God360 Stories
LOST & FOUND
I have just left two completely worthless but highly sentimental keepsakes at the Ian Rennie Hospice charity shop in Tring.
It was sad leaving them in a big pile of bin bags brimming with people's cast-off's and unwanted rubbish: I felt like explaining to the little lady behind the desk that these were better than everyone else's items because I loved them. It was equally sad knowing that they would probably be sold for 50p each. I also panicked a bit on the way home that maybe I wouldn't remember the people associated with the items as much anymore if I didn't have them around.
Having said all of that, I realised that materially, there isn't much in my life that I couldn't give up if I had to or if God asked me to. (My car & my cello would be the toughies!) For this devotion, we're supposed to be considering God "giving us away" for freewill, possibly never to "see us" again, and it got me thinking-
How much harder would this charity shop exercise be if we were being asked to give up someONE precious to us?
[Once, after a relationship had become very disfunctional, I had to do this- I had to offer a relationship with someone I cared about very much up to God and wait and see if He took it away-which I very much expected He might for my own good. He didn't, as it happens. He restored it to a healthy place-like I never thought possible.]
Anyway, if you find the charity shop stuff an easy task- it's maybe worth thinking about how you'd cope if it was a friend or family member, or your home town?
(PS. Going back to the shop on Monday to see if my keepsakes are still there & if they are I will buy them back- maybe God will restore them to me as well!)
reflecting
I was intrigued to see what these devotionals may be about and wondered how they would slot into my existing journey with god. I did not expect to read one that immediately spoke into my life. "Remember, reflect, rejoice" called me to take some time to note down the events of my day and also my thoughts emotions and motivations as the events unfolded.
That very day some unexpected situations presented themselves, so that night I jotted them down in my journal, including my reactions to them. It was while I was writing and thinking that God revealed himself to me - what he would like me to learn from the day and he'd been through with me. If I had not taken the time to remember and reflect, God could not have turned it into a Rejoicing, connecting, awakening moment for Him.
hair!
In the first god360 that i read, it quoted from acts 18:18 - "Paul cut off his hair, because he had made a promise to God"
It overwhelmed me. I knew God was talking to me. Some days later I cut off my hair from shoulder length to a very short crop! I devoted the time it would take to grow back to God. Like a wedding ring, it is a visible reminder of an inward commitment, made in my heart. I did it for God's pleasure and I felt his blessing on my life.
