And of course I wonder, how? How did she manage? She remained Abrahams faithful wife. At almost 90 years old her beauty has brought on Abrahams insecurities again. Her life is again in danger. Why did she keep quiet again? Maybe she just knew God would protect her? It is like that sometimes in life, somethings are easier to accept and believe than others. Isn’t it interesting that God plagues Abimelech with barrenness? I wonder if Sarah knew of this judgment?  Then…

Gen 21:

She conceived her promise child, her son Isaac. What did she feel aside from shock? She was granted the full experience motherhood. She felt the pleasure of nursing her baby and saw her husband cherish their promise child. Even the pain of teenage independence was an honor. The anxiousness for his future was unnecessary, but she embraced because it was part of motherhood also. 

Ah Sarah! What hope her life gives me.

Sarah's journey was not easy, she did make impulsive and damaging decisions. Things she would have to live with for the rest of her life. Through Sarahs journey I’ve seen, maybe what God saw in her. A faithful, beautiful daughter; a daughter of the King and a faithful, hopeful wife. How beautiful it feels to see just how much God loves his people. It is supernatural to have God on your side. He is patient and kind. His righteous judgments only bring healing. He turns our heaps of ashes into beauty.