Dear Church Family,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to those of you that I have not
yet met, and to thank everyone that I have met at Fells for the amazingly warm welcome that my family has received. We have had a wonderful first couple of months getting to know this congregation and are looking forward to serving God and serving God’s people.
We have been working our way through the book of James this fall, enjoying the lessons
that James has to impart upon us. Each week, we have had a “pocket verse” to take home with us. James offers us these invaluable words of wisdom, and each section of text gives us a special verse that we can keep in our pockets all week, ready for use when we need it. Last week’s verse was, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
That is not always the easiest advice to follow. As the mother of a pair of teenagers, I
find myself constantly struggling to keep up with all of our schedules. My husband finally tired of never knowing what we were doing, so he set up a shared family calendar, so that we could all view each other’s schedules. I thought it was a great idea. That way, my kids can be aware of when I have evening meetings, when dad works late, when someone might need to pick up the slack and fold their own laundry. What I discovered instead was that suddenly random events popped up on my calendar. For instance, Tuesday at 10am, Bible study at Fells, 1pm Bible study at Barren Run, 3pm take Abby to the orthodontist, 5:30pm pick the boys up from football practice, 6pm take Alex to Dicks for new shoes. Wait a minute? I did not authorize a trip to Dicks, and I definitely did not authorize new shoes. How did that happen? To which my brilliant 15 year old responded, if it is on the calendar, then it must be something that you need to do mom. And so we discovered the pitfalls of the shared calendar. Allowing kids access meant giving up complete control over the schedule. Here’s the thing. I never had complete
control from the start. The only one who had complete control ever is God. We do not get to be in charge. God is in charge.
When I am feeling like I cannot quite juggle everything in my life, then it is time to take
some of those burdens off of my shoulders and give them God. When life overwhelms us, remember that we are not ever left on our own to handle it all. God is in charge, and when you feel like you cannot take another step, God will carry you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
We are so blessed. We have a God who loves us. We have a God who loves us enough
to take on the mantle of humanity and feel the pain that we feel. Jesus lived and died and rose again to take our sins away, to create a pathway toward salvation because that is how much our God loves us. We are never alone in our struggles. Christ struggled and suffered for us.
Next time you are feeling like you are losing control, let go. Humble yourselves before
the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Blessings,
Pastor Kim