Summer Is Full of Opportunities
Summertime, summertime sum, sum summertime… sing with me I know the Beach Boys song is running through your head. At least it is mine. A time full of family, fun, vacations, maybe lazy days, gardening, home projects, doing favorite outdoor hobbies or pastimes. As I was looking at my calendar for July it is packed. It will be over before it starts, but it will be full of opportunities for God to move and work.
I just love those times when God plants either someone right in front of you or you in front of them to be an answer to a prayer, or a question. When one has been asking, seeking and knocking for a while and then God uses you in the equation, well that for me is just about the coolest thing.
Are We Paying Attention?
The problem is so many of us do not recognize or appreciate those moments when they come. We do not always Thank God for blessing us with this encounter. Far too often we spend our time preoccupied, noses in our phones or tablets. Consumed with the day-to-day stuff that we are oblivious to those random, precious moments when God is trying to get our attention.
God Is Always Bringing New Life
I love spring as it is full of hope, new life, rebirth. I do love the process of planting a seed and watching it grow, or appreciating those seeds that were planted in the fall, die in the winter only to emerge full of life in the spring, and continue to flourish through the summer. It is a terrific reminder that God is in control, he brings forth life and new birth. He pays attention to all of his creation, even watching over the sparrow so I know he watches over me.
I am so blessed to be presiding over my youngest daughter’s wedding, and that two of my daughters are getting married this summer. What joy, a new start together as man and wife. A new beginning as a family unit. One that when focused on God and His design for our lives will be forever a blessing. The men and women that God has put into both of these young couples’ lives to help nurture, encourage and love on them is not an accident, but a divine appointment.
Divine Appointments in Scripture
In the Book of Acts we discover that for the Disciples it was a time of new birth as well. Now filled with the Holy Spirit they were emboldened to forge out into uncharted territory spreading the Gospel message to any and all who would listen. There is example after example of God appointed moments when he placed the apostles and those who were searching and seeking in front of each other. Lives were changed, baptisms occurred, people were healed, blessed and lives started anew. They were aware of how God was moving and orchestrating these crucial moments. Ones that either softened hearts or turned them away. Moments when the truth caused religious leaders to writhe in fury, or times when someone was cut to the core, humbled themselves and repented.
Will You Be Available?
What divine appointments has God orchestrated for you? Were you recently the recipient or the one being the vessel? I personally had 4 such moments all in one day, from a bank teller to a gas station worker, a migrant and medical personnel. What Joy to be used by him to deliver a word of hope, an answer, and to be a blessing.
As you go about your summer fun and absorb the warmth of the sun, remember to pay attention, to be willing to be used by God, because when you do the warmth of the SON will spring forth new life.
Shalom
Pastor Penny
