God's Timing is Spot On

One of the trials I’ve been facing recently is an unjust legal issue. The morning of my court date this past Monday, I was praying that the charges would be dropped. I had been praying for this outcome for a couple months and had asked other people to pray for me. While praying on that morning, a thought that wasn’t my own, entered my mind of another possible outcome that wasn’t as favorable as the charges being dropped.

My premonition or intuition is precisely what happened.  As disappointed as I was with the outcome, I felt a strange comfort that God had told me beforehand what would happen. I’ve had similar events happen before when God warned me of impending doom that I needed to face, whether it was God’s will or due to the improper actions of others. Who can be mad at a God who shows He cares even in the storm?

Yesterday, I had planned to attend a Women’s Bible Study Group at the Bridge church in Centerville, Utah in the evening (which I later did and enjoyed). The morning of the women’s group, I prayed to find a close Christian friend thinking I would find a friend that night. Then I went to my local grocery store in the morning for a few items. I got in the self-checkout lane and heard someone call my name. I turned to look and it was a nice lady I had met at church this past Sunday. We talked for a while and I held up the line.

Right off the bat, we hit it off. I told her of my prayer for close Christian friends and she admitted she almost didn’t stop to say hello. I put her number in my phone and called her after I was done at the grocery store. She was excited I had called as she wanted to go to lunch that day or breakfast the next day. We talked for a long time on the phone and I felt we were on our way to become close friends. She couldn't come to the Women's group that night so God brought her to me at the grocery store. Not to mention God's amazing knack for timing in bringing us together at that precise moment.

We met for breakfast today and enjoyed each other’s company. During breakfast, my friend gave me a good lesson about God’s timing in our lives. We may not understand why God doesn’t seem to answer or answer what we want, but God knows what’s best for us and the best timing for our lives. Just like my friend coming into my life at this time was perfect timing for me. It lets me know that God hears me and cares enough to send me an answer in the grocery store.

When we felt we needed to leave, I thought an hour had passed. But when I looked at my watch, it was lunchtime and we had talked close to four hours. We’ll be close friends for sure. Thank Heavenly Father for answering my prayer, even when the rest of my life seems like doom and gloom. My new friend is a ray of light in my otherwise stormy life.

I hope my experiences give you hope if you’re waiting for a blessing from God or question God’s timing or even why certain things happen to you or in your life. I don’t think God is offended by our questions when life is hard. Try to have faith and lean on other’s faith when you need to.

God's GPS

I got an iPhone this past year and discovered the magical world or GPS (Global Positioning System). I’d enter coordinates of a street address and a pleasant voice would say, “In 800 feet, turn left.” Prior to my using GPS, I used MapQuest. I would print out the directions and off I’d go.

I must admit, it took me awhile to adjust to GPS from my paper printout. As I closely listened for the next instruction on GPS, I found myself missing knowing the end from the beginning of all the instructions from point A to point B. (I recently discovered where I could look up the steps in my phone GPS).

If I got lost or simply thought I knew a better route, my GPS would recalculate directions and without missing a beat, would redirect me from where I was. One time I was driving to a doctor’s appointment from a different direction. The appointment was on 3300 South in Salt Lake City. When I was on I-215 N heading toward I-80 W, I saw an exit that said 3300 South. I thought this would be a short cut and a sure way to reach my final destination.

However, whenever I made a move toward the 3300 South exit and off-course from my initial path, my GPS would try to direct me away from this exit. I took the exit anyway and my GPS kept trying to still direct me away from 3300 S. I eventually figured out that my GPS was right. 3300 S didn’t seem to go through at that juncture to reach my final destination.

Now following my GPS, I was directed to 3900 South and later Highland Drive and finally to 3300 S where I made it to my appointment in the nick of time.

 

 

I found some parallels between using a GPS and God’s GPS (the Spirit). God knows where we are and where we want to go for our final destination (heaven) and every step required to get there.  But God only reveals one step at a time and we have to trust His voice. We don’t know the end from the beginning and every step between. But God does. He doesn’t usually give us instructions to go in a certain direction in our lives until the last moment.

Sometimes we think we know better than God and try to find our own path. But God knows what’s in our best interests and He gently redirects us to the path to reach our eternal destination. Similar to Global Positioning System, where signals bounce off satellites, perhaps our prayers and need for direction, bounce off heaven and come back to us. 

Just as it took me awhile to adjust to listening and following the voice of my GPS, it’s taken me time to adjust to the voice of God’s GPS, the Spirit. Now I delight listening to directions from God’s GPS. Sometimes I still get frustrated that I don’t know the end from the beginning. As I listen to the Spirit, I stay on track better and spend less time lost or going in circles. However challenging and heart-rending my life seems at times, if I’m following God’s play by play instructions, then I know I’m still on track to reach my final destination.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

 

Judgment Day Came Early

I met with a nice lady well-versed in the Bible this morning. Toward the end of our conversation, she asked me this question:

“If you were to die today, what would you say to Jesus to get into Heaven?”

(Pause now and ask yourself the same question above and see what your answer is.)

I thought for a moment and thoughtfully said, “I love you Jesus and I’ve tried to love others as you love them.” (Those were the greatest two commandments, so I thought I hadn’t gone too wrong. Plus, that was honestly in my heart.) Then my friend asked me if I had anything else to say to Jesus and I started to ramble on about how I’d tried to repent of anything I’d done wrong.

When I was done, my friend said “I don’t know if you’ve been saved.” “You sound like a works salvation or perhaps you’re still influenced by LDS teachings on works” she replied. I told her “It’s the LDS teachings.” The LDS scripture “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23) came to mind.

My friend was kind enough to share more than a dozen scripture references with me on the way to be saved as Jesus taught. These are my favorite two scriptures that she shared:

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

The other one was:

“For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that nor of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

To me these scriptures plus the witness of Christian friends, meant that I am completely dependent on Jesus for salvation. There is nothing I can do to prove myself or make myself worthy of Jesus’ gift to us. And it is precisely that: a gift.

Compared to all the commandments we have to keep in the LDS church, something as simple as confessing Jesus with my mouth seemed almost too good to be true. But that’s what Jesus taught so that’s good enough for me.

At the end of our conversation, I asked for another try at answering her probing question. My response this time was “I accept you as my Savior and I’m a sinner and totally dependent on you.” My friend smiled and seemed satisfied.

I felt I had a taste of judgment day and I wasn’t prepared. I hope to be more prepared for the real thing. But we never know when that day will be.  Open Jesus' gift of salvation now.

Bipolar Sky

I recently flew from the Rocky Mountains to my childhood homes of Florida and Georgia. Somehow the trip was too stressful on my body and I experienced problems with my bipolar disorder. On the flight back, I recalled another flight I took when I was in college. As I looked out of the window at that time, all I saw were sunshine and blue skies. Then the weather changed and I flew over a dark storm. But I was so high above the storm that I could see the end of the storm and the blue skies that surrounded it.  Talk about perspective! I thought how someone in that storm might not realize sunshine is just around the corner.

When I’m down on the ground and my life changes from sunny skies to a storm, sometimes the storm goes on for a very long time. I begin to forget the days of sunny skies. I wonder “when” or even “if” my storm of personal trials and challenges will ever end. However, we don’t know exactly when blue skies may reappear.  Have you ever watched the movie, “The African Queen,” the classic film with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn?  My favorite scene is near the end when they have been trudging through the swamps and have used up their last supplies and have lost all hope. They resign themselves to die that night. The next morning the camera pans upon their surroundings and it’s clear they have reached the end of their swamp and they are free. Sunshine returned.

If you’re slugging your way through a trial, I am so sorry. Remember you don’t have the perspective of being high in a plane and seeing when your sunny skies will begin again. God has the perfect perspective on our lives. He knows how long our storms will last and when sunshine is just around the corner. Please don’t give up hope. God will help us through. As a result of my bipolar problems on my trip, I had my medication changed. Now, for the first time, I feel well enough to start following my dreams. My storm finally turned to blue skies, if only briefly. Writing this blog is living proof.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=149

(orig. posted 7/29/11 in Bipolarsky.blogspot.com as the first post in my first blog.)

The Day I Was Saved

Sometimes a dark night turns into a blazing sunrise. I should probably tell you that I have bipolar disorder plus I’ve been a Mormon or Latter-day Saint (LDS) for over 40 years. During a bout of bipolar mania nearly a year ago, I came to the sudden and unexpected realization that I didn’t believe in the LDS church.  This was painful to me as I had always strongly believed in the LDS church. This was my first time of spiritual doubt and I'm still recovering from the blow. During this time of upheaval, I made a new friend who went to a non-denominational Christian church. My new friend invited me to come to this church. On Sunday, December 8, 2013 I decided to give it a try. I went to one service and stayed afterward for a welcome luncheon. At the luncheon, I sat next to a few caring individuals. I told them of my current concerns and they asked if they could pray for me with the laying on of hands. Three of them each put their hand on me and one of them proceeded to pray. It wasn’t long before I was crying. I’ve never heard such beautiful, heartfelt words that seemed to ascend straight to heaven.

 

 

You should know I’ve prayed many times daily and heard others pray in the LDS church thousands of times. But I have never felt the intensity of genuine love that I sensed from these people who were strangers just moments ago. The words in the prayer were spoken with confidence as if this individual expected God to surely answer them. Yet the words and feeling were also humble. My new friends asked me questions about my relationship with Jesus Christ and I found myself weeping and giving my life to Jesus. Before I knew it, I was saved. Now these friends were my spiritual brothers and sisters. This experience of getting saved was singular and memorable. I had heard before of individuals remembering the date on which they were saved. Now I understood why. December 8, 2013 is my special date. I felt I could sing with the choirs of angels. I felt God’s love so powerfully. It was a deeply moving experience. It was exhilarating to give my sins and burdens to God and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. Just thinking about it now makes my heart beat strongly within my chest. As I remember this, I feel penetrating light within me even when the rest of my life is dark.

If you haven’t been saved, you may want to consider it. I can tell you this, you’ll never forget it and it will be one of the happiest and brightest moments of your life.