Isaiah 7:14 “All right then, the Lord himself will give you
the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son
and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
What does “God with us” mean for us today?
Last December I wrote a study entitled
Immanuel. This year I want to revisit
the topic of Immanuel from a more personal perspective. I pray this blesses you as you think about “God
with you” today.
As I was praying this morning I began to reflect on
Immanuel with me. I want to share some
of those reflections with you.
A. Immanuel keeps His promises
To begin I want to share an Immanuel moment from
Scott’s life. 4 years ago while Scott
was in his prayer time he heard the voice of God telling him that “next year”
he would have a son. Scott hid this Word
in his heart and waited. A year later I
became pregnant. Scott boldly announced
that we would have a son. Upon further inquiry he told me that God had told him
about our son the year before.
When I went to my first prenatal appointment we were
blessed to have a Christian doctor. We
told her our story and she began to get excited with us. I was 44 at the time and that alone was a
risk factor for many potential issues.
During her exam she discovered a huge blood clot in my cervix. This ruptured causing a huge amount of bloody
mess. She was a resident and needed to
go confer with her supervisor. After the
door closed we heard her crying in the hallway.
She had been so excited with us only seconds earlier, now she was
certain I was miscarrying.
After conferring with her supervisor we were rushed
to the hospital for an ultrasound. As we
sat in the waiting area, I held Emma’s hand (she was 13 at the time) and
reassured her that everything was ok, while inside I was crying out to
Immanuel, reminding Him of His promise to Scott.
The ultrasound revealed a strong heart beat and
everything looked normal. With much
relief we went home rejoicing! Over the
next few weeks we had a few more scares with unexplainable bleeding; however,
as you know Samuel was born on December 4, 2012. His birth was not without its own share of
complications, resulting in an emergency C-section; however, Immanuel had kept
His promise!!
Deuteronomy 7:9 (NLT) Understand, therefore, that
the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant
for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love
him and obey his commands.
B. Immanuel provides
I had a high risk pregnancy with Samuel. I had advanced maternal age, gestational
diabetes, and high blood pressure. These
factors coupled with increasing pain caused me to really begin praying for
release from God’s call to our teaching jobs at Mesilla Valley Christian
Schools.
To back up a bit, for about three years both Scott
and I had felt a tug on our hearts to be in full time church ministry. We had been working with the youth at our
church and I had been ministering to women.
We had prayed over that time but hadn’t felt released from MVCS. So when I got pregnant this seemed like a
perfect time to change careers. An
additional confirmation that this was the time for a change came when the
school told Scott that due to budget constrains his hours were being cut back
to 6 hours per week in the fall. After
much prayer we felt God releasing us and telling us to begin seeking Him about
our future ministry in earnest.
Scott has two Master’s degrees and we assumed that
it would be easy for him to find a job in one of those fields. Sitting here today after 3 ½ years I can tell
you that obviously God had other plans.
Scott has applied for 1000+ jobs.
God hasn’t opened the door for any of them.
God has provided Scott with two part time jobs and our
family with a part time job to help pay our bills. We have never gone without food, clothing,
utilities, phone, etc. Every month God
miraculously meets our needs and even our wants sometimes. My kids are not lacking anything they
need. Our life style is not the same as
it used to be, however, we are closer as a couple and a family then we were
before. We have learned that “things”
are not really important and are enjoying DIY a lot.
I won’t act like I have never worried about our
needs being met, however, after 3 ½ years I can honestly say those times are
few and far between. And when they do
come it is not because God has not provided or I even think that He won’t
provide, no, they come when I try to figure it out on my own. When I try to “help” God figure things out I
begin to worry and if this goes unchecked it ultimately leads to fear.
The Scripture tells us: And this same God who takes care of me will
supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in
Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 (NLT))
It also says: Do not be anxious about anything, but
in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV))
Over these past few years Immanuel has consistently
provided for all of our needs and when I take my cares to Him in prayer and
allow Him for figure it out I have peace that no one, the devil included, can
take away. Immanuel always provides!
C. Immanuel opens doors
As I have already said, Scott and I felt called to
full time church ministry. We love
working with youth and I feel called to minister to women. Over the years we have ministered in these
areas in our local church. When we left
MVCS we were looking to move away from New Mexico. We assumed that we would find a position as
senior pastors or youth pastors and I would work in the women’s ministry
department (positions that were already established).
In October 2014 Scott was hired by a contracting
company to be a lay chaplain at Yakima Training Center in Yakima, WA. Because we thought we were moving we began
attending a church pastored by our adopted parents/mentors so our children (and
usJ) could spend as much
time with their Pop and Geema as possible before we left New Mexico. However, due to the government shut down, the
contract fell through and we were left with a house full of boxes and no
job. That door was definitely closed.
God had a plan.
In January of this year our pastor returned home from his Christmas trip
to Alaska. He told us that He felt God
was telling us to seek Him for what to do now.
We had been waiting on the Lord, per His instructions at the beginning
of our journey (leaving MVCS). Now we
were instructed to seek for what to do “now”.
We both began to pray and God told me to begin
Eleutheria Ladies Fellowship. I was
hesitant to begin because I still thought we were moving away from Las
Cruces. I hated to begin something then
have to drop the ball, so to speak, by leaving.
However, after putting it off for two weeks I really felt God telling me
to get moving. I knew that if He opened
the door He knew what He was doing. I met
with our pastor and he was both supportive and enthusiastic about this
ministry. He told me the church was
behind me as would support me in any way necessary, but that I was to follow
God’s lead and that the church would not dictate how the ministry was to be
run. This was liberating for me, as I
had never ministered in a position where I could “be me”. I have always ministered in positions where I
had to “fit” in the mold already set by someone else.
So in February ELF was established. It has been
exciting to see ladies come together and let their guards down; to be
vulnerable before each other and God. We
have seen God perform miracles when we prayed, we have grown together as a
group and I have watched individual ladies (myself included) change, becoming
more like Christ.
While I was breaking ground in women’s ministry with
ELF, God was speaking to Scott about establishing a youth ministry at our
church. He wrote up a job application
and submitted it along with his resume to our pastor. After much discussion he was brought on the
church staff as Youth Pastor. This
ministry too is grass roots. Our
beautiful pastor’s wife has been heading up the youth of our church for a
number of years and doing a wonderful job! However, it has recently been a
Sunday morning class with no additional meeting time. Add to that, she also teaches the younger
children on Sunday mornings as well so her time is divided.
Scott has established a Sunday night youth service
in which we dig deep into the Word and work on discipleship with our young
people. We are seeing lives changed and
our young people learning what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NASB) Faithful is He who calls
you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Immanuel opens doors where He leads. He who calls us is faithful!!
These reflections are only the tip of the iceberg of
all the things God has done in our lives over these past few years, however,
they give a bit of insight into who Immanuel is in our lives. I want to challenge you today to reflect on
who Immanuel is/has been in your life in 2015.
Maybe you can make a list of all the ways He has been “God with you” and
then take a few minutes to thank Him for His faithfulness. If we are honest with ourselves He has always
been there and come through for us. It
may not have been when or how we thought it should have been but Immanuel has
never failed us once!!! Isaiah 9:6 “For
a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his
shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.” Immanuel, God
with us!!!!
