Hope Without Limits

I’ve discovered the longer, the better.

I’ve also discovered that for me for a very long time the length of leash was directly proportionate to my amount of understanding.

It may surprise you to find out that the leash to which I am referring is the leash God allows me to put on Him.  Seriously.

Last week my Heavenly Father provided one of those “opportunities” to “walk the talk” as part of an amazing spiritual journey I’ve been on recently.

I think maybe the easiest way to share it with you is like a recipe.  You know where you mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the liquid ingredients in a separate bowl.  But it is not until you mix the two bowls together that the magic really happens.

My 2 bowls were spiritual ingredients and daily-life ingredients.

Spiritual ingredients:  understanding and revelation.

• Understanding is found throughout the old and new testament.
• Understanding is something we do.
• You can go ahead an laugh, but it took receiving “revelation” for me to get a clear picture of understanding 🙂 … that which we construct to put under what we believe, stand upon = under-standing.
• Revelation is only found in the new testament.
• Revelation is something we receive from our Heavenly Father (Ephesians 1:17).  It concerns things before unknown. It is used of events by which things, states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all.

Daily-life ingredients:  6 months of preparation for a large event at work and one case of flu.

On Tuesday I was diagnosed with flu.  This was 48 hours prior to the start of meetings and 77 hours prior to the special event for 100 people (but who’s counting).  The doctor tells me I should be home for the rest of the week.  Because of my “understanding” of the events ahead, I explain that is not an option.  She tells me I’ll be “very lucky” if I’m even fever free and not contagious by Friday night.

I sent an e-mail to friends and point-blank told them I needed a miracle.  Thankfully, I left it at that and did not put God “on a short leash” by stating my understanding of what that miracle needed to be.

Being transparent, the unstated under-standing I had “constructed” told me that miracle needed to look like me being miraculously healed so that I could run everything as previously planned.  See, I like understanding … A LOT.  But recently the weight of trying to figure everything out has not been working well for me.  As in, it’s been exhausting me.  That made me willing to consider whatever options God had to offer.

Holy Spirit reminded me what I experienced while hang gliding on my 38th birthday which was pure revelation!  It was a gift of what prior to that moment was unknown to me.  It was not something I labored to “figure out and construct” with my own capabilities/capacities.   Actually, revelation took me past my capacity.

The weightlessness I experienced as the powerful thrust of the invisible thermal lifted me higher and higher was how my Heavenly Father was inviting me to live.  I could soar by positioning myself to receive His revelation.  But to do that requires a long leash!  There’s no telling God how His answer should look.

I don’t think you will be surprised to learn His answer looked very different from the understanding I had constructed, and yet, it absolutely provided everything needed.  It looked like:

• Co-workers volunteering to collect and combine two days worth of presentations without my even asking them to help.
• Co-workers volunteering to meet caterers and set meeting rooms.
• My bosses telling me to stay home while the meetings took place in order to have more strength to run the dinner event.
• My fever breaking 30 hours prior to the event so that I was not contagious to those at the event.
• Someone canceling a hotel room at the last minute for which we would still have to pay and that provided a place for me to rest for 90 minutes between the event set-up and the start of the event

It was a week of revelation, of seeing God’s provision that up to that point had been unknown to me.  Now there’s a reason to hope!