****UPDATE: Hey Siestas! Our blog maintenance has been moved and will actually happen tomorrow, Friday, March 25 at 8:30AM. Thank you for your patience!
****QUICK HEADS UP: Thursday AM, March 24 (tomorrow) at 8:30, our LPM blog will be shut down for what we anticipate being only a couple of hours. (Hopefully at most.) We are remaining right here on WordPress and right here at exactly this same address but we are switching servers to better accommodate our high volume of activity and comments. SO, if you try to get on after 8:30 AM Thursday morning and can’t connect to the page, you’ll know why. Sometimes the transition can take even a day or two but they are not anticipating that length of time. One thing is for sure, we’ll be back the moment we’re up. Until then and after then, go right ahead with your rich comments to this post!
OK, Siestas! It’s time for a pop quiz! We haven’t had one in a while. This quiz is for those of you who read many of the comments from our previous post about the moment or season of your life when you had your biggest “HE IS REAL” revelation. (The post is named “For Real” just so you can be sure you’re reading the comments to the right one.) The question conveyed on the post was about the time when you moved from believing God exists (Hebrews 11:6) to knowing (2 Timothy 1:12).
Here are the instructions for the comments to this post for those who want to participate in our pop quiz: (No other comments besides these please on this one post. This is a test. Grin.)
Write 2 observations you find yourself making based on all the testimonies you read under the post called “For Real.” There is no right or wrong answer. No pass or fail. You’re just simply saying, after reading so many of those comments, these two things seem clear to me. I’m asking for 2 observations. Not 1. Not 3. But 2. (Can you hear the classroom teacher in me coming out to play?) Testimonies are powerful things. We’re meant to be effected by what we read. So, how were you effected?
NOW, here is the very important catch: YOU MAY NOT READ ANYBODY ELSE’S OBSERVATIONS BEFORE YOU WRITE YOURS. In other words, don’t look at the comments to this post until after you’ve written your own answers. These are meant to be your observations and no one else’s. Your reflections. Your take on those testimonies. Not another Siesta’s. You are all great thinkers. Think for yourself.
I absolutely love this community. Go at it, Girls! Students, come forth!
1. Our stories of what God has done (and continues to do) in our lives are the most powerful thing we have to share Christ and encourage others.
2. Throught Christ (and only in His power) we can overcome strongholds in our lives. This encourages me as I’m battling a very deep seeded stronghold in my life right now.
1. Great testimonies of how God has come through. Makes you wonder how anyone can doubt. BUT… what about when the answer is “no”… what about when healing did not occur… what about when we ask God to protect something that isn’t protected, what about prayer for children and there is no pregnancy, no adoption. I am apprehensive as I write this but it is truth. We “know” that a “no” will bring a greater “yes” but we don’t know if we get to see it, when it will occur and how it will occur. “OUCH!” It is faith, pure faith but someone who is “new” to a relationship with God may be reading all of our great triumphs and saying “that didn’t happen for me”. God is GOOD, but only through relationship and holding on to his WORD can we “know”…. and what I know today I may forget tomorrow. These were my thoughts as I was praising him for SO MANY WONDERFUL testimonies.
2. I want an awareness of Him in the good times, not just in the tough times. It just isn’t as good of a story, is it? But it SHOULD be! I WANT IT TO BE!! Because the truth is, when times are good I am STILL a sinner, saved by his grace alone and I must remain aware of things in my self that need God to cover, change and make new.
Thank you for what you said. I cringe sometimes when I hear people say “God is good” after they have gone through something amazing (their neighbor’s house destroyed by tornado but theirs was saved, etc.) God is good no matter what, even when we’re struck by trauma. We must remember that. As C.S. Lewis describes Aslan/God: “He isn’t safe, but He is good.”
1. The Lord knows us personally and reveals himself in a way that each person and relate to or understand.
2.He uses big and small circumstances, people, stuff to reveal himself.
1. Most everyone was going through a valley (trial/tough time) when God made Himself real to us.
2. We became closer to God and with a matured faith in God because of His activity and realness in our life.
My observations are this
1. God became the most real in times of Distress. Whether it was a season of sin, a time of sickness of the individual or a close loved one, or at a time of personal attack. It would seem that God would show up BIG time and make Himself real.
2. Or when the ‘poster’ would ask God to reveal Himself. In His time and in His way He would prove himself to be Who He says He is!
1.) It was our pain and desperation that brought us closer to Him
2.) The times when we think God is absent in our lives are the times He is actually the closest!
1. God wants to make His Presence known to us personally. He wants a personal relationship with each and everyone of His children.
2. Our Father God, the Creator of the Universe, our ABBA is in hot pursuit of each of us! He uses the difficult times of life to turn our faces and hearts to Him. We can be formal or causal in our approach, but we must approach Him. He rewards those who seek Him. The relationship is reward enough for me.
No matter how dark our circumstances, or har far we’ve gone…he still shows up, listens, and responds. Above all he shows compassion, grace, and love.
1. It seems to be that most if not all of our “props” God chooses to knock out before we can see His “realness”;when no one or thing can be there to help us and all we see is HIM with His hand to offer help is held out to us.
2. It happens to us all; a time when no one but our God can help.
1. Feelings – If we never allow “believing” to lead to “feeling”, we impede the result of “knowing”.
As women we are emotional creatures. Since we are warned against unreservedly trusting our feelings (Prov 14:12), we sometimes interpret that to the extreme of completely ignoring our feelings, even when they are Scripture-approved-feelings (for example, rejoicing in the unconditional love from our Savior). This can lead us to suppress any feelings/emotions, including the “heart-knowledge”, or “knowing”, that God exists. Beware of shutting down all feelings, instead, be wise in interpreting and acting upon “feelings”, putting them to the test through Scripture.
2. Pursued BY God – Like Gomer being unconditionally and relentlessly pursued by Hosea, God pursues us in spite of our actions, lifestyle, and choices. God is faithful even (and especially) when we are not (2 Tim 2:13) – PRAISE THE LORD ALONE!
1. God NEVER leaves or forsakes us. He is faithful! As a wonderful Bible teacher once said, “God is who He says He is!”
2. Gos is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is still in the business of performing miracles.
1. He is a personal God as if each individual is the “only person in the room.”
2. He is the God who sees – El Roi. A relationship that every person longs for, both male and female. Someone who sees that we are “real”. It is as if God becomes real when we know without a shadow of doubt and really understand about Him that His heart cries…”I see you!”
*I think the testimony of others makes us long for what those individuals have and our hearts cry… “I want someone to know and see me like that!” It gives us hope that we are seen, we are significant. Only God through Jesus Christ can give this type of relationship.
To me personally, this is what makes the works of God MIGHTY! Not the actual miracles but God’s heart behind the miracles. God is Spirit….He sees the heart or the individual spirit…not the flesh.
Truly blessed by what you shared. You sure are loving life….HIS.
He sees you.
His love to you…. So precious.
1. One post mentioned Jeremiah 29:13-14 and I think this verse summed up what I saw in so many other posts…that those who truly sought God with all their hearts, found Him. He did not hide from them or make it hard on them. When they wanted to find Him, He was right there waiting for them. No matter their circumstances, no matter what their lives looked like at that moment, all He sees is the desire for Him and He fulfills that desire. Every time.
2.The second thing I saw was the two different types of testimonies. So many posts recounted how they knew God was real when He showed up in the midst of their pain and suffering. I think that is what has become expected in a testimony. I wish there were more posts about how they knew God was real, not because of some incredible miracle or answer to prayer, but because of a sunset, a snowflake, or the heartbeat of a baby. All wonders in and of themselves. The posts that truly touched me were the ones that talked about how they knew God was real because of something ordinary they saw in their daily lives, or how the Scriptures came alive for them one day and they knew, without a doubt, that they served the one true living God-because of His words to them. Luis Palau once said (and I am paraphrasing) that it doesn’t affect God’s existence if we feel His presence or not. He is still there, no matter what we feel or believe. To me, that is what let’s me know God is real. He is real whether I believe it or not. Kind of reassuring.
Please understand, I am not discounting anyone’s testimony. God shows up when we seek Him, no matter why we seek Him, be it for comfort or just because we are in awe of Him because He loved us so much to send His Son to die for us. I know testimonies will touch hearts differently. Those that are going through a terrible suffering will be touched by ones that have come through to the other side by the grace of God and others, like myself, will be touched by the testimonies of ordinary, everyday life. Thankfully, God uses them all. Every last one. I just want to encourage those that don’t have what they think is a “dramatic” testimony to still share theirs…it will reach someone’s heart.
1) God LOVES to interact with us — talk to us, surpise us, delight us, walk thru the hard stuff with us — BE WITH US.
2 His arms are always open, ready to receive us no matter what lies in our past.
After reading many of the comments He seems more real when 1. We are in the most pain.
2. We have no where else to turn.
Two observations, here goes:
1. He becomes real to ME on a PERSONAL level. Not just a Sunday School I know experience but a “hands on” lab to back up lecture” experience. Everyone mentions a personal learned knowledge, and we say “yes”!
2. A tool, whether it be a crisis, a friend, a book read something that points us directly to Him who is,was and always shall be. something acts as a compass to point us to Him directly and it becomes our AAHA moment!
#1 He is ALWAYS with us. Especially in time of great stess and need.
#2 JESUS never fails. We are in His hands and we can trust His Grace.
My two observations coming from the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful and, for me, a very timely thread:
1. God sure does love his girl children!
2. God longs, longs, longs to be gracious to us, and He is just that!
1. He is REAL and reveals himself constantly in various ways to us in good times and bad. Oh, that we would open our eyes and see..
2. It is good to reflect, remember and testify what He has done in our lives. I was so encouraged after reading the post.
The 2 things that I noticed…1)God shows Himself real to us most often when we are in our darkest hour, and 2)He meets us so specifically that it can’t be attributed to “chance.”
well, #1 – we just can’t limit our ‘aha’ experiences of God to just one brief paragraph. He is much too big for that. and #2 – He is real and living in each of our lives. He wants us to KNOW Him in a very personal way.
1.)I observed myself crying…alot
2.)I observed my faith being strengthened to hang in there, as I read the struggles, sometimes unbelievably intense, of other Siestas; their clinging, if only by a thread, to the One, True God who is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do.
Julia
1. That even though I couldn’t relate to many of the women’s situations posted on the responses, God could. He met each woman how He chose to meet her and in the very personal way that He knew would tenderize her and draw her to Himself or speak loudly and boldly to her. It was very powerful to see that.
2. God isn’t boring!
My 2 observations are:
1) The things God does in our lives are often those things that ONLY he is capable of doing. And they are so personal to us.
2) Very often it is diffcult to truly explain with words the feeling we have when God is being REAL to us. Somehow it never gets communicated to the level that we experience it.
Confirmation that:
1. God is most definitely an active participant in our lives.
2. For every 100 posts there were 100 different experiences where God was made known to these women (Praise Him!) I am a young woman with a lot of life ahead of me, and after reading these testimonies, I have full confidence that no matter what I experience (any of these stories could be mine someday) that God will draw me nearer to Him and will keep His promise to always be with me!
1. Life is hard!
2. People doubt God when life is hard and get cynical but God is there and drawing us tenderly back to Him….sometimes alot later than family and friends would like to see….but God is working!
1. God meets our every need (not necessarily want), in every season of our need.
2. He makes Himself known in unique ways to each of His children! His methods of response and revelation are as creative as we are different! Praise His Holy Name!!!
I love being a student!
Here are my two observations about when God went from being believed in to being REAL:
1. Overwhelmingly God makes Himself known to us when we are going through a particularly challenging or difficult season or time in our lives. He uses these times to show us how REAL He is, as we often become completely dependent on Him to hold us up as He promises.
2. I also noticed that the LORD often uses His Word to speak to us about His “Realness.” Whether it be from a calendar with Scripture, hearing it from someone else, reading it in the Bible or in a Bible study, He confirms His promises to us, gives us something to hold on to, and reminds us that He is with us through His Word. No wonder it’s so important for us to STAY IN IT!
Thanks for making us look deeper, Beth! When I was thinking about my answer last night, I realized that my “testimony” contained each of these! He is so good!
1. God speaks to us in personal, meaningful ways during our specific circumstances.
2. God is real!
#1. You don’t always find God by going to church
#2. God is patient beyond belief!
I din’t comment on the previous post but I can testify of God’s enduring love and patience! Recently my youngest son (30 yrs old) ended up in Jail for DUI and opted to go to rehab. The most painful day of my life was the day I drove him to jail and walked him to those barred and locked doors. He was taken straight to rehab the following Monday morning. When he was able to call and write to me he said this, “Mom, who would have ever thought that 2 days in jail and rehab would be my way back to God”. I would not trade a single tear or sleepless night for his recovery! He has been well and sober and living for Jesus ever since! God answered every single prayer we prayed during that time, usually in ways we could have never imagined.
1. God is still in the miracle business
2. My faith is bolstered by others testimony
My two observations:
1. I am in a time of (to quote Beth) “…dullness that scare(s) me twice as much as the pain” and I’m waiting for revival. I feel as if, like Laurie in comment #24, I have been hiding part of myself from God. I am a believer, but my life has no power.
2. Judy in comment #29 quoted from the ‘Esther’ study and it hit me like a ton of bricks:
MY GOD CARES ABOUT ME! HE WANTS TO SHOW ME WHAT HE CAN DO WITH MY LIFE AND MY NEGATIVE CONDITIONS.
You know. My current conditions aren’t all that negative. However, I have a past that hurts and sometimes I allow bittnerness and resentment to creep back in. I am insecure. The constant recording playing in the back of my mind is “Rachael, you are not good enough”.
I need to pray for revival and renewal of the knowledge of who I am in Christ. There are so many wonderful authors who write on this subject. But, until I allow Christ to fully come in and change things … I can read and read and read and never get it.
At the end of my life, I don’t want just to have a bookcase filled with these wonderful books. I would rather die knowing that I lived the life Christ came to give me.
Dearest Rachel, YOU, CHILD OF GOD ARE GOOD ENOUGH! Who told you, you are not good enough? Why would you believe something like that about yourself, it is just poppycock. You are loved completely, unconditionally and forever by the Holy One, The Creator, He knit you in your mother’s womb. God does not make junk, wish I knew who said that, it truly is simple and right to the point.
I read this quote while I was doing the “So Long Insecurity’ study, here on the blog. Anselm 11th century monk- “I do not seek, O Lord, to penetrate thy depths. I by no means think my intellect equal to them: but I long to understand in some degree thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but believe that I may understand.”
Put down your books, draw near to God and He will drawn near to you, His Word is life, as Siesta Mamma says. Be open now, don’t wait for some BIG thing to happen, because God is with you everyday. Sometimes his love is shown in small ways, but you have to be open to his gifts, invite him into your heart, have a long chat with him, he loves you infinitely.
Bless You,
Andrea
Dear Andrea,
Thank you so much for your kind, gentle words. No one person ever actually told me that I wasn’t good enough. One might be able to point out a time or two I was treated that way, but that’s not the point.
It is the way Satan tries to steer me off track. It’s just in the back of my head. An insecurity that I have.
I so so appreciate your sweet words of encouragement. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 🙂
Rachael
The two things I notice: That God is a very personal God, and responds to each of us individually and reveals Himself to us in a manner that we KNOW He is God. And two: He cares about our concerns and our fears, and works to relieve them.
Observations from He Is Real
1. Most Times there are two very DISTINCT time periods when we make the jump from believing to KNOWING.
2. God shows himself in a way that is beyond natural …. SUPERNATURALLY to us … we just have to take note of what’s really happening and then work hard to HANG ON in our memory to the miracle we have experienced.
Leslie Apple Valley, MN (Brrrrrrrrrr)
1. His Sovreignity: It seemed that no matter what difficult times people described or had experienced, they all seemed to resonate that they knew God was in control and that they were safe in His care. All this despite whatever terrible circumstances or hard times they were going through.
2. His Faithfulness: Another resounding theme throughout everyone’s experiences was His faithfulness in everything. No matter what they had done, He was still there, still waiting, still loving. Praise God for his “daily-ness”
God is now working a verse in my life, and I honestly try to make excuses not to heed it. The verse is (Matthew 6:33)”But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you…..” I tend to do some unnecessary things when I wake up in the morning, when all the time he’s asking me to put Him “First” and come and fellowship with Him. (When I listen and do it, my day goes a lot better!)
#1….In response to my obeying, He makes Himself Known to me without me knowing that He is doing it.
#2….I don’t even have to “try” to Trust Him..It’s coming more and more daily as I read His word.
1. Everyone was in a funk, then GOD
2. Now with peace, love, joy, happiness, contentment
1. In almost every situation God has allowed us each to experience trial on some level to reveal Himself.
2. He is who He says He is….That when you choose to believe He is real, He IS a Rewarder of those who seek Him.
Observations:
1. Each woman, no matter the road, no matter the journey – had to choose. She/we each of have to choose to believe that He is who He says He is.
2. God was always there!! He didn’t go anywhere – He didn’t leave – He didn’t abandon – He was always at work, perfecting the things that concern us — every “hind-sight” testimony revealed a Faithful God who was working on their/our behalf.
Observation 1: Everything you could possibly imagine is referenced in these testimonies. Things that you would not wish on anyone. The thing that strikes me the most is that through all this heartache, pain, tribulation and triumph our God remains faithful…even when we are not!
Observation 2: How awesome it is to know that our God can use any situation, any person, and any event to reveal Himself to us in ways that we could never imagine.
1) More often than not, it’s in our afflictions/crises that we cry out to God and He becomes more “real” to us.
2) We can see from the sharing & caring exemplified on this blog the importance Jesus placed on the “assemblying of ourselves together”. We have such commonalities and we encourage one another in our faith!!
1. That I want an even CLOSER relationship with God – as I feel I know Him, but some of the observations made me almost “jealous” for that kind of relationship. (you said to be honest! 🙂
2. That God is definitely “in the details” of our lives – as some of the observations were what I would consider just “sweet”, rather than big WOW things – which is GREAT! (hope that made sense!)
Two things that I noticed when reading the comments were:
1. Many of the situations that caused women to seek after God would be considered tragedies or extreme hardships by the unsaved world. God uses these tough situations to bring glory to Himself and to draw us into a close relationsip with Him.
2. Many people grew up “in the church” but were not taught truth that caused them to desire and pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus. I think this is tragic. People need a relatinship, not a religion.
Did I pass the quiz?
1. What reasurance I felt when as I was reading through the entries, that I realized several of my fellow siestas had faced exactly what I have lived through the last 3 months – and they all emerged from dark, dark days with such renewed strength & peace that can only come from a true, real, living God.
2.Survival brings Revival!!
1. Even when we can’t see or believe…God IS!!
2. God does so much more than all we can ask or even imagine!!
Two Observations:
1. Not only does God “show-up” BIG when we need him most, He beats us to our crisis moments, waiting with open arms to comfort and guide us through. HE IS, WAS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE.
2. God is very patient with us while He’s waiting for us to really get to know Him.
In His Great Love,
Donna B.
Personal experience showing:
1) Difficult, often times impossible, situations.
2) God is right there to bring them through it…one way or another. He is so faithful!
Observation No. 1: God is alive and working in the woman of this community. Not because we are part of this community but I think it is because the woman of this community are all drawn together because of our believe in God and His power.
Observation No. 2: God is who He says He is. God can do what He says can do. We are all who God says we are. Through Jesus Christ we can (and will always) be able do all things. GOD IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE IN THIS GROUP!!!
Thanks Beth!!!
These 2 things seem clear to me:
1) No two people come to know God in the same way.
2) God chooses to make Himself known in different ways to different people at different times, and for different reasons (reasons only He knows).
Observation #1 – God loves us so much!
Observation #2 – God is always there when call out to Him!