Job | A Relentless Surrender

For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Isreal, Seek ye me, and ye shall live. Amos 5:4

There is a whole world full of people chasing after life… Dreams… Goals… Achievements… Recognition… Hopes… Love…

It’s hard to turn on the t.v., the radio, the computer, flip open a magazine or drive past a billboard without seeing someone amazing. There are globe trekkers, actors, singers, athletes, photographers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, survivalist… mattering.

Once upon a time there was a girl who told her 8th grade teacher she wanted to be a mom. That teacher told that girl that she needed to choose a real career. She needed to choose a real job. A real life. So she chose her second interest, beauty.

She accomplished it but it wasn’t until she became a mom that she felt she was really living. Like she had found the calling on her life. Like she was created to cook, clean, cuddle and point tiny humans toward Christ. It felt like holy work. Purposeful… Mattering.

But… Words like songs, are hard to get out of your head.

So that girl who’s now a mom isn’t sure she’s really enough. The world is full of chasers, maybe they are leaving her in the dust?

When someone asks what you do,
and they ALWAYS DO, you again put on a brave face only to be greeted by their face becoming disinterested. Disapproving. Even disgusted. So rather than turn another face you save face and say, “I am a hairstylist.”

“Do you keep busy?”
“Oh heavens yes.”
Inside you know that the reading lessons, kissed boo boos, spelling test, science experiments, trips to the park and play dates aren’t what they are referring to, but let’s just leave it be.

And if your getting the idea that I’m on the opinionated side of women/moms staying home… You’re wrong. The proverbs 31 woman worked.

There needs to be christian voices in every industry.

We may be a salesmen or a janitor or just a mom, but as Christians our main occupation should be seeking God.

This question may be the litmus test to determine if you are ‘really living’.

Are you hearing God, and are others hearing about God from you?

Amos made it clear that this is the measure of really living.

Holy living is wholly living.

Everything we ever are is only granted to us as opportunity to honor God. Without that, we will just be another sad ending to a “successful” life. Surely, if anything, Hollywood has taught us that.

And this is [really living], that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3

On the way home from a ministry conference in Tulsa, I listened to fidgety kids and Josh telling me about one of his sessions. He said that the minister who was teaching told of how he and his expecting wife spent a week working youth camp. In the middle of the night, 3:33 to be exact, his wife woke him up and told him she was losing the baby. On the way to the hospital the car was silent and they believed that they were about to experience the ugliest of here.

Back at camp they gathered to pray. They didn’t say, “we will pray for them in the morning.” or “everyone remember them in prayer.” They got out of bed; blurry-eyed and held hands as they burst into the presence of God on behalf of ther friends. The speakers question to his pupils was, “who here is at 3:33?”

And my question to you is: who do you know at 3:33? You? Your mom? Your grandpa? A friend? A stranger you found on social media?

I’ve had to do a lot of growing over the last few years. During my efforts to “Moses out” He met me at every handicap I informed Him I have, and some I didn’t realize I had. He began etching me into a better person for His calling.

One of those handicaps was/is prayer. I have to set alarms or I’m likely to make it through the day without talking personally, one on one with God.

“I’ll pray for you.” Was a line I was accustomed to saying. As you can imagine; God wasn’t ok with that. I threw Him all my excuses. “You know I can’t just kneel here in the middle of the mall and pray right?” “I can’t bow and drive.” “I’m shy.” “It’s uncomfortable.” “What if I make them uncomfortable?”

I learned that during prayer—actually lets make that life; the posture of your heart is a lot more important than the posture of your body.

I learned God don’t care much about our comfort either… Does He Paul?

Seems like the more my prayer life improves the more people God entrusts for me to pray for.

Today skimming Instagram; my heart ached as I read a short comment left on another bloggers post. A request for prayer. Our sister who we’ve never met was asking for prayer for her 10-year-old daughter who received a brain tumor diagnosis.

Just a few hours before that I was talking to a mentor whose sister has advanced pancreatic cancer.

Maybe life’s looking good for you right now, but you’d have to be blind not to see a 3:33 anywhere.

It’s not a resolution it’s a requisition. This isn’t something we purpose to do then get to let our ambitions fade. There’s ugency here. You may fail but you must get. back. up.

I’m noticing two different kinds of friends in the Bible.

Jesus told the man with palsy, whose friends literally tore the roof off the place to get him to Christ, because their faith was through the roof; that because of his friends’ faith, “take up your mat and walk.”

Oh Job’s friends? Sure, they felt sorry for him. They tore their cloths and sat silently for seven days with him. They were even more than happy to help him get to the bottom of the situation by suggesting all the ways he must have blew it, but in the end; Job was the one praying for them. Seems kinda backward doesn’t it.

My timers set for 3:33. My prayer list can feel overwhelmingly long, and that shows me just how big God really is.

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