Between the Lines

I jumped on facebook yesterday morning and saw a status update from one of my many cousins that stated she had blogged and was getting ready to take on the rest of her day. It got me to thinking about how much I've missed blogging. I don't know why it's been so difficult for me to sit down and do so...

I am sitting at my desk at work. Thankful the heat has climbed up to above 70 degrees in my office, listening to the wind and the rain outside the window, with a thermal of hot tea beside me. Wishing we had a fireplace here, I have settled with my Gold Canyon candle as an alternative. :)

It's been a while since I have been hit with a cold, but my body finally caved over the past few days and an unwelcome chest cold has settled. As I was looking for something last night to hold hot tea, my mom reminded me of my thermal mug that was sitting in the cupboard. I purchased it a few years ago and have never used it other than for shelf decor. It's a cute little thing, forest green with the word, "Trust" at the top and Proverbs 3:5-6 underneath the word. One of my favorite pieces of Scripture:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

Several weeks ago, a song came into my mind as I was driving to work. Not just any song...but an OLD song. It was a foggy morning and the song was one recorded by Ricky Van Shelton, called "Keep it Between the Lines."

It's a song that disappeared from my play list a few decades ago, but when it came to mind I could easily recite it, word for word.

"Keep it Between the Lines" and Proverbs 3:5-6 intertwined for me this morning as I battled the wind thrashing against my little Honda Civic. Driving during high winds has a tendency to wear a person out. When I stepped out of my car, I felt as though I had just completed several rounds of a boxing match.

Several hours later, I sit at my desk pondering the message that God is trying to convey to me. It sounds so simple, until the winds blow. Or rain pounds on top of you. Or fog settles in. Or weariness consumes...

OR...we go outside of the lines because something looks more appealing than the road we're on. So we pull off to try and satisfy what we feel may be missing. Something on the shoulder looks more appealing. More enticing. More..."fun." We have desires we feel are unmet. Expectations unfulfilled.

I have learned that it is much more difficult to "Trust" God when you have your own agenda.

My devotional this morning challenged me. It was titled "Redirected" and spoke of the story of Joseph. Here was a boy who stayed between the lines. Was loved by his father yet hated by his brothers. His life was so promising and the Lord was with him. Even when his brothers sold him to slavery, he remained faithful and true to the Lord. He could have taken a detour off the road. If not when he was sold, surely he could have when Portiphar's wife tried to seduce him. Or when she accused him and caused his imprisonment. I highly doubt Joseph expected his life journey to take this direction.

When our dreams are shattered, how do we react? After Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, was sold as a slave by his brothers (Gen. 37:12-36), he could have given in to self-pity and self-indulgence. Instead, Joseph remained true to the Lord. Four times in Genesis 39, we read that "the Lord was with" Joseph (vv.2-3, 21,23), and his actions revealed his own faithfulness to God. By his exemplary life, those he served in Egypt recognized God's presence with him.

Do we love God more than our own dreams? Although Joseph must have grieved the loss of his past and what his life could have been, the Lord led him to a calling he had never imagined. Today, the Lord longs to lead us. Are we willing to be redirected by Him?

-David McCasland (Our Daily Bread)

It's a challenge and a fight to keep it between the lines and trust the will of God when the wind blows. And it's a challenge to stay between them and trust when you long for "more" along the journey. But God blesses the faithful. God honors the persevering. And God strengthens the weak.