By Debbie Christopher ~~Don’t you just love it when you see yourself making progress in a particular area of your life?
In the Fall of 2021, our daughter, Sharon (site co-blogger), had her first book published (see link below). Of course, as momma, I was beyond proud—-but even more than that, I was convicted, yet blessed—-especially by Chapter 6! Oh my!
Yep, Chapter 6 smacked me like the lasagna noodle in the antacid commercial a few years ago, and I’ve never been able to let it go. The title of Chapter 6 is “‘Whoa, God’ VS Okay, God’”. As I read through that chapter—-even prior to publication, I knew that too often I was a ‘Whoa’ girl.
Even though my heart was convicted at these early readings, a few months later my husband and I faced our second ‘whoa’ moment in three years. Sure enough, I quickly formed the ‘w’ sound with my rounded lips and almost said THAT exact word—-‘WHOA’. Then I caught myself. I recalled that precious chapter, took a deep breath, and said, instead…’Okay, God’…
In this chapter, Sharon discussed and shared responses from Job, Naomi, Paul, and even Jesus as they humbly took a deep breath and expressed an ‘Okay God’ attitude from their heart during a stressful—*bumpy*—situation. Recently I’ve come across a couple of additional passages in Scripture that allows me to add David and Noah to that list.
In Psalm 112, David refers to the traits of a righteous person…one who walks uprightly before God. Notice verse 7.
“He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the Lord.” Psalms 112:7 HCSB. It basically says, Not whoa God, but confidently trusting God—-Okay, God.
Or, how about the following thought from Noah after the flood…
But first, I need you to imagine stepping out from the ark…take a moment to consider pictures of Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene or the flooding in Valencia, Spain soon afterwards. Remember what it all looked like? Think about your initial thoughts as the pictures flashed across your screen…”Whoa”, right?
Don’t you imagine that Noah was thinking the same thing as he and his family disembarked from the ark in Genesis 8:15-19?
But notice verse 20…
‘then Noah built an altar and worshipped God.’
Noah’s actions basically said, ‘Okay, God…’
Fast forward
Well, this had been sitting on the back burner in my draft box for several months just waiting for the perfect timing for posting…when sure enough, another ‘moment’ popped up…and, I was so shocked—and ‘proud’ of my response. This time I didn’t even form the ‘w’ sound with my lips!
Here’s a brief review of a recent flying alone 3 1/2 hour flight when the pilot made this announcement: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. Due to severe storms in Dallas, ground traffic is halted at DFW. We will fly around until gas gets low, and if conditions haven’t improved, we will need to divert somewhere else to refuel and wait for further instructions. I’m not sure when we will arrive in DFW, but more than likely, after midnight…
As I stopped working on my word puzzle to listen, I actually said under my breath…”Okay, Lord, I guess we’re going to have an adventure!” Then I returned to my puzzle.
It may have taken me 67 years…and, many ‘Whoa, God” statements…but progress is always exciting and comforting.
Hang in there, friend…you may need to form some ‘w’ shaped lips, but stop yourself, take a deep breath, whisper ‘Okay, God, help me through this’ …and continue to progress!
BTW: Sure enough, that day/night was an adventure. We were diverted to Tulsa (fueling dock-not at a gate) and our plane waited in line with 22 other flights. My flight was 7 hours late to DFW, and after standing in line for almost an hour to reschedule and update my Boarding Pass (yes, everyone, even if website had already done that) for the next morning, I had the ‘pleasure’ of spending the rest of the night in a chair at Gate C 21! My attitude and God’s grace made all the difference. Plus, unbeknownst to me at the time, there were several additional details that my Heavenly Father took charge of before even beginning the original flight. Sharing those precious details would have made this three minute read much longer, but trust me, I learned a lot about ‘okay, God’!
I encourage you to consider your ‘Whoa’ moments as a special adventure with your loving Heavenly Father and sit back and finish your word puzzle.
Okay, God-let’s have an adventure!
~Debbie
Adventure awaits! =]