Faith Filled Friday

I'm so glad you are here! I hope during your visit you get a glimpse of God's heart for we become what we are gazing at. I want to be a blessing to you so I've made these Resources available to you and have the Missional blog tab for practical ideas of how to live on mission right where you are. 

Currently I am writing my way through Judges sharing glimpses of God's heart and character for a weekday devotional. To check out the entire series so far head on over the the Judges Devotional.   

In 2008, Austin and I led a missions trip to Russia. Asher turned 1 while we were there. It was the first time going overseas with a child and awesome to see how God provided everything we needed for him. Transportation, formula, diapers, baby food, even a pack and play and baby toys. God sure does care about even the details.

But while we were there I had a run in with a guy yelling in a girls face at the bus stop. Hmm, I guess before I go on I should tell you a little bit about me. I tend to be pretty bold. An amazing thing God did in my heart since growing up I was super duper shy and completely controlled by fear. But when I gave my life to Christ, the ever present fear was gone and was replaced by boldness. There are still times I get nervous and fearful but in general I am pretty bold. Then combine that with a desire to be stealthy (thanks to Alias) and a desire to sneak into countries to tell people about Jesus top secret style. 

Ok, now that you're all prepped, here's the scene. This guy in work out pants and kinda tough looking is yelling at this girl. He's angry, hands flailing. She's trembling. I have Asher on my hip and am wearing a skirt. The white skirt in the picture actually. I watch the guy, wondering if he's going to get violent. He keeps getting closer and closer to her and I just can't not do anything any longer. I yell, "HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER..." I yelled some other stuff too but can't remember what. He stopped and turned to look at me, stunned. Maybe it was that I was speaking a different language or maybe it was because I had a baby on my hip. Basically, I think I just freaked him out and he turned and said one last thing to the girl and walked away. 

That was crazy. I probably shouldn't have done that. Though I'm not totally sure what I should have done. But really I think I had a little bit too much confidence in my abilities to put this guy in place. Maybe if I knew karate or something my confidence would have been a little bit more well placed. (And to my defense, Austin was with me so I kinda thought if anything did happen I couldn't get myself out of, he could beat the guy up after I did.)

I think Samson was a bit like this. A little too confident in his abilities.
"Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied." He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man." So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied." He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric [on the loom] and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric. Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."  Judges 16:10-17

It's was almost as if Samson was toying with Delilah, telling her all these fake ways his strength would be taken. It's like he thought he couldn't be broken, a little too confident. What an example that no matter how strong you think you are if you remain in temptation it will take you somewhere you don't want to go. Everyone has a breaking point.

And then there's pshyco Delilah. When I read this I can't stop thinking about how crazy she is. She's like my three year old in a grown up body. She is putting her husband in harms way yet plays the victim as though he is the one who has betrayed her. She is actually accusing him of being a jerk to her as she's trying to serve up his head on a platter. Talk about blame-shifting.

But even in these crazy characters we see the glory of God. What grace that He opens our eyes to the reality that we need Him. Because if we live life as though we really can do it all apart from Him, then we are going to miss the very purpose we were created for. What grace to lower our blame-shifting finger and help us recognize our own need. 

Thank you Lord! Please help us see more and more how great and awesome You are and how much we really do need You to live a life pleasing to You.
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Faith Filled Friday Blog Hop

We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, devotionals, ministry as well as art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage and more if they tie into or display the the Lord somehow. 

So go ahead and link up below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. I just humbly ask that you please let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or put my button code (found on my side bar or the Faith Filled Friday Tab) so they can find these other great people glorifying God and we can continue to grow as a community. Thanks!   

Sorry Linky Tools has been down all day yesterday and  today (?). I hope it gets back up soon. Meanwhile hope ya'll get to visit the blogs linked up.


I'm linking up with Spiritual Sundays