following the LEADER

Recently, I was reading in the book of Exodus about the life of Moses.  We all know how his story began.  He was the baby in the basket.  His mother, a captive in Egypt, put her Hebrew baby in a basket in the Nile River so that he would not be killed by Pharoh, the evil king.  God saved his little life and uniquely positioned him to set a nation free when Pharoh’s daughter found him in the river and decided to adopt him.

Skip forward to Moses’s calling.  He is walking in the wilderness and comes upon a bush that is on fire, but not consumed by the flames.  God speaks to Moses and tells him about the plans that He has for him.  Then Moses argues with God, giving God all the reasons why he is not up to the task.  As a result God gives Aaron to Moses to help him.

So we arrive at Exodus chapter 5.  Nothing seems to be going right for Moses, or God for that matter.  Moses isn’t thrilled about the job God has given him.  And mean old Pharoh is just getting more evil by the day.  He issues a proclamation that the Hebrew slaves are to continue making bricks, the job they have been doing for years, but now no one is to give them the straw that they have been using.  They are to gather their own straw, and they are imposed the same daily quota of bricks that they had before.  In other words, work harder, longer hours.  Oh yea, and you don’t get paid.

In Exodus 5:22 Moses goes back to God and questions him, “Why have you brought trouble on this people?  Is this why you sent me?  Ever since I went to Pharoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all!”

Wow.  Nice attitude Moses.

It’s easy to say that, but how many times have I come to God with a similar complaint.  Nothing is going the way I think it should go.  This stinks.

If you were raised in Sunday School, you know the end to Moses’s story.  God does rescue the Isrealites.  He even uses Moses to lead them out of Egypt.  But they don’t enter the promise land until they wander in the desert for generations.  All because they disobey God.

God has a plan that we can’t see.  Will we trust him?

On this day of Moses’s life he could not see the end.  He saw his people who were suffering.  He felt he was obedient to God.  And he wanted God’s solution for the Isrealites to be immediate.

And what if he could have seen all that would happen to his people?  What if he could see the work it would take to be set free?  The plagues.  The days of trusting God to provide a miracle in front of a wicked and proud ruler who could kill them all.

Even when they get to the desert, they have no food and the Israelites tell Moses they would rather be slaves in Egypt than stuck in the desert.  Would Moses have even wanted to free his people if he saw what their hearts would look like when they got to the desert?  Sometimes it’s good that we can’t see what’s in front of us.  We would be too overwhelmed.  The Lord promises to give us the strength that we need day by day.

Moses can’t see any of that.  He sees today.  They are making bricks.  They have no straw, and they need God to provide a miracle.

But he doesn’t.

God never gives them the straw.  The Bible tells us the story of their need for straw, but never tells us the story of God providing the Israelites with what they think they need.

Instead God changes the work of the Israelites from making bricks to camping in the desert.

But what if you’re a brick maker?  You’re good at making bricks.  You take pride in your work.  You’ve never gone camping in the desert.  You don’t even know if you like camping.

Some of us are in those days right now.  Making bricks.  Trying to finish well at a work we feel is just about worthless to us.  Or even to God.

Sometimes we can’t see God’s big plan.  But even when we don’t believe or understand God’s plan, HE IS FAITHFUL TO US.  His plans are to prosper us.

I hope this encourages you today.  It is what is keeping me under His wing.  Things are changing in my world and I am trying to trust him day by day.  And that’s a good place to be.

I love being able to post about crafty Mama projects.  What this really means is that things are all right in my world.  The stress level is low enough that I can put my boys in bed, ignore the mountains of dishes in the kitchen, and do something that relaxes me and fills my heart with joy.

When Nathaniel was a nursing babe, our dog Mulligan got a hold of the Boppy and ripped it to shreds.  Upon our arrival, here in Niger, I sewed up the holes in the pillow itself so that the batting didn’t leave a trail across the house.  But the cover has been in a sad state for quite a while now.  You have to understand that this is a pillow that we use several times a day.  It travels around the house and is loved on by everyone.  Even Dave and Danika like to rest their head on it while in front of the TV.

So, last night I decided that it was time.  I couldn’t just run to Target and buy a new one.  So, after much deliberation, I decided on what fabric would work best for us.  I had cut the pieces for the cover last weekend out of our old 400 thread count sheets that are soft in that cozy way that old- high quality- sheets are.

With some Nora Jones for inspiration, I was happy to be able to finish this project in one sitting.  The majority of the time was actually spent getting the ribbon ties just right.  But it was worth the time.  Boppy never made a cover that was so cute and so Mama-inspired.  I love the way it turned out, and so does my sweet baby boy.