Think God's Thoughts

Phil 4:8--Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.
Phil 4:9--Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you

Jer 29:11--For I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

By the end of today's blog, it could be said that I am writing this one for my own self.  You see, two days ago, on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2011, a 2:00p.m., I walked my 28 year-old daughter, Faith down the aisle of Islands Community Church here in Savannah, Georgia.  There, Pastor Doug Patterson joined her and Sonny Sing in Holy Matrimony.
I didn't fall to pieces like I thought I would, although I really wanted to.  My brain was running on overload but my spirit was walking beside the still water of the Holy Spirit.

Not that I didn't have times of ungodly panic.  It was just shortly before Christmas that they came into the house and Faith announced, "During lunch, today, Sonny asked me to marry him and I said 'Yes'."  After a stunned hug and a not-so-hardy congratulation from me, Sonny rushed out the door.  Well, after all, he did have to be at work in an hour and it took an hour to drive to his business in Glennville.  But, when you are in a stunned panic, you don't generally think about these things.

Oh, did I tell you?  Sonny is a citizen of India and had only been seeing Faith for four weeks.  All of my thoughts for years had been for some American-born, raised in the South, and called into the ministry young man would marry my daughter.  I have been in the ministry for humpteen dozen years and just knew that God was going to pick out someone that I could minister with.  That's not all of what the panic was about.

For the past five years, Faith has been recovering from epilepsy.  I say 'recovering' because I believe in divine healing.  Not this "Well, it might be the will of God" woosey stuff.  I believe that by His stripes she is healed.  If God didn't mean it then He would have put a cartoon on that page but He didn't.  Anyway, every evening and every weekend for the past five years, she and I have been almost inseparable.  I made sure that I was where she was so I could be with her in case something happened.  Most of her seizures have been small "sensory seizures" which only involve her becoming somewhat motionless for a few moments.  However, there have been times when she had gone into the "grand mals."  You talk about taking the starch out of your shirt.  Just pray that you never, ever, ever, ever see one of those.  Much less hear someone hit the floor of a locked bathroom and start going into one.  For five years my life has been spent in going through life but listening and watching over my baby girl.  She has been to several doctors and is faithfully taking her prescription and following their orders.  Of course, we searched until we found doctors who looked at treating the cause and not just the symptoms.  She has made some amazing progress but still has some 'episodes'.  It had been my desire to see her through until she was completely healed.  However, God challenged me to give her in marriage. 

You can only imagine my thought patterns for the last two months.  Sometimes they have been borderline "horrific."  I would get into this panic mode and go to God and pray, "God if it's your will for them to be married, bring them closer together and give them a stronger desire for each other.  BUT, if its not Your will, then, BREAK THEM UP IMMEDIATELY IF NOT SOONER."  Or, something to that effect.  As I would press in past the panic mode and into His presence, His peace would press into my spirit.  I had to brush past my own thoughts of the kind of guy that I had thought for so long would ultimately marry my daughter.  I also had to brush past the fear of what could happen if she had some bad episodes.  However, I had to come to grips with the idea that God has already worked out ALL of the things that He is bringing into our lives.  God is faithful to His Word and faithful to His covenant believers.  I had to walk in the assurance that He knows what He is doing whether I have a clue or not.  That is what I meditated on.

As Faith and I would sit together at home or be riding in the van somewhere, I, of course, would teach her God's Word as a matter of our conversation.  That has been my practice with all my children whenever the occaision  came.  By no means am I 'preachy.'  It's just normal conversation.  For the past few months, as we would discuss the coming event, these scriptures from Phillipians and Jeremiah would enter the conversation.  That and Romans 8 where Paul said that all things would work together for our good.  I had to change my 'ungodly panic' thoughts into His thoughts.  God has a plan for both of us that He has not made us aware of.  But, if we think back to the heroes of faith as mentioned in Hebrews, there were many, many times that these heroes had no clue to what God had in His mind.  However, they were content to let Him unfold His will in His time.  Their thoughts were on the end result.  Jesus had to go through arrest, torture, ridicule and crucifixion.  But, His mind was on the "joy that was set before Him" mentioned in Heb. 12:2.  It helped Him through the nasty now-nows that He faced while on His journey to the ressurection.  But, as you can agree, you cannot have a ressurection without a death now can you.  There are things that you just have to 'go through.'

Anyway, the wedding was lovely.  Sonny had a few surprises for us.  He had flown his four sisters over from India to be at the wedding.  They came in wearing their traditional clothing and were absolutely beautiful.  Also, Mama Rita, a lady that had taken Sonny under wing and watched over his Christian walk for the past fourteen years had a surprise for us.  She brought her laptop to broadcast the ceremony to India so Sonny's mother and his other relatives could watch it in 'real time.'  She forgot that we did not have internet at the church.  So, she whipped out the old cell phone and broadcast it from her cell phone.  It was super neat and no distraction at all, that Cheryl, another watchful mother hen that had attached herself to Sonny, was walking around the church and holding the cell phone up so that Sonny's mother could see what was going on.  Of course, after the ceremony, we all got to meet his mother and other family members via the cell phone.  It was a great service.  It was not elaborate.  Other than seeing my daughter and the man that God picked for her being joined together in matrimony, it was just awesome the have the opportunity to meet his mother even if it was via a cell phone.  I know that his mother was just as thrilled to see the events of her son's wedding and to actually see her new daughter-in-law.

And the festivities are not over.  Of course, they are going to Orlando, Florida on their honeymoon.  How American is that?  This summer, Sonny and Faith will be flying over to India for a couple of weeks and having ANOTHER wedding over there.  This time Indian style.  Since this one was so hurried and my relatives did not have time to plan on flying in from Oklahoma and New Mexico, they will have a big "wedding reception" type celebration in November.

Life is always full of surprises.  God has a plan for all of us, no matter what we are going through right now.  Our challenge is to always keep that in the forefront of our thoughts.  Jeremiah tells us that God's thoughts for us is to do us good.  Sometimes it is hard for us to see any good that can come out of the situations we face at the moment.  But, God is not worried about what we are going through.  There is nothing that the devil throws at us that can cause Him any concern whatsoever.  God ALWAYS has a plan to thwart the enemies snares.  Then again, when stuff happens, how do we know that God is not busy preparing us for the blessing He has been working on for quite some time.  Back to the blog on John 15.  If we abide in Him, if we daily seek to walk with Him, the God of peace (Phil 4:9) will be with us.  Ask yourself the question.  What is God thinking about me right now?  According the Jer. 29:11, He is thinking "thoughts of peace and not evil."  I might not know EXACTLY what will happen.  But, I CAN know that God is thinking good and peaceful thoughts about all things that concern me.
Pass this one on.  It can help more than just me and you.