Paradise.....A Place, A State of Mind or A Condition of the Heart

Too much time is lost on trivial things like fear, self pity, doubts, guilt, regret, waiting for things to change or until things are perfect.

"Life after work" at the end of 2013 took me on a journey to a place where the awareness of time and how little of it we actually have surrounded me on a daily basis. Living on the "younger" side in a retirement community, watching so many enjoying their golden years and also seeing the other side of aging, has given me a better understanding of what James meant when he said, " How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like a morning fog---it's here a little while and then it's gone". (James 4:14)

At the time of this writing, three beautiful houses sat empty across the street from me, where "the mist of the morning fog" was gone for the sweet seniors who had occupied them just a few months before. In God's plan, every life is long enough and every death is timely. And though, we all might wish for a longer life, God knows better.

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In October 2017, traveling south on I-95 toward Melbourne Florida on a return trip from Tennessee, I watched my car's odometer as it turned 100,000 miles. It was a serene moment as my thoughts raced back to the day, 4 years before when it sat, brand new, in my driveway. This was my reward of 4 decades in the working world. My retirement wheels that would take me into the next season of life.

As the numbers rolled over, my thoughts rolled back over those 4 years to the places I had been, the people those places represented and how different the next season of my life looked from the plans I had made. My dream after retirement was to expand my home-based business, grow an additional income, travel, earn bonuses and deepen my down line. After more than a decade of juggling a side gig of a home based business with a full time 50+ hours a week job and fully believing Jeremiah 29:11, building that side gig after retirement was just the next step toward the "dream." ....but, the thing I didn't know at the time; my plans didn't line up with His plans.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4

It's funny how we think we can plan our future, dream our dreams, take steps to fulfill those plans and dreams, but somewhere along the way God's plan will start to weave itself into our hearts, our soul and our minds, leaving us looking at our lives with entirely different eyes......and sometimes it means taking us on a 3 year sabbatical, 800 miles south to do it.

During the 18 month transition from life on the farm to the flip flop castle, we had begun to feel the Lord's leading in our decisions; doors opening and angels being placed in the doorway, so to speak........... I could fill a book with the divine leading in this journey from His voice saying "restore your soul" to His pressing upon me to "burn the ships".

"He speaks, if any of you wants to be my follower you must set aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it, but if you give up you life for my sake and for the Good News, you will find true life." Mark 8:34-35

Often, we are willing to obey God, but we want to keep our ships (dreams and plans) up and working.....just in case. It is comforting to have a "plan B" waiting when obedience isn't convenient anymore. But, God desires that we "burn our ships", annihilate any other means of departures and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into what He has asked of us. Now, granted, I was not aware of all this at the time, but I could not find peace in my new surroundings until I began to let go of those dreams and plans and even the material things I had taken with me.

We live in a society filled with more distractions that we can possibly count and more obligations than we can possibly meet. Is it any wonder why so much of God's beauty is overlooked? I had lived in that world a few short years before, rushing from day to day, missing so much of the things He had put in my life, so many of the wonders and so much of the joy ........but then He beckoned me to paradise.

"The Heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim His handiwork". Psalm 19:2

"The sunshine spills over the the green carpet of the golf course that stretches out beyond the windows of the sun room, where I sit sipping my morning coffee, allowing it to wash the sleep from my eyes,  letting me focus on the world around me as I read this scripture. In reflecting on these words, I am once again in awe of this scene unfolding before me just as it has done the last 3 years. Each morning, I am given the privilege of witnessing this wonder from my favorite spot, the spot where a metamorphosis has taken place within me." (taken from my journal and morning devotion).

We all have dreams of what our lives will look like; dream jobs, dream families, dream lives.....but the thing about dreams is that we can so identify with them, we lose all true bearings about ourselves.

In a story written by a minister, I read about the dreams we build around our lives being wish-dreams and wish-dreams becoming idols. The story told of a ministry being taken away and later the realization that the ministry had become an idol, a ministry that was more about a man than about the glory of  his God.

My plans, when my new car had only 11 miles on the odometer were wish-dreams. God saw that, saw the road ahead and sat about changing my direction, my desires  and my dreams.


I Am Sent.......An Incubator of Faith
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Our home for 3 years was in Melbourne Florida, in the growing community of "Viera" which ironically means "true faith". After moving into our new home inside the gates of Indian River Colony Club, a military retirement community, we settled in for a couple of months before venturing out to find a place of worship. On November 1, 2015, we visited the nearby Church of Viera where the 1st message I heard was "I am Sent".

Believing that the purpose for being lead to this place was to fulfill my dreams and define my purpose in the work of the Lord, I focused on the "I Am Sent" part.  I tried to absorb this message as "being sent" to accomplish something outside of myself, missing "The Incubator of Faith" as the message God wanted me to hear......It wasn't until 3 years later, and going back to this message many times, that the reality of it was made clear.

"I am sent ....... an incubator of faith" Acts 9:10-19

An "incubator" is an enclosed apparatus providing a controlled environment for the care and protection of the premature or underdeveloped.

A"faith incubator" is a period of time when our underdeveloped faith is matured and our life purpose is clarified.

Just as Ananias had been sent to minister to Paul in his spiritual infancy, I know without a doubt that even though the journey meant a relocation for us, the Ananias'  of ministers that awaited us at FBC Melbourne, were surely a work of His hands. 

      On January 7, 2018, after some prompting and nudging from the Lord and the decision had been made to move back to Tennessee, I commented between Sunday School and Worship Service that we had certainly been "saturated with the word" in the past 2 1/2 years. These words received confirmation the next morning when I opened my devotional book to find these words for Sunday's devotion.......

      "I give you my word to saturate and transform your heart so that it will be unshakable in the midst of uncertainty. Keep yourself under control when everything in life is out of control. Know that everything is in My control and you can trust me.  Life is going to take you many directions, but I'll be there along the way to guide you into My will. It may not be the path you would have chosen, but if I am with you, there is nothing to fear. What you can't do, I can." 

      ...from He Whispers Your Name Devotions January 7 2018

       

      " Don't let your heart be troubled, Trust in God and Trust also in Me" ....John 14:1