GET YOUR SNEAKERS READY!

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "yes" in Christ. And so in Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20

My son and I are at the market, loading groceries for the week into the back of my car when I see my sneakers sitting on the back seat. I sigh. I placed the sneakers there four weeks ago, confident that with the evenings staying lighter and reliable nursing help for my disabled husband, I would be able to swing by the river track on my way home from school two or three evenings a week and spend a free lovely moments walking, thinking, praying, and enjoying the spring sunshine.

It was a good plan.

But it didn't work out.

I have found that very often my own plans don't work out too well. I've got great plans, really I do, but something always seems to transpire to keep them from happening. Or at least keep them from happening on my time table.

As I gazed longingly at my neglected sneakers, I needed to remind myself that postponement of a plan didn't mean it wouldn't still happen.

At my church, Pastor Aaron has been preparing us all to "step into the life we were meant for." I'm not completely sold on the idea that God's sole plan for me is to be a nurse maid to my husband, but I am certain that He wants me to serve Him to the best of my ability. I'm also pretty certain he's called me to write and be an example to other women who find themselves in challenging circumstances. Heck, it even says so on my author card: Ordinary Women. Extraordinary Faith. I'm just not sure when it's all going to happen.

So I keep my sneakers ready.

As we near the Christian celebration of Easter and the Jewish observance of Passover, it's good to think about--as that old Sunday School song says--standing on the promises of God. Exodus 6 outlines the many promises God gave to the Israelite while they were still in Egypt, forced to make bricks and denied freedom.

Therefore say you to the children of Israel, I am the Lord and will bring you out of the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage. I am the Lord. 

Are you seeing all those promises? God promises to bring us out of bondage; that's deliverance! And to redeem us; that's freedom! And to take us--warts and all--as part of His family. He says we can have a relationship with Him, the God of all things! And He promises us satisfaction and a purpose for our lives.

Dear friends, I don't know what's got you making bricks in bondage today, but I do know it won't last forever. Even when I fall into bed at night, so exhausted my eyeballs hurt, I know that God has given me free choice: I CHOOSE to care for my husband. I may not like the additional burdens the untimely break with the nursing agency has cast upon me anymore than the Israel children liked having their daily quota of bricks increased, but I know that one day--in this life or the next--the burdens will be gone. In the meantime, I count on God for the strength I need.

Because while my timing tends to be flawed, God's timing is perfect. The promises God made to the Israelites--and to us--are not gone and forgotten. God is still making good on His promises. I know He's not going to let me done when I have to change Ron's sheets one more time, or make the tenth phone call to the benefits coordinator, or fill out the hundredth form to get medical coverage. It may well be I need to know these things for the purpose He has for me.

My sneakers are still in the car, waiting. I thought about bringing them in with the groceries. but I recalled how the children of Israel stood with the staffs in hand and their cloaks tucked into the belt, waiting for their deliverance, waiting to step into the lives God had for them.

So I'm gonna keep my sneakers ready to step on in.