Tuesday I got called into work. I usually work Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays, but I got called in on Tuesday because Pam was horribly sick with the flu. I went in around 2:30, which I was kind of relieved because I hadn't been doing anything, nothing productive or destructive, so I was very excited to finally be up to something.
I went back in for my usual times on Wednesday. I usually work with Javan on Wednesday, but he left shortly after lunch because of a nasty stomach bug plaguing his health. I'm alone from 12:30-about 4:00ish.
Pam comes in around 4 to 4:15, even though she's still sick as a dog. I got a little frustrated because I didn't want her to be there while she was sick... She comes in and sits her purse down and gets to work. I'm just hanging out behind the counter reading "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. An excellent book if I do say so myself.
Pam comes out and just begins to chat. This rarely happens, usually, my awkward resistant self kicks in and I have to start some sort of conversation which usually leads to a discussion and a counseling session... However, this time she began things, and I honestly have no idea what she said.
She quickly goes into the story of how the store came about... This will be our 12th year of service come this August. She begins to tell me about how resistant she was in the beginning. "I cannot do this! You don't know what you're talking about, God." She would say... As she looks back now, she would tell me, she sees how God began to work in her life even as a little girl, preparing her for her purpose as the owner of Heart & Soul. (What an awesome purpose if I do say so myself.)
I'm going to leave the details to a minimum, just because this is a public diary and I would hate for something to get out that Pam didn't want other people to hear, however; I can say that she fought with God over the idea of the store for a while. Finally, one night she decides to get up and write out a business plan, not knowing from "Adam's house cat" how to draw up a business plan, she puts one in the works. The next morning her husband asks her what she had been up to. After viewing the plan he simply says "go for it" and sends her on her way. Poised to prove him wrong, she heads for the bank... by this time, God has been working on her heart for a while... by the fourth bank visit, she knows this plan is supposed to become real. The fourth bank gives her the okay, a series of impossible things happen, and Heart and Soul is born.
(For more on the story; just ask)
For a few weeks now, God has been nailing me with praying big. What's wrong with us that we don't have a big enough faith in our God to pray for the really big things expectantly? My 2011 prayer is that God will deliver my mother from smoking. This is humanly impossible. My father passed away from lung cancer when I was six and she couldn't even quit then. I have begged her through tears countless times and she still picks up the sticks. It's impossible, bigger than her, bigger than her faith. I've prayed for years, on and off, that God will deliver her from this Baal.
I've also been reading Chan's "Forgotten God". In that book, Chan begs the question to all of us: what are you afraid of? How are you intimidated by the Holy Spirit? What's stopping you? (basically).
What's stopping me?
I'm so afraid that He will let me down. My mother has let me down, Rebekah has let me down, My earthly father let me down, why won't God let me down?
Well, because He's God! It's literally in his nature to keep his promises... if you ever doubt, read Genesis and then watch for a rainbow. He promises, and He keeps them.
However; our faith shouldn't be in the fact that God keeps his promises, our faith shouldn't be anchored in His promises, it should be anchored in our God.
I shouldn't believe and pray to Him because His promises come true. I'm not going to give my life to an honest person, I'm going to give my life to a Holy Person. My life is worth a whole heap, and only someone that is going to give a whole heap deserves my life. I think Jesus paid the right price.
Pray expectantly. He's a big God. If he can breathe the planets to life, then he can breathe your prayers answered.
I went back in for my usual times on Wednesday. I usually work with Javan on Wednesday, but he left shortly after lunch because of a nasty stomach bug plaguing his health. I'm alone from 12:30-about 4:00ish.
Pam comes in around 4 to 4:15, even though she's still sick as a dog. I got a little frustrated because I didn't want her to be there while she was sick... She comes in and sits her purse down and gets to work. I'm just hanging out behind the counter reading "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. An excellent book if I do say so myself.
Pam comes out and just begins to chat. This rarely happens, usually, my awkward resistant self kicks in and I have to start some sort of conversation which usually leads to a discussion and a counseling session... However, this time she began things, and I honestly have no idea what she said.
She quickly goes into the story of how the store came about... This will be our 12th year of service come this August. She begins to tell me about how resistant she was in the beginning. "I cannot do this! You don't know what you're talking about, God." She would say... As she looks back now, she would tell me, she sees how God began to work in her life even as a little girl, preparing her for her purpose as the owner of Heart & Soul. (What an awesome purpose if I do say so myself.)
I'm going to leave the details to a minimum, just because this is a public diary and I would hate for something to get out that Pam didn't want other people to hear, however; I can say that she fought with God over the idea of the store for a while. Finally, one night she decides to get up and write out a business plan, not knowing from "Adam's house cat" how to draw up a business plan, she puts one in the works. The next morning her husband asks her what she had been up to. After viewing the plan he simply says "go for it" and sends her on her way. Poised to prove him wrong, she heads for the bank... by this time, God has been working on her heart for a while... by the fourth bank visit, she knows this plan is supposed to become real. The fourth bank gives her the okay, a series of impossible things happen, and Heart and Soul is born.
(For more on the story; just ask)
For a few weeks now, God has been nailing me with praying big. What's wrong with us that we don't have a big enough faith in our God to pray for the really big things expectantly? My 2011 prayer is that God will deliver my mother from smoking. This is humanly impossible. My father passed away from lung cancer when I was six and she couldn't even quit then. I have begged her through tears countless times and she still picks up the sticks. It's impossible, bigger than her, bigger than her faith. I've prayed for years, on and off, that God will deliver her from this Baal.
I've also been reading Chan's "Forgotten God". In that book, Chan begs the question to all of us: what are you afraid of? How are you intimidated by the Holy Spirit? What's stopping you? (basically).
What's stopping me?
I'm so afraid that He will let me down. My mother has let me down, Rebekah has let me down, My earthly father let me down, why won't God let me down?
Well, because He's God! It's literally in his nature to keep his promises... if you ever doubt, read Genesis and then watch for a rainbow. He promises, and He keeps them.
However; our faith shouldn't be in the fact that God keeps his promises, our faith shouldn't be anchored in His promises, it should be anchored in our God.
I shouldn't believe and pray to Him because His promises come true. I'm not going to give my life to an honest person, I'm going to give my life to a Holy Person. My life is worth a whole heap, and only someone that is going to give a whole heap deserves my life. I think Jesus paid the right price.
Pray expectantly. He's a big God. If he can breathe the planets to life, then he can breathe your prayers answered.
