In recent
weeks, God has gotten my attention through reading.
First was
discovering Christian author James L. Rubart.
After finishing his novel, The
Five Times I Met Myself, I knew I wanted to read more. The other book of his on the new fiction shelves
at Bartlesville Public Library was The
Long Journey to Jake Palmer. I
finished it the day before its March 5 due date. Absorbing storyline and profound truth packed
into 374 pages, the book tells the story of the protagonist’s difficult path to
healing of old emotional pain and, finally, the freedom in living into his God-given
destiny.
A few hours
later that same Sunday evening, I decided to finish reading a brief Parker J.
Palmer book, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, which
had showed up at the top of the library’s e-book home page. I’ve read at least one other book by Parker
Palmer before and loved his perspective and his way with words, so I
immediately checked it out. I’ve been reading
this book in short spurts. To my
amazement, his last chapter’s discussion of leadership dovetailed perfectly with
the ending of Rubart’s novel.
Both books speak
of the power of transformation. It’s
interesting that our Bible Study Fellowship lesson from February 27 covered
Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of
God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not
conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)
Those two verses seemed to sum up the
truth God was emphasizing to me. Then,
the March 7 lesson on Romans 12:3-8 spoke more specifically into my life. Along with the 40 Days of Prayer series we are doing here at Good Shepherd, I’m
receiving the encouragement God seems determined to give me. Incidentally, one of the recent readings was
Romans 12:1 from The Message: So here’s what I
want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before
God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can
do for him.
Let me
backtrack a bit. It’s been a year since
I finished cancer treatment, and I have not jumped back into life as I thought
I would.* Energy and motivation levels
run low at best. I am wary of making
commitments I cannot keep. My daily life
plods along at a snail’s pace. Bothersome physical ailments weigh me down. I guess I thought that once the cancer
treatments were done, the fibromyalgia would disappear, too.
The book about
Jake Palmer, the book by Parker Palmer, and the Romans verses I’ve read over
the past few weeks remind me that my identity is in Christ, not in what or how
much I can accomplish each day. My part
is to offer all that I am to my Savior and stay “tuned in” to his purposes,
which are spelled out in Scripture.
Pray, read my Bible, love the people in my life, keep trusting God, and
learn to trust him more. Take care of my
body. Do what I can and rest when I need
to. Ask God to direct my days. Use the gifts he’s given me to bring him
glory. And thank him for everything
along the way.
*Except, of course, helping out with my darling grandchildren!
