From the Plain Vanilla Files: The Bane of Comfortable

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Every once in a while I rather randomly click through to the smattering of writing I did years ago on the topic of a plain vanilla testimony; I've posted bits and pieces of it here from time to time.

Tonight was one of those nights; I stumbled across a passage that once more addressed an issue that I've been mulling over for a while...the necessity to get over 'comfortable':

  ...we tend to grow comfortable in whatever state we are in.  Not ‘content’, as Paul says in Philippians 4:11, ‘comfortable’.  Happy with the Way Things Are and unwilling to do anything that might upset the status quo.  We become afraid of doing anything unusual or unfamiliar.  In short, we fear to undergo a risk for the kingdom.  Now, risk is a somewhat subjective thing; one person would not hesitate to give extra for a particular need, another might quail at extra giving for fear an unforeseen expense could put him in financial difficulties.  One person can stand and speak freely in front of a crowd; another might nearly hyperventilate at the thought of reading a verse aloud in a small group study.  Fear of rejection might keep an individual from speaking his/her convictions in the lunchroom at work; fear of looking foolish might keep someone else from donning goofy clothes to work in children’s church.  There are many things humans fear, but we cannot allow ourselves to give in to fear and believe that a Plain Vanilla Testimony means that we never will have to face a fear and take a risk to follow what God has clearly put in our hearts to do.  Spiritual contentment is a good thing; spiritual comfort is too much of a good thing gone stale and stagnant.  Don’t confuse the two.

Strengthen My Hands and Tune My Ears

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Guess I'm on a Plain Vanilla kick at the moment. Funny how this stuff I wrote years ago is speaking to me now. Here's another excerpt.

Shortly after the birth of my fourth child, I gave up my position of ‘youth leader/teacher/whatever’ at our small church, since I felt the students needed more than I would be physically capable of giving them. I didn’t realize how much of my identity was tied up in my position of “Youth Leader,” or how much spiritual nourishment I was getting just by hauling them to various conferences and activities, or how much I enjoyed the interaction with other youth-ministry people. Suddenly, all of that was history.

I found myself struggling to teach the junior girl’s mission class on Wednesday nights with curriculum that frequently did not arrive (and seemed like just so much busy work when it did). I spent my church services sitting alone with my nursing baby in the nursery, listening to the sermon over the intercom. I literally felt like I had dropped into a spiritual black hole. Add to that the normal chaos of adjusting a house to a new baby – even a fairly contented one – and you can see that I was headed for Whine City. I have multiple journal entries in which I whined to God about my house being a mess; about feeling fat and unattractive; about the pointlessness of the mission class I was teaching; about feeling like I was not giving my husband or my three older kids anything they deserved from a wife and mother. Over and over, I heard myself pray, “God, get me out of this mess!”


The one bright spot was that I was enrolled in Bible Study Fellowship, and I had an hour and forty-five minutes every Tuesday evening in which I could drink in spiritual refreshment. We were studying “Israel and the Minor Prophets,” which required quite a bit of study through the week, and it was the lifeline to which I clung desperately. I will never forget the night my teaching leader discussed Nehemiah...and observed that, despite the difficulties and pressure he faced, Nehemiah never once said, “Lord, get me out of this mess.” Instead, he prayed, “Lord, strengthen my hands.”

Have you ever been smacked right between the eyes with conviction? I was that night! Now, not only did I know that my circumstances were less than ideal, I also recognized that my attitude was in need of some serious adjusting. But, in all honesty, I hadn’t a clue how to go about adjusting it. I was moaning over this to God, and this time I actually felt a response from Him. “You are focusing on yourself and your imperfections,” He told me. “You need to focus on Me and My Perfection.”

I was still pretty disgusted over the whole situation, and I’ll admit I was a little sarcastic when I replied, “That sounds just great, Lord. How do I do that?” I wanted something practical, down-to-earth that I could quantify. I didn’t expect there to be anything other than "Read your Bible and pray," (You know, the standard Sunday School lifestyle answer).

But I received a different answer. “Praise and worship music.”

So, I began to listen to praise and worship music. Not just contemporary Christian music, but music that was expressly used to lift up God’s name and praise Him. I can’t say that I suddenly woke up and found everything changed in a hurry…in fact, a number of my physical circumstances haven’t changed that much. But, God did something with my attitude. My confidence in Him returned, and I found strength to keep going.

The truth is that God speaks to Plain Vanillas, but the speaking often is not dramatic or obviously supernatural. It is God’s Spirit speaking to the inner man, something that could almost be written off as imagination. In fact, it would be surprisingly easy to ignore God’s voice altogether if I was convinced that He wouldn’t talk to me. He gave me a revelation that, while not being something grand or flashy or earth-shaking, still was enough to get me out of my Slough of Despond.

Remember, all you other Plain Vanillas, God speaks to you, and He does wonders for you. You may not be aware of it, but it is happening. Expect it and keep expecting it. Look for it. Sooner or later, you will realize what God is doing.

Plain Vanilla: Small Things

Posted By Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Every once in a while, I get an urge to go post something from the Plain Vanilla File. I don't know why the urge strikes, but it hit tonight and, cruising through the folder, this bit caught my eye.

We don't always recognize God in the small things. But the small things make a huge difference over time... Anyway, here 'tis:

How God Saved My Marriage
(Plain Vanilla Style)
My hubby related this story to me quite a while ago, and I remember that it really surprised me at the time. It was during one of our ‘deep sharing’ times, when we were talking about our marriage.

He made the comment that he recalled a time when we’d been married about five years or so, when he was beginning to feel bored with the whole thing. He said that he began to wonder if “this is all there is” to marriage. Well, according to the world’s pattern, that’s about the time our marriage problems should have really started.

However, for some reason (!) he decided that, if the situation was going to change, he needed to change his attitude. Keep in mind, I was a relatively new mom at that time, so I had my plate full just being mom and I was totally unaware he was thinking through this. Now, years later, I can tell you that that decision made a great difference. He has pursued opportunities to learn about being a good husband and father; he has done things in our home that most men wouldn’t consider doing. I never knew that he decided to take responsibility for keeping our marriage growing and vibrant…I just knew that it was good!

When he told me about his decision, my jaw dropped. I mean, that’s just not the sort of thing a typical modern American male would do! Yet, he did it. To my way of thinking, that was God keeping the sword from passing through the land. Sure, there are marriages in which God does great, spectacular restorations…but He was just as involved in that small, quiet decision, made in private and carried out diligently. God really and truly saved my marriage…but if my sweetie had never told me about his decision, I would never have known.

Plain Vanilla: Patience, Part 3

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Oh, the irony: Yesterday evening, my ISP filter suddenly blocked all of Blogger. I fired off three different 'review this site' requests, fretting that I'd be blocked and not able to post today's final post on *ahem* patience.... Yeah, I'm still learning...!

If you want to catch up, here's Part 1 and Part 2


Finally,the third application of patience is...watch your attitude. Maybe you’re stuck in a situation that you can’t bail out of, even if you wanted to, and there is nothing you can do to bring about God’s deliverance. You, quite simply, are caught in events completely beyond your control.

In a prolonged unchanging and unchangeable trial, the danger is not that you will give up, or mess it up, but that you will develop a bitter attitude and/or a complaining spirit. Hey, this is a bigger deal than we realize, because God will not bless complaining.

This has been a hard lesson for me, personally, because I complain without even realizing it. I’ve still got much growing to do in this area. But the lessons are coming:

A number of years ago, I was in a situation that I considered to be just plain unfair. I had learned enough to know not to gripe about it to anybody else, but it was just really getting to me. Finally, I found myself driving home from the grocery store, completely alone (I had pre-school kids at the time...time alone was rare). Now, I thought, I can at least tell God how unfair this whole situation is! I opened my mouth and began to let God know exactly what I thought about the way I was being treated. I got about to the second sentence when He stopped me cold.

“Do you think I don’t know what’s going on?” I felt Him speak to my spirit.

“Well,” I replied, “I know You know, but I just feel like I need to say it out loud anyway…y’know, Lord, get it off my chest.”

Suddenly, the Holy Spirit showed me that I wasn’t sharing my heart with God – I was justifying my feelings. I saw that I was actually rehearsing my story so I could tell it for maximum effect later on! And, instead of turning the burden over to God, I was just getting myself more upset about the situation. I felt Him very deliberately tell me not to speak out loud what I was feeling. Big ouch!

But, I have to tell you that, something like a year later, I could not remember what it was that had upset me so. I remembered who it involved, but I honestly could not remember the particulars of why I was feeling so ill treated.

Now, if I had lamented to God about it every time it came to mind, it would have been rooted deeper and deeper in my spirit. I would have been able to relate (quite effectively and eloquently!) to anyone and everyone how I had been misunderstood and misjudged and mistreated. But, because I swallowed my perceived injustice when God told me to do so, it left me. Stayed gone for many, many months.

Then, one day, right out of the blue, the whole situation appeared in my head. You can say what you want, but I believe the devil was trying to steal my victory in that area. But – here’s the amazing thing: Though I remembered, literally in a flash, all the details and who said and who did and how unfair I thought it was at the time, there wasn’t one bit of pain associated with the incident. The whole thing was healed up. That seemed to me to be an even greater victory than just forgetting about it!

Now,let me give you an example of someone who apparently resisted all impulses to complain - even though his suffering came because of the unrighteous actions of other people, and even though several people betrayed him over a period of some twenty years. This guy had every reason to be the biggest complainer on earth. He could have told a sob story on somebody’s talk show that would have moved the hearts of thousands. Sure, he was his daddy’s favorite, and he had a big mouth and youthful indiscretion in using it, but he never did anything really wrong to his brothers. Certainly nothing worth barely escaping a death threat by being sold into slavery.

Most of us would have given into bitterness and resentment at that point, telling everyone we could about the great life we used to live and how unfairly we’d been treated. But, Joseph seems to have accepted what came and made the best of it, trusting God to make those troublesome dreams of his come to pass, even though they looked even less likely now than ever. We do know that God blessed him in everything he did, so much so that Potiphar put him in charge of the whole household and Potiphar’s wife couldn’t keep her hands off of him. Then, the second blow came – Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, then accused him of attempted rape when he refused her (setting a great example of “fleeing sexual immorality” in the process!). Potiphar, probably feeling that he had to publicly believe his wife over his trusted servant, had Joseph thrown into prison (I think this was just for publicity’s sake...if he had really believed Joseph was guilty as charged, he could have had him killed at once). No judge, no jury, no sentence. Once again, Joseph was simply thrown away.

Now, if I were Joseph, I would really be lamenting my circumstances. Not once, but twice, he had suffered a major life calamity due to someone else’s unrighteous actions. But, again, he seems to simply trust God that it will all work out right in the end. He makes the best of his situation, maintains his integrity, and quickly becomes the most trusted inmate of the prison, given responsibilities over the other prisoners and in the activities of the prison...for years. He just keeps on doing, with the best of his ability, that which is given him to do. Of course, now we can all see how this worked out to bring about the promises of God; but at that time Joseph was just going on faith.

The Apostle Paul stated the essence of the proper attitude in Philippians chapter four, when he writes, “...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances, for I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:11b – 13). Joseph knew this secret…and you and I must also learn it if we are going to see all of God’s promises for us come to pass.


So, whether you are dealing with a protracted period where God seems to have forgotten you, or you’re in the middle of really unpleasant circumstances and God isn’t speaking, then 1) don’t bail out, 2) don’t try to fix it yourself and 3) don’t complain. Keep doing the best you know how to do, and listen closely, because when God speaks, your situation is about to change.

Plain Vanilla: Patience, Part 2

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

When I re-read last week's excerpt from my Plain Vanilla Files, I noticed that I mentioned that there were *three* applications of patience...and 'don't give up' was the first. So I thought I'd go ahead and do a little three-parter and post the other two applications and the discussion about them, too...so, here's Part 2; Part 3 will be next week.

The second application of patience is that we must deliberately avoid doing anything in our own strength to try and bring the promise to pass. It’s so easy to assume that just because a course of action makes sense to us and seems to be in agreement with what God has said it must be the right thing to do...and go do it.

The key word there is assume. God may intend for us to do something that will lead to the fulfillment of the promise, but He will tell us if that’s the case. In our own reasoning, we invariably will decide on the wrong course of action. Not sometimes; not most of the time; always!

I really don't want to list all the times in my own life I've proven that to be true! Fortunately, I don't have to. I can refer to the Word. The classic example of doing something to bring the promise to pass is the conception of Ishmael. This is another familiar story, and Abraham and Sarah get a lot of bad press over this. Don’t forget – we have the advantage of hindsight. Try to put yourself in their situation. Think how it looked to them.

At the word of the Lord, a 75-year old man and his 65-year-old wife set out from Haran with his nephew and all the servants and livestock they had acquired. The man had no children, despite the ironical fact that his name meant “Exalted Father” (I suspect that, at that time, Abram considered Lot to be his heir). They went to Canaan, where God appeared to Abram and declared, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Abram built the first of many altars that he would build to God and called on His name. It is not recorded what Abram thought about God’s promise here; it may be that seventy-five and sixty-five may not have been quite as unlikely for childbearing then as it would be now. It was a promise, but year after year went by and no children appeared.

They wandered about in Egypt to escape a famine, and acquired a few more servants – including a young woman named Hagar, who became Sarai’s personal maid. After they returned to Canaan, Abram’s servants and Lot’s servants quarreled over who had grazing and watering rights where. Ultimately, the men split up, with Abram going to what later became Hebron and Lot going to what later became smoking dust and ashes. God again promised Abram that he would have offspring that no one could count who would inherit all the land he could see and walk through. Still, no children were born and Abram made his servant Eliezer his heir.

Then, Lot got into trouble when an alliance of Babylonian kings came and carted all the inhabitants of the cities of the Jordan plain – including Lot and his family and possessions – off into captivity. Abram heard about it, raised an army and took off after them. He caught the invaders off-guard, celebrating their victories. Abram and his army completely and utterly defeated them, recovering not only his nephew and his nephew’s household but also all the people and possessions of the towns of the plain. However, he refused to keep any plunder for himself, giving a tenth to the mysterious Melchizedek, portions to the men who had fought as his allies, and returning the rest to the people of the Sodom and Gomorrah region. Abram returned home with nothing to show for his excursion but the knowledge that he’d done the right thing.

But God knew what Abram had done, and He appeared to him again in a vision and promised to be Abram’s “shield and very great reward.” Keep in mind, about ten years had passed since God had begun to talk to Abram about offspring. Abram didn’t want a reward – he wanted sons. The first thing out of his mouth when God promised him a reward was something to the effect of “Well, there’s not much point to that – any reward You give me will be passed on to Eliezer since You haven’t given me any children!” This time, God not only promised Abram offspring as numerous as the stars, He promised Abram a son from his own body. But – go to Genesis 15 and read it carefully and you will see that God does not mention Sarai.

So – can you imagine Abram coming back from this worship experience, elated over what God has told him? Imagine the joy in his face as he tells Sarai about his wonderful worship experience and the marvelous promise God gave him...then imagine the cold knot Sarai feels growing in the pit of her stomach. She didn't hear the voice of God or dream in visions. Finally, she gets brave enough to ask Abram, “Who is going to have this baby?” I can see Abram look at her blankly for just a moment, so she rephrases the question, “Did God say that I would bear this child?” Suddenly, Abram realizes that God was rather vague on that point, and he stammers, “Uh, no, He didn’t say who would have the baby.”

What a blow to Sarai that had to have been! She knew that she was well past the age of childbearing. The possibility of having the child herself was too ludicrous to consider. It was a stretch to believe that Abram would father a child. Sarai could see only two possibilities – either she was going to die, and Abram would remarry and then have children, or Abram was going to take a second wife or concubine. Either way, she would have felt as if she were being set aside as useless.

I don’t know how long she agonized over the situation, or how much she cried as she considered the options, but finally she decided that she would have to sacrifice her relationship to her husband to see God’s promises come to pass. It was the only way she thought she could have any part in fulfilling the promise at all, even though it was a vicarious participation. How long do you suppose it took her to pull her emotions into line enough for her to go to Abram and say, “Abram, since God has prevented me from having children, I have an idea...”?

Now, you have to remember that what she suggested was completely acceptable in that day and time. It was not at all “wrong” according to the moral standards of their culture. In fact, people may have wondered why Abram hadn’t already done something like this. From the Scripture account, many people have assumed Abram jumped at the idea, but the truth is that we don’t know how long it took Sarai to persuade Abram that this was what he should do. But, in the end, he agreed with her. After all, by the conventional standard of the day it wasn’t wrong and it could give Abram the son from his own body that he’d been promised. It made sense. It was logical. They seemed to have assumed it was what they were supposed to do. There’s no evidence that they ever once asked God if this was what He had in mind. There is also no record that God spoke again to Abram until Ishmael was about thirteen.

It’s quite possible that, all that time, Abram really believed Ishmael was the son God had promised him, despite the strife that this decision brought into his household. Unfortunately, the strife was not limited to his household, but has continued for centuries.... All from their earnest desire to bring about God’s promise. Mind you, that desire did not stem from unbelief that God would do what He said, but from their logical thought processes that told them that God would bring about His promise through their human efforts. Sarai, I’m convinced, believed she was making a noble sacrifice. Their motives were right, their faith was unshaken, but their human reasoning (the fatal fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) was their downfall.

They didn’t bail out of their situation, so they did eventually see the promise come to pass, but Abraham finally had to send Ishmael – the product of his own human effort to bring about God’s promise – away altogether. Think of the sacrifice this was for Abraham! The human efforts ultimately resulted in nothing but separation, pain and generation after generation of bitter conflict.

This should be a major warning to us. Sure, we don’t have the same set of circumstances, but anytime we attempt to bring about the promise of God by doing what seems reasonable, or what makes sense, without a clear word from God to do that, we will be heading off into the same error. Yes, the promise is fulfilled – but how much damage we do in trying to make it happen!

I can’t tell you how hard it is to be patient enough to stay on our faces until we know that we know we have heard from God – and be willing to even give up the promise rather than do anything by our own wisdom to bring it about. Now, God’s promises are always for our good, and they are certainly worth clinging to. But there comes a time when a distinction must be made between the promise that God has given and God’s presence and God’s purpose. God is infinitely more desirable than any promise He gives; His purpose will be fulfilled however He designs to fulfill it. His promises are always kept...but not usually in the way we expect. Therefore, we must desire His presence and His purpose above His promise.

Abraham learned this lesson. When God tested him again, Abraham trusted God. He actually would have killed his son at God’s word, trusting that God would keep his word of blessing Isaac. Do you see that placing Isaac on the altar was essentially the same test in trusting God to fulfill His promise as waiting on him to be born? Perhaps, if Abram and Sarai had not tried to bring about God’s promise themselves in the first place, Abraham would not have had to go through the ordeal of placing his son on the altar. When we fail a test, God does not get angry – He just leaves us with the consequences of our decisions and brings us back to the place where we must take the same test again.

So – don’t give up and don’t get in the way. Keep the Plain Vanilla Testimony that “God promised me something that I still don’t see any reason to believe is going to happen, but I’m going to hang out with Him and wait for Him to do it anyway.” Of course, if God tells you something you need to do, then jump up and do it, even if it seems silly (think of Naaman washing in the Jordan River). Just don’t make the assumption that you have to do something to see God work in your life. “The Lord helps those who help themselves” is a quaint proverb that sounds reasonable to our Puritan work ethic heritage, but the truth is that the Lord helps those who completely put their trust in Him and move in obedience. Those who help themselves by moving in assumption only receive what they've brought about themselves.

Leaving the Creek

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Yesterday's post stirred up some memories for me and I thought I'd share one testimony of how *we* were told to leave the dry creekbed...

We were in a very non-charismatic denominational church for almost exactly 20 years. Joined that church the Sunday after our first wedding anniversary, having spent the first year we were married looking for a church home. We dug in and got involved. It was a storefront church when we joined; in the time we were in it we purchased property and built a building, saw growth and collapse, five pastors, three interim pastors, great times and awful times. I can remember laying face down on our living room floor at one point, sobbing into the carpet, begging God to release us to go somewhere else. But His answer was 'No'...and He led me to 1 Kings and the story of Elijah, and showed me what it meant to wait on His word. In times of spiritual drought, we found that God always managed to get something to us to sustain us and keep us going; feeding us by the ravens, as it were (inspirational ministry TV programs were a key part of that...which, given my thoughts on television, I really consider being fed by the ravens!).

At the time of our last change in pastor, it began to be very clear to us that our season in that congregation was to undergo a change...but we really weren't sure what it was. It wasn't that church was discouraging; on the contrary, the pastor was feeding the flock and, by and large, the congregation was encouraged. But somehow we were still dry.

Then, we pulled into church one Sunday in May of 2000 to see that the marquee announcing that night's sermon was 'When the Creek Dries Up'. I laughed to My Sweet Baboo, wondering if our pastor was going to preach my lesson on patience.

But he didn't preach that. He stood in the pulpit and proclaimed change. Time to move on...time to go to new places, minister with new people, move to a new level with God.

I really think he believed he was preaching that word to a handful of folks who had been visiting our little church but hadn't joined in yet, but to me and my hubby, listening with weak knees and spiritual goosebumps, it had a whole 'nuther meaning. After such a long time, we were being released.

And our current church had just celebrated their first anniversary that same weekend.

Now, it took us a year to get completely disengaged from the duties and responsibilities we had, but we both look at that night as our Clear Word that it was time to move on. We were able to leave in the summer of '01 with the understanding of our friends and the leadership there; no one was hurt and there was no misunderstanding. After seeing so many painful departures over the years, it was a real benediction to us to be able to move on without any drama.

And that's the way it should be.

Plain Vanilla: Patience, Part 1

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, today is Bible Study Day...and I haven't got a clue what the next study is going to be. So I dug back into the computer archives and pulled another excerpt from my writing on 'A Plain Vanilla Testimony'. Since I find myself rather impatiently fidgeting in some areas, this is appropriate for me, too...a reminder of the importance of patience.

God puts a big emphasis on the need for His people to be a patient people. Patience is:
- included in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22)
- a key quality of love (1 Cor. 13:4)
- part of Paul’s prayer for the believers at Colosse (Col. 1:11)
- one of the characteristics with which we are to clothe ourselves (Col.3:12)
- to be a significant part of any preaching, rebuke or encouragement we offer others (2 Tim. 4:2).

We are instructed to be patient with one another (Eph. 4:2, 1 Thess. 5:14). Patience, in and of itself, bears fruit in our lives. In Proverbs 14:29, we see that patience brings understanding. Hebrews 6:12 states that faith and patience are required to inherit what has been promised.

If you have a promise from God, something that you believe God has spoken to you and has for you, you must believe and be patient in order to see it come to pass.

Now, being patient has three distinct applications. The first application of patience is to not give up, chuck the whole thing and go live according to the pattern of this world. Hang on. Don’t quit. Sure it’s hard, but what else are you going to do? It’s possible to get mad at God for taking too long to fulfill a promise He had given and so just give up working in the kingdom, saying, “Well, God, You’re not keeping Your end of the bargain, so I’m just going to go do what I want.” Now, I’m not implying that someone who reacts that way will go and live a grossly sinful life from that point on...he or she could just be giving up on the church God put them in and go somewhere else. Or they could quit dealing with the person God has put on their heart to win or disciple. Or, they could bail out of a marriage. The essence is the same: there is a conscious decision to not wait on God any longer. The pattern of this world is: if your situation doesn’t change, then do what you can to change situations. But God's people are to wait on God for either His intervention or His instruction.

There is a terrific example of this in 2 Kings 17. It’s a fairly familiar story, but there is a point to be made regarding patience in a tough situation that I want to bring out. You know the details – Elijah told King Ahab that there would be no more rain until he prophesied it, then God sent him to the Kerith Ravine. He stayed there, getting his drinking water from the brook and his food from ravens until God told him where to go next. Here’s the lesson – God didn’t tell Elijah where to go next until the brook dried up. Now, imagine you’re Elijah. You’re sitting there by this brook, all by yourself. At first it’s not too tough – there’s food every day and plenty of water. But, little by little, you see the brook dwindle from a stream to a trickle. If you’re like me, you begin to remind God where you are. There’s enough water for now…but the future begins to look a bit iffy. I think I’d be praying something like, “Hello, God? Could you increase the water supply, please? I’m getting nervous.” But, there’s no word from heaven, and the trickle seems to turn overnight into a series of muddy, stagnant puddles. Now, the water isn’t even nice to look at, let alone drink. It smells bad. There are bugs in it. I think it was at this point that Elijah really began to exercise his patience. The world’s logic would say: this creek’s drying up, and if survival is the goal, anyone who is counting on this creek for a water supply should perhaps go find a better source. But, Elijah knew something we would do well to remember: only God knows where to find water. Apart from His guidance, we will never find it for ourselves. So, Elijah stayed put. Eventually, even those yucky puddles dried up and Elijah had no water at all. But, still he stayed where God told him to stay. He was determined to do what God said, even if it killed him. The only evidence he had all this time that God hadn’t forgotten him was that the birds kept showing up with food. Not until the brook was dry and the water was gone did the word of God come to him and tell him to go and stay with the widow in Zarephath. The brook was dry and the water was gone...that's pretty extreme obedience.

But Zarephath was on the opposite side of the country, which meant Elijah had to make quite a trip. Now, God could have supplied him with all the water he needed right at Kerith, if that had been His plan. But there was a widow and her son who would’ve starved if God’s provision for Elijah had not extended to them as well. My guess is that God sent Elijah to the ravine so that he was hidden while Ahab’s men scoured the country looking for him. After they’d given up, it was safe for him to make the journey. Elijah needed the sojourn at the brook. (Based on Obadiah's remarks in 1 Kings 18:9 - 14, I suspect that, by the time Elijah left the brook, there had been enough false ‘Elijah sightings’ that Ahab wouldn’t pay any attention to the real one!) What would’ve happened if he had used the evidence of the failing brook to determine that God wouldn’t take care of him? He probably would have gone wandering off, trying to find a pool or stream somewhere that wasn’t drying up. In doing that, he quite possibly could have been discovered by God’s enemies. The ravens certainly would not have continued to bring him food.

So, Elijah waited until he got a clear direction from God...even when waiting went contrary to every logical course of action. I suppose Elijah was blessed in that he had no “friends” around him telling him that he was foolish for sitting by a brook that was drying up! He didn’t have to defend his actions to anyone but himself. You and I, however, may need to stop up our ears to avoid listening to well-meaning, reasonable-sounding advice that runs contrary to what we honestly believe God has instructed. We have to be ready to deal with misunderstanding and frustration from friends, relatives, and anyone else who feels a need to voice an opinion about our course of action. Elijah’s patience was rewarded by new, miraculous provision; remember that as you deal with situations that appear to be drying up. Don’t give up and quit, even when the situation looks hopeless and everyone whose judgment you value (and a few folks whose judgment you don’t) counsels you to give up and move on. If God has put you in a position or situation, and you know God put you there, then you really have only one course of action: Stay until He tells you to move.

Plain Vanilla

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I was at a conference several yeas ago where I heard great testimonies from a husband and wife team about God bringing them out of horrible circumstances and results of bad choices...real 'Rocky Road' testimonies. The testimonies had truly touched me and filled me with awe at what God did for them and how God was using them to bring other 'Rocky Roads' into the kingdom. Now, I happened to encounter Mr. ‘Rocky Road’ in the parking lot, so I tried to express how much I had enjoyed their testimonies. I really bungled it, though, when I said I had a “Plain Vanilla” testimony. He looked at me sharply and asked, “Are you saved?”

I was a little taken aback, and my reply was an incredibly astute, "Well, yeah…."

“Then it ain’t plain vanilla,” he stated. I stammered something to the effect that I was beginning to learn what God had really done for me, and he smiled and made some encouraging comment and the little exchange passed into history. But, for some reason, I felt like I had been slightly rebuked. He assumed that I meant something was wrong with a Plain Vanilla Testimony, that I considered my testimony in the kingdom to be somehow less than desirable.

The truth is, we all have been conditioned to think of plain vanilla as bland, boring, and uninteresting. Think back to when you were a kid and somebody took you to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone. Maybe you were disappointed to get a plain vanilla cone instead of a hot fudge sundae or a banana split or even a cone dipped in chocolate with sprinkles on it, but did you turn your nose up at the vanilla cone and consider it not worth eating? Of course not! Vanilla ice cream is still a treat, still a good thing, even if it is plain and unadorned. There are things you can do with plain vanilla that you can’t do with anything else. A root beer float is a beautiful thing when it’s made with vanilla ice cream, but you sure wouldn’t try dousing, say, mint chip ice cream with root beer. And I don’t think a strawberry sundae would be quite as inviting if the strawberries were on top of my favorite ice cream, peppermint candy! Hot fudge might be tasty on Rocky Road ice cream, but I’d consider it a bit of overkill. The plain truth is that Plain Vanilla is the most versatile variety available. You can do just about anything with plain vanilla… just as God can do anything with someone who has been faithful through the normal crises of life…the temptations that are common to all of us…you know, the small things.

And – guess what? Vanilla is necessary! Think about the spice cabinet in the kitchen. There's bound to be some little bottles there with the jars of powders and leaves. I’d just about guarantee you the label on the biggest one (or the only one, if that’s the case) says “Vanilla Extract.” Cooks around the world know that vanilla is an almost universal ingredient in any sweet or dessert dish. If you’re selling your house, real estate agents may even tell you to put a little vanilla on the light bulbs because it has such a pleasing fragrance. Hm…sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it? A little like 2 Corinthians 2:14b -15: “…through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

So – those of us who have Plain Vanilla Testimonies and think they're dull, bland and uninteresting need a paradigm shift. A lifetime of serving God however and wherever we're called is a good and pleasing thing to Him – even if it seems pretty “Plain Vanilla” to us.