A Monument to Remember

If you never read another post, read this one! I think the only reason I did not share this earlier is I was worried I might not do it justice in my writing. I have a particular "parting of the Red Sea" that was just precious to me and I am forever in awe. "Parting of the Red Sea" simply means witnessing a huge miracle like the Israelites did when the Red Sea was parted for them to go through. They were told to build a monument to remember what God had done so they would remember.
I had taught Sunday School to middle schoolers to the best of my ability for over a year in the jr. high dept. As much as I wanted to be there, I never felt adequate and worried they needed someone else. I had to leave to have my 2nd baby and I went ahead and told them I would not be back. After several months of not teaching, I felt like the Lord was telling me to go back. I felt like I laughed like Sarah. I laughed at the fact that now I had 2 babies and never felt adequate before. I had given it my all. I am sure God's Word does not return void, but I just felt like I could not do the job. Because the nudge to go back did not go away, I finally told the administrator my desire, but quickly blew it off to him like it is no big deal. I just did not want to be disobedient, so I let them know. I felt better. I had obeyed, but luckily there was no need. (Well that day anyway) Not long later I got a call that they needed me to teach again. I did not realize at the time it was only 2 Sundays they needed me for, but these were 2 Sundays that forever changed my life.

In the midst of teaching that first year and my time off for having babies I was learning through Beth Moore Bible studies and other means how God works through us. We need to not take the reigns. As I sat down to work on that first SS lesson I was going back to do, I was excited. I was going to make a sheet that looked like Beth's bible studies. It was gonna be awesome. I wanted multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and heart digging questions. As I sat down to do it, I felt like the Lord nudged me, "No, do it my way." You are going to die when you hear my first thoughts to the Lord. Can you believe I actually thought back to him, "But Lord, you do not know how good her Bible studies are."? That was a split second thought and then I thankfully came to my senses. I heard it again, "My way", so I reluctantly obeyed taking my fist and literally slid my wonderful "Beth Moore" idea to the side. My dreams of this wonderful Bible Study seemed to be being crushed. I felt like a kid on the candy aisle having to put the candy back. I then listened and let him lead. I no longer heard anything, but I felt like He got me on the right track, and it all fell into place. That first Sunday morning was the best SS lesson I ever taught. The girls were full of questions and taking notes. I was even amazed at the girls who had the most awesome pastor I ever knew as their dad and were learning from me! And they even stayed after class to ask where certain verses were. I had never had a mom sit in on a jr. high class, but this time a parent was there. She asked at the end of class if she could come back next week! Well this was not my "parting of the Red Sea". That is next, but it certainly was an awesome experience to let God lead and watch lives be changed! This experience is what led to the next week's miracle.

Several times throughout the next week, I had looked over the SS material the church was wanting me to teach and I did not quite get it. I kept putting it down until I had more time to focus. Well it got down to about 10PM Saturday night when I finally got to fully dive into it more. I started begging God to give me permission to teach something I already knew. I read the verses they wanted me to teach, I read the commentary from the material, and I prayed for God to either reveal it to me or allow me to pull out something I already knew about. I just could not get what the verses meant! I felt like I was to honor the churches request to teach the material provided, but was ready for God to tell me I could change the subject. I prayed, paced and read over and over for 2 hours until I got so tired I could hardly stand it. I was convinced how God is supposed to work through us and I know how my ways are useless without Him. I remembered how He pulled a great lesson together the week before, and I did not want to go on my own! In the last 15 minutes before going to bed, I started thinking, "I guess You are going to reveal to me what to teach in the morning." He was silent this whole time.

As much as I hated to go to bed without a Word to teach in the morning, I had to. I turned off all the lights in the house and headed toward the bed in hopes His provision would come in the morning. You could say I felt a huge sence of determination not to do this lesson with my abilities based on what I experienced the week before. I pulled the covers back, got into bed, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I experienced a miracle. My head was flooded with what the lesson from Isaiah 40 meant. The whole chapter! I sat up quickly in shock... came to my senses and started running to the room that had my papers. I turned on all the lights as I went back to the table where my pencil and paper were to write what I was getting. My hand could hardly keep up with my understanding of Isaiah 40. I stood as I quickly wrote it all down and when I got to the last verse in Is. 40, "They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings as eagles...", I fell back into my chair in awe! This is when the pondering began. I have been in awe ever since! Yes, this was one of those verses you see over and over and probably have memorized, but I never knew why it was so awesome until that night!

Can you believe I lost these sheets of what came to me about Is. 40? As great as that chapter is, I could never learn more than waiting on God and truly mounting up with wings as eagles! I think He allowed me to loose the sheets. I don't think He wanted me to ponder the notes over and over, but to ponder His provision when WAITING. You can bet I have!

Do you want to know a characteristic about God that I have seen over and over? He waits until you have fully surrendered the battle to take over. This is when He gets the glory! We can clearly see that it was God and not something we did. He waits until every last "neck muscle is resting on the pillow" and fully resting and not trying in our own power. "When the battle is the Lord's, the victory is mine!"
If you are past the Nicole Mullens song on my juke box, "When I call on Jesus," go back listen and SOAR! You can bet I do when I hear that song. Yes arms out and all!