Pinball Machines....

Pinball machines... kind of a weird title I know; kind of random. But random seems to be how my thoughts come to me sometimes. Or maybe not so random, because I always feel like God is laying something on my heart when it's time to write.

As I sat watching the Cowboy game today (by the way... Go Cowboys!!), the announcer made the comment on a running play that "Felix Jones bounced around for 10 yards". I randomly thought of a pinball machine when he said that. Again, maybe not so random; because that is truly how life sometimes feels.

Growing up we used to play a lot of pinball. Pinball used to be "the" game. A simple game with levers, small metal balls, flippers and lots of what I call "mushroom things" (I'm sure that's the technical term!) with rubber around them that would cause the ball to bounce all over the place. Sometimes as you pull the lever to release the ball it smoothly flows out of the shoot and begins a rhythm. Other times, it seems to shoot out like a cannon. And then it proceeds to bounce randomly from one side to the next and you never really know where it's headed.

Isn't that how life sometimes is... some days you wake up and seem to flow right into your day; and everything seems to fall into place. Other days you feel like you are shot out into the world through a cannon. Bouncing around from place to place never really knowing where you are going to end up. And like the pinball machine, just when you think things are about to slow down and you are headed to the end, something "flips" you right back out to where you did not really want to be!

I know that sometimes my life feels like that. Like I am bouncing around from place to place, from thing to thing, and from emotion to emotion. And sometimes just when I think I'm on the home stretch, Satan throws something else at me and throws me right back out into the bouncing around of the pinball machine in which I live.

While sometimes it may feel like Satan is winning the game, I have to remember that he is not winning; that he is not in control; that I am not in control; but that God who Is the Almighty God IS in control. I cannot allow things I cannot control to be in charge of me and how I'm going to live my life for God. The world is full of things that are going to bounce me around like a ball in a pinball machine. I could easily give up; but to give up is a choice. Just like to choose to believe in God and to believe that He is in control is a choice. I choose to believe in God; I choose to believe He is in control; and I choose to claim Him when life is bouncing me around. I've seen the end of the story... God wins!!

I ran across a saying this week; it had no name on it so I don't know whom to give credit but it said... Faith is doing the possible and letting God do the impossible! I just love that quote and I'm claiming it for me! No matter where life may bounce me around, I will work on the things that are possible and the impossible things I will leave to God. Because I choose to believe in God and because I choose to believe that God can do the impossible!

But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible".
Matthew 19:26

For nothing will be impossible with God!
Luke 1:37

Blessings!!

Thoughts on Faith...

Faith.... it's one of the things I think comes to my mind the most. Do I have enough? Is it strong enough? Will it get me through when things are tough? I have learned that the answer to all of these questions is yes!! That doesn't mean that I sometimes still don't have doubts, that I sometimes don't still wonder if God is there? But it does mean, that even when I have doubts, I choose to trust in God; I choose to have faith no matter what circumstances might be.

My husband is fond of saying, "What about when there is no plan b? I have to just trust that God is in control." And he's right... Because sometimes, there is no plan b. Sometimes you have to make the choice to trust God. Sometimes you have to trust and have faith that God sees the bigger picture. And sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world to do. But having faith is a choice I choose to make. For me, there is no other choice.

I saw a quote on someone's facebook today and in researching it found it out it that it was a quote by Martin Luther King. "Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the staircase." I LOVE that quote! I can so relate to that quote. There is so much in my life I have no control over. Really I don't have control over anything. No matter how much or how hard I try to control circumstances, it is God who is in control. And because I believe that God is in control, I can take that first step onto the staircase. Even though I can't see the staircase or don't have any idea where the staircase is leading; I trust and have faith that God is there waiting on me. And because of that faith, I have peace that can only come from God; because peace is the presence of God.

I'll leave you with some of my favorite scriptures from Romans which we are studying in our Bible class right now.

The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26b

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31b

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:18

And my favorite... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Blessings to you as you take that first step onto the staircase!!