I loved all of the lights at Christmas! White lights, colored lights, blinking lights, icicle lights, lights on Rudolph’s nose. All of these lights recently reminded me of a few months when I saw that the pedestrian crosswalk signs were not just bright yellow, like they had always been, but were was now fashioned with a yellow flashing light. “Good grief, I thought.” People can’t notice a pedestrian sign, without a flashing light? After I continued to judge for a few minutes about others who couldn’t pay attention to what matters most, I was convicted. I too, have had to stop suddenly because I hadn’t seen the pedestrian sign, or the person who was innocently walking across the street. I am just as guilty. I then realized that this is sometimes how I deal with God. When we made the choice to follow God, we choose to honor and glorify Him in all we do. We have made a choice to give up our own desires and carefully thought through plans to let Him be in control of our lives. We choose to obey Him, and pay attention to where He wants us to go. I can’t tell you how many times I have felt God prod me to tell someone at the checkout that I would pray for them, or just even start a conversation with them. I have told God, “I am in a hurry. Besides, they don’t want to hear me talk. They certainly don’t want me to tell them that I will be praying for them. I have also felt God prod me to stop my crazy, busy, to-do lists in my head (sometimes, but rarely do they get put on paper-because I am too busy to stop to write down my list) to rest in him….reading, some quiet time to sit and pray. “Too much to do…I just can’t stop!” However, I sure don’t have a problem with stopping and watching Netflix while stuffing myself with popcorn, or candy from my Halloween stash- it was 90% off, I had to just STOP and buy that. That sale tag definitely made me stop in my tracks. God has to actually pull out lights to me to get me to stop, just like the pedestrian signs were added with lights. Why am I so selfish? I really love Jesus, I do! He has literally pulled me out of a life of muck and mire and placed me on his full of hope and forgiveness rock of salvation. He has blessed me by answering prayers that I prayed but never actually believed they could be answered. God has chosen to use me in situations that I know I am not fit for….beginning with choosing me as the mother of my three amazing girls. Why do I continue to sin? Why do I continue to do what I want, not what He has asked me to do. Why do I tell Him, “No?” I can’t imagine my life without my Lord, but I still make mistakes, I am not perfect. If I was, I would not need Jesus.

Romans 7:15-20

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do. I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not swell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but is sin living in me that does it.”

Yep! Sin lives in me…sin lives in you. It doesn’t give us a pass to do whatever we want, but it gives us the opportunity to draw closer to him to allow him to become strong when we are weak. By continuing to walk and talk with Him during our days, He shows us which way to turn, and where to stop. At times, we may not be in tune with Him, so He uses whatever it takes to bring us back to Him, even flashing lights. These flashing lights might be a bulging disk on a nerve root- yes, this is a blinking light he has used to rest in Him and slow down; to stop and listen, and enjoy. Maybe you have a difficult situation that you are facing in your life. Maybe you are wondering how you are going to make it through this Christmas season without a loved one. It is hard to understand, but God uses these situations to show us how much He desires to comfort us, and to remind us how much He loves us. He loves us so much that He even will pull out the blinking lights to get your attention. I am thankful that He loves me so much. He loves you that much, too.