Oh Mama Mary!

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’
‘Woman, why do you involve me?‘ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.‘
His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.'”
John 2:1-5

So for the past week or so I’ve been going through the gospel of John for my personal study time. Today I really want to share with you what really jumped out at me.

Back in February, I went to witness two of my friends be married. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. The majority of the people at the wedding were either under 21 (like myself) or didn’t care for liquor, so they served apple cider rather than champagne. I went nuts over the apple cider. My whole table did. We went through two bottles of it. If we could have, we probably would have had 10 bottles of it. They had to limit us though, because there wouldn’t be enough to last the rest of the reception. Imagine if they didn’t limit us or anyone at the wedding. Eventually they’d run out. What impression would we have of the bride and groom? Probably not a positive one. Jewish weddings were similar, but instead of apple cider, it was wine of course. At the wedding that Jesus & co. were attending, the wine was gone.

Mary comes to Jesus and boldly says, “Hey, they ran out of wine.”

Great Expectations

“Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

It’s time for me to be honest. The past couple of posts were difficult for me to write. Almost all of the sentences were squeezed out from what had happened over the past few weeks with little inspiration. For the past few months I’ve been in a spiritual desert.

I earnestly (sometimes desperately) seek to find God in everything around me. Most of the time I don’t see Him. It makes me think of myself as a toddler who still hasn’t figured out peek-a-boo.

The Carrot and the Carrot-giver

Love must be sincere.
Romans 12:9

I’ve been having to trust God for a number of things lately. Trusting him to provide for a missions trip to New Jersey, my grades in college, and my friendships. The Lord knows my desires. In fact, I have been telling him more and more about my desires more than ever lately.

My most recent prayer request is that the Lord would change my heart towards his plans. During my personal time with God, in reading his Word and two devotional books, My Utmost for His Highest and Streams in the Desert, for almost two days straight, the message I heard from God was that if I trust him, that if I be patient in Him, that he will grant me the desires of my heart. Even a sermon that I heard from Levi Lukso was saying that “God’s no’s aren’t always no’s but are later’s.” And within those few days, it seemed as if God was showing me that what I thought was a “no” would become a “later.” I was on top of the world or at least it felt that way.

Within a few days after hearing that, I felt like the “later” had shattered. I began crying out to God, upset and distressed. I found myself asking God, “Why would you lead me on like that?” The whole thing tripped me up.