THE LORD BLESSES THEN HE IMPRESSES

“Father, God, I don’t know where we are going to get those extra dollars.” Many of us have prayed my prayer of last week. Times are tighter than they had been. I had also added an addendum to my prayer: “Lord, it will have to come totally from you because I have no clue what to do.” I opened the door, and like the loving Lord God that he is, he stepped through. As if taking me at my word, he impressed me into his service. Less than a week later I got a phone call for an agency I had never heard about with an offer that had never entered my mind.

“Dr. Rapp, would you consider an interim placement, for the month of April, at a men’s prison there in Indiana?”

When the Lord blesses, he may then impress us into his service. Is the answer, “Yes Lord I asked for an opportunity, but you must have made a mistake on this one or you didn’t hear me clearly.” He has blessed and he has impressed and I leave tomorrow for my placement. I will stay the week in a hotel, arranged by the placement people, then home on weekends. Doesn’t God just blow your mind sometimes?! The really wonderful thing is, he calls us into his service all of the time, but we often believe that we must have misunderstood. Surly he didn’t say to go there, or speak here, or touch a life in a place as foreign to our own way of life as possible. The walk with the Lord takes many turns. What an adventure! Let us pray:

“Father God, you meet our needs for daily bread each time we call upon your name. Forgive us when we expect cake instead. When you call us out of the world, we are your servants, you are not ours. We ask that you will give us courage to take up the tasks you give us, that you will give us strength for the job, and safety for your mission. Holy is your name and we wrap our entire body in your love like a large tunic or precious swaddling clothes. There are so many who call out for your help, may they hear your answer and follow your calling. The path is long but the journey is magnificent. In the name of Jesus, the Christ, your son and our savior I pray. Amen”
Doris
Copyright 2010 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D.
“God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”