Gideon's Growth, God's Attentiveness

I was talking to Kylee, a friend from NMSI and she told me that her pastor had preached on Gideon last Sunday. I always thought that story was about how much Gideon doubted God and didn't have a lot of faith, but Kylee (who is one of my favorite things about Florida) said that it's about Gideon being afraid, but still stepping out in faith. Moreover, it's about God's character and how He is so patient and continues to reassure us.

Kylee challenged me to read the story for myself. And guess what!?!?!? I found FIFTEEN ways that God encouraged and reassured Gideon! How encouraging is THAT!?!??!

1. Gideon is hiding and God calls him a mighty warrior (God is empowering/encouraging)

2. God says, "Go in the strength you have...Am I not sending you?" (Judges 6:14, God is encouraging/confirms Gideon's call)

3. When Gideon is whining about being the weakest member of the weakest clan, God says, "I will be with you" (Judges 6:16, God is assuring, God is constant and will not leave)

4. Gideon asks God not to leave while he goes to get some supplies for an offering and God says, "I will wait until you return" (Judges 6:18, God is patient)

5. An angel appeared to Gideon and made fire flare from a rock where the sacrifice was (Judges 6:22, God showed his power to Gideon)

6. God said, "Peace! Do not be afraid! You are not going to die." (Judges 6:23, God confirmed the value of Gideon's life, God is gentle)

7. Gideon's Dad stuck up for him when the rest of the men in town wanted to kill him (Judges 6:31, God protected Gideon)

8. The Spirit of God came on Gideon (Judges 6:34, God is affirming and empowering)

9. Gideon asks God to put dew only on the fleece and not the ground around it---God does (Judges 6:37, God is faithful and patient)

10. Gideon asks God to put dew on the ground and not on the fleece---God does (Judges 6:40, God is faithful and patient)

11. God says Gideon has too many warriors and needs to get rid of some of them so it's obvious it's God's power at work and not the army size/strength (Judges 7:2, God protects Gideon and the army from pride, God provides for Gideon, God asks Gideon to take steps based upon Gods trustworthiness)

12. God tells Gideon to let the men in the army who are afraid go home (Judges 7:3, God guides Gideon on how to whittle down the army)

13. God tells Gideon to separate the men by how they drink water at the stream (Judges 7:5, God guides Gideon as he seeks to obey Him)

14. God knew Gideon was still afraid and told him to go down to the enemy's camp (Judges 7:10, God recognizes Gideon's fear and doesn't condemn him for it, God is patient, good, reassuring and still requires Gideon to "get the job done")

15. God gave an enemy soldier a dream about Gideon's army defeating the enemies and let Gideon overhear this enemy soldier retelling his dream (Judges 7:13, God's timing is perfect, He provides, He is good, He is STILL reassuring Gideon, even after He already has done so FOURTEEN other times!!!!)

THEN Gideon worshipped God (Judges 7:15). God showed up FIFTEEN times before Gideon worshiped Him! That makes me wonder how many incredible things God is doing before I take the time to worship and praise Him for His patience, timing, reassurance, control, goodness, love, etc.

Not only that, the Bible does not say that God spoke directly to Gideon during the upcoming battle as enemies fled. God didn't speak while people from other cities condemned and criticized Gideon. God didn't speak while people from other cities doubted why Gideon would continue to chase after two more enemy kings who had escaped and not just "quit while he was ahead." God didn't speak while Gideon's brothers and sons were killed. That whole time Gideon had to rely on the confidence he had in God and his mission based upon Gideon's past experiences with God and the ways God had met him and reassured him before the great battle. God took such care and went to such great lengths to prepare Gideon for victory and success!

Furthermore, God showed up FIFTEEN times just to bolster the faith of one man to do one job. That's a pretty personal God! That's a lot of effort! That's an incredible amount of patience on God's part in our growth process! WOW!

I Have Arrived!

I've safely arrived in Florida and am sharing a room with a girl named Melissa, who is hoping to move to Rwanda this October to do a variety of things, one of which includes humanitarian relief. There are also three other girls living in our house who work at the Center for Global Outreach (CGO) a.k.a. the New Mission Systems Office here in Fort Myers and another girl in COAT that plans to go to Thailand.

It has been kind of hard to connect with people since most of the others have been here almost two weeks already, but I have to keep reminding myself that I've only actually been here for a day and half! There are about 20 other people going through COAT training right now and I have almost learned all of thier names... There was one familair face, however, who is also going through COAT right now... Helen from Kenya/NMSI Training in January. She has such a sweet spirit! I arrived to find a card waiting on my bed that she'd had everyone sign. Her message read, "I'm so insanely glad you're here and I'm here and we're here at COAT together! Love and so many hugs, Helen." That really encouraged me! I think I've probably read it over seven or eight times in the last day and a half and each time it makes me smile! Pray that God would deepen our friendship and us to encourage and restore one another! Pray that He would show me which friendships to pursue and give me courage to initiate "hanging out" times with others.

One of the times that I think has the potential to be the most deep and vulnerable while I'm hereat COAT is a three hour small group called TrueFaced on Friday mornings. The whole title of the book we're studying is TrueFaced: trust God and others with who you really are. It's all about taking off various masks you wear and letting people see the real you, which usually results in a lot of teary, deep discussions and confessions that are recieved with love and prayed for. We got off to a great start, with everyone crying and being real in the first session.

There are nine of us in that group and it's led by a girl named Kylee, who I'm sure I'll tell you more about another time because she's awesome! Very full of grace and peace and wisdom....very good at listening, knowing when and which questions to ask, and mourning alongside of others. When I told Joe Belzer (Campus Minister with CCF in college) I was going to affiliate with NMSI, he said there's a lot of great people down there (which is true) and specfically listed Kylee and her husband Matt on the list of awesome individuals that I should get to know. Being awesome himself, Joe has a pretty good ability at pointing out awesomeness in others and was right on with both Kylee and Matt. Thanks for the recommendation, Joe!